Denver Broncos Fans: Three Reasons to Dislike the New York Giants

Super Bowl XXI - January 25, 1987

Coming off "The Drive" in Cleveland, the Denver Broncos rolled into Pasadena's Rose Bowl with the highest of hopes. The Giants, led by Phil Simms and Defensive Player of the Year/registered sex offender, Lawrence Taylor, were playing in their first Super Bowl (they last played for an NFL championship in 1963 against the Chicago Bears).

The game started off great for Denver. At the end of the first quarter they led, 10-0. Heck, at the end of the half, the Broncos were still ahead, 10-9 in what was, at the time, the closest halftime score in Super Bowl history. Then what happened next... We all know what happened next. The Giants throttled our poor Denver Broncos. The final score, 39-20 stands as a monument to the Broncos' second Super Bowl collapse... of many.

I, like many of you, have not watched that game since it originally aired. At the time, I was seven years old and completely crushed that my team had been so soundly annihilated/embarrassed on international television.It wasn't until I sat down to write this article that I came to learn a few things about that game.

1. The 100th touchdown in Super Bowl history was a 47-yard semi-meaningless touchdown pass from Elway to Vance Johnson in the 4th quarter of that game.

2. Had the Denver Broncos won, the 'Gatorade Bath' tradition as we know it may not exist. It was during the 1986 season that the Giants started doing this and it was codified as NFL tradition when Harry Carson soaked Hall of Famer, Bill Parcels at the game's merciful conclusion.

3. In the tradition of Craig Morton in Super Bowl XII, John Elway did not finish the game. As Morton was replaced by Norris Weese, Elway was replaced by Gary Kubiak (present head coach of the Houston Texans). In the Broncos last play on offense in Super Bowl XXI, Kubiak was sacked.

Sure, losing a Super Bowl is painful. It hurts. It's alone is reason enough to hold a grudge for years to come. However, it doesn't just end there. Oh no... We get to relive it every Sunday when we tune in to CBS. I can't say for sure that Phil Simms wouldn't be an announcer if the Broncos had won that Super Bowl, but I can say that listening to his good ol' boy laugh and stilted commentary might not be the intolerable task that most (all) Broncos fans find it to be. That's reason enough for me to dislike the Giants. Oh and Simms' son... Chris. Don't get me started on that freakin' guy.

It's A. Toomer - Twice!

On December 13, 1998 the Denver Broncos rolled into the Meadowlands an undefeated 13-0. As we all know from America's Game, Terrell Davis was excited to appear on Sesame Street. Everything was looking good for Denver until the game started. What had been a high octane offense that averaged over thirty points per game could only muster three fieldgoals and a touchdown. With the Broncos in the lead with under a minute to go, this happened.

Amani Toomer happened. Perfect season? Over. Just like that.

What makes Toomer so irritating is that he did it to us again! Granted, the second time there wasn't an undefeated season on the line, but still!

In 2005, the first real successful season the Denver Broncos had experienced since the back to back Super Bowl victories, the Denver Broncos again found themselves in the Meadowlands with a late lead. The Broncos had lost only one game all year and were already looking poised to make some noise in the playoffs, even though it was just October.

With just seventeen seconds to go and a six point lead. What happened, you ask? Amani Effin Toomer happened, that's what.

Go to 10:32 on the video to relive the awful for yourself. Without Toomer making that catch, the Broncos would have likely gone 14-2, as they had in 1998. While the playoff seeding would have remained unchanged (the Indianapolis Colts also went 14-2, but had a better conference record), we can only imagine what that nice round number would have felt like... You know, in this century... but we can't because of Amani Effin Toomer.

Josh McDaniels Ruins Thanksgiving - November 26, 2009

(There's a swear word in this video... It's what makes it great. You've been warned.)

Okay, McDaniels didn't ruin Thanksgiving.... the Broncos won this particular game against the Giants. It was only one of seven games they'd win that year, but hey... Let's not lose sight of what's really important here... Redirecting our dislike of Josh McDaniels toward the Giants... Can this be done? I'm going to give it a shot. Here goes...

Had the Broncos something something... then McDaniels would never... Hmmmmm... Nope. If McDaniels had.... Okay, if Daniel Graham, Casey Wiegmann, and Ryan Clady hadn't each been flagged for a false start while in the red zone on one single drive... er...

Okay, I have to hand it to the Giants. Had we not played them that cold Thanksgiving night in Denver, we'd never have gotten our true glimpse into what a raving lunatic our last head coach really was. Without the Giants we many never have seen this. Thank you. Oh! ...and we're going to beat the pee out of you this Sunday.

Go Broncos.