Remembering the 1986 pre-season ...

[kartanoman]

First, thanks to Rich for creating this history forum and I hope it becomes an active place with everyone's best and worst memories of the club's long and storied history.

I've spent the better part of the week converting old WPIX broadcasts of the Giants' pre-season games from 1986. Apart from listening to Sam Rosen and Bobby Duhon call all the action, as well as watch what was an endless run of Kaufman Carpets commericals (you remember the jingle ... "Kaufman, the carpet experts ... we've got it all!")  ;D , it was interesting watching the Giants take their first steps into a season that would yield the most vivid memories etched forever in our minds as the "salad days" ... accoring to DomT.

Watching the first team take the field, there was no doubting the Giants were going to make waves during the season. The biggest issue during that pre-season was the holdout of Joe Morris due to contractual issues. The Giants tried using the tandem of Lee Rouson, Maurice Carthon and even Tony Galbreath to mitigate the effect of Joe's absence. It became apparent, as the pre-season wore down, that everyone was getting increasingly nervous the longer Joe held out.

Another interesting battle was the battle of beleaguered place-kickers Eric Schubert and Ali Haji-Sheikh. With the Sheikh unable to stay healthy, and Schubert still not having recovered from the poor playoff performance the season before, Parcells dumped both of them and started the season with FA signing Bob Thomas.

The Giants started the pre-season with a loss to the Falcons at Fulton County Stadium by a score of 31-24. With Phil Simms at the helm to start the game, the Giants built up a 14-0 first half lead. As the starters were replaced, the Falcons took the game over and an errant throw by Jeff Rutledge, due largely to the wideout not running his route correctly, was returned for what would be the winning points.

The following week, at Milwaukee's County Stadium, the Giants started Jeff Hostetler against the Packers. Though he struggled a bit, he did put together a nice drive which culminated in a TD toss to Mark Bavaro. Simms came on later in the second quarter and methodically marched the team down for another TD which provided the winning points in what would be a 22-14 win.

The Jets game took place the following week and it was a spirited game to say the least! In this game, the Giants' defense had a chance to make a statement with a late goal-line stand and they came through by halting the Jets when it mattered to win the game 20-14.

The finale against the Steelers was the most dominant performance by the team as they streaked away to a 17-3 win and wondered how they were going to face the Cowboys a week later without their prized running back (i.e. Morris).

As it panned out, Morris signed in the 11th hour and made it to the field to play against the Cowboys.

In summary, I'm not sure I'm trying to make a point here; however, the nostalgia I felt watching the sowing of the seeds of a championship season ... thinking back to how I felt about the team at that time ... remembering the great WPIX coverage of the games with all the old commercials and all ... I just wanted to write about it as I'm sure some of you have gone through that experience before.

Peace!

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[MightyGiants]

lol!  Actually Kart you sort of jumped the gun on us.  This board is really the pet project of Big Hitter.  I created it, but left the official announcement to Big Hitter (who was really busy and planned to announce it soon).   Great post and hopefully once it's officially launched it will be used by the membership.

[LennG]

Kman

   Great post. I also hope this will be a place where we can share memories and discuss some of the things that others know more about.

 Question--I didn't realize Hoss started game 2 in the pre season. Was it just to get him some work with the 1st team, or was Parcels looking to motivate Simms in any way, like start a QB competition. I thought Simms was entrenched at #1 at this time, am I wrong????

[kartanoman]

Hey Lenn - thanks and good to see you!

To answer your question, no doubt that Simms was Parcells' go-to guy. Remember he entered 1986 after putting on that dazzling display in the Pro Bowl the season before that won him MVP honors.

Hostetler's start against the Pack was the Hoss' first real attempt at QBing the Giants' offense since he was drafted back in '84. I think the move served to measure Hoss' progress in the system up to that point in his career; however, I seriously doubt that Jeff Rutledge's backup job was ever in threat.

In all, it wasn't until 1988 when Hoss was ready to assume the backup role over Rutledge and he started his first pro game that year against the Saints in what would be LT's finest moment as a pro.

Peace!

[LennG]

 Thanks for the answer.

Yes, that Saints game was one every Giants fan will never forget, at least, as far as LT's performance. I had forgotten that Hoss started that game.

[Sam56]

This is going to be a great thread, a wonderful place for Giant nostalgia. Maybe some os us "old farts" can even go back into the original "golden days" of the 1956 and later Fifties and early Sixties when we were in a playoff race about every year.

Great post Kartman. Your post was a perfect one for kicking off this thread and Giant history "Porch" area..

[Schwa]

My father would take my brother and me to the Pre-Season games because they were usually on Saturday nights, and coming from so far away we would stay at the Hilton over by the WOR studios.  The Hilton was the closest hotel to the Meadow Lands and we often ran into opposing players in the lobby and elevator.  And on WPIX at 11pm you could catch a truncated version of the game.