NFL: The Top 30 teams of the modern era

1. 1990 New York Giants

The Giants were a very hungry team during the 1990 season, and they got off to a brilliant start when they won their 10 games of the regular season. They cruised to a 13-3 record under Bill Parcells, as they had crushing running attack featuring Ottis Anderson and a solid quarterback in Phil Simms. However, defensive coordinator Bill Belichick was perhaps the team’s best weapon, as he put together an opportunistic defense that came through when the game is on the line.

The Giants won the NFC championship by defeating Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers on the road, but they appeared to be in over their heads in the Super Bowl against the high-powered Buffalo Bills and their K-Gun attack led by quarterback Jim Kelly.

Even though the Bills had scored 51 points in the AFC Championship game victory over the Raiders, the Giants were not intimidated. Backup quarterback Jeff Hostetler started in place of the injured Simms, and the Giants’ ball-control offense took much of the steam away from Buffalo. The Giants got the 20-19 upset when Buffalo PK Scott Norwood’s game-winning attempt at the gun went wide right.

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