Any player or coach who has ever won a Super Bowl will tell you they would not have achieved glory without some type of sacrifice.
Such is the case of the 1990 New York Giants, who went on to win one of the most famous Super Bowls when Buffalo Bills kicker Scott Norwood missed a 47-yard field goal in the final seconds to give Big Blue a 20-19 win.
That season and Super Bowl run was not without adversity, however. The Giants, who began the season with 10 straight wins, would lose starting quarterback Phil Simms to a broken foot in Week 15, giving way to backup Jeff Hostetler for the rest of the regular season and postseason.
Hostetler’s style was much different from Simms. He was much more mobile and could extend plays, but he was not quite the same level of passer. His leadership skills were comparable, and he navigated the Giants through the NFC playoffs with wins over Mike Ditka’s Chicago Bears and Joe Montana and the two-time defending Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers.
Hostetler was believed to have hyperextended his knee in the NFC Championship against San Francisco and only had one week to prepare for the Super Bowl. Now, in a new book, “The Franchise: New York Giants — A Curated History of Big Blue” by ESPN’s Jordan Raanan, Hostetler revealed that he actually fully tore his ACL.
Hostetler spent the whole week leading up to the Super Bowl tending to his left leg. It wasn’t great, but there was no way he was going to miss the biggest game of his life. All these years later, Hostetler said he had suffered a torn ACL. He actually played the end of the NFC Championship Game, the Super Bowl, and the rest of his NFL career with no intact ACL in his knee!
“I’m one of the very few that had enough other things going on structure-wise that I was able to continue to function,” Hostetler said.
Super Bowl XXV was a closely contested match. The Bills were an offensive powerhouse with four future Pro Football Hall of Famers: quarterback Jim Kelly, wide receivers Andre Reed and James Lofton, and running back Thurman Thomas. On defense, they sported another future Hall of Famer, defensive end Bruce Smith, who would go on to become the NFL’s All-Time leader in sacks. Their coach, Marv Levy, would also go on to become a Hall of Famer.
The Giants had stars of their own. Linebackers Lawrence Taylor and Carl Banks, defensive end Leonard Marshall, tight end Mark Bavaro, and running back Ottis Anderson were guided by a coaching staff led by Hall of Fame head coach Bill Parcells and defensive coordinator Bill Belichick.
Hostetler was arguably the best player on the field that day. After toughing out the San Francisco game and withstanding constant punishment at the hands of the Buffalo pass rush, he led the Giants to victory, doing just enough to get Big Blue over the finish line.
Knowing what we know now, it was one of the grittiest and most inspiring performances in Super Bowl history.
Although Anderson won the MVP, and deservedly so, anyone who saw the game live knew that it was Hostelter who made the sacrifices needed to make the Giants champions.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: New York Giants’ Jeff Hostetler won Super Bowl XXV with a torn ACL
Reporting by John Fennelly, Giants Wire / Giants Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
