These may not be the 1986 Super Bowl Giants - yet.
But Lawrence Taylor, Pepper Johnson and the rest of the New York defense proved Monday night that the acquisition of Herschel Walker doesn't necessarily guarantee the Minnesota Vikings are ready for prime time either.Playing without quarterback Phil Simms, who injured an ankle on New York's first possession, the Giants used Johnson's 39-yard interception return as the springboard to a 24-14 victory that gave the Giants a 7-1 record, tied with San Francisco for the NFL's best.
"We're not the same team as '86," said Taylor, who was credited with 2 1/2 of New York's six sacks. "We're not the same team. We don't have the same people. We're the 1989 New York Giants and we're trying to find a way to win."
That they did, staying one game ahead of Philadelphia in the NFC East.
Without Simms, the Giants took advantage of turnovers. Johnson's TD tied it 7-7. Then, fumbles by Alfred Anderson on consecutive kickoffs followed Raul Allegre's 39-yard field goal which came after New York's only sustained drive of the night.
Anderson's first fumble set up an 11-yard TD pass from Jeff Hostetler to Lionel Manuel. The second set up a 2-yard run by Ottis Anderson. The 17 points in a span of 2:25 put the game away and were the first allowed in the third period this season by Minnesota.
The defense meanwhile sacked Tommy Kramer four times and Wade Wilson twice and was led by Taylor, who had been held without a tackle for two games.
In addition to Taylor's 2 1/2 sacks, Leonard Marshall had two and Carl Banks was credited with 1 1/2. And the Giants limited Walker, who gained 237 yards in his first two games with the Vikings after being obtained from Dallas, to 68 yards in 12 carries, most of the yardage coming late in the game when the Vikings drove for their second score against a prevent defense.
"It was our best defensive effort of the year," Giants coach Bill Parcells said. "We were ultra-aggressive. It wasn't pretty. We just did what we had to do to win."
The Vikings, who had a four-game winning streak snapped, dropped to 5-3 and into a tie with Chicago atop the NFC Central.
At first it looked like Minnesota would dominate the game.
After Terry Kinard's interception ended a Viking threat set up by D.J. Dozier's 63-yard return of the opening kickoff, Simms went down - twisting an ankle when sacked by Al Noga.
Then, on the next series, the Vikings moved a brisk 61 yards in six plays with Kramer hitting Walker for an 8-yard TD pass to make it 7-0. It was the first score against the Giants in the first quarter this season.
But that's where it stood, even as the Vikings were sacking Hostetler four times in the first half and moving into New York territory four times. Each time they got there, they were thwarted. One 11-yard sack by Marshall drove them out of field-goal range.
"We made it so hard on ourselves. We definitely knew we needed more than seven points," said Kramer, who left with a bruised shoulder in the third period.
"We had those golden opportunities and we couldn't make the plays to take advantage. You can't win with as many turnovers as we had."
Indeed, that's what happened in the third quarter, when the New York defense came to life.
Johnson made the first, picking off an overthrow by Kramer, who was hurried by blitzing cornerback Mark Collins. He rumbled down the right side and dove into the end zone to tie it 7-7.
Then, after Allegre's 39-yard field goal gave New York a 10-7 lead, Anderson fumbled twice to set up the two quick touchdowns. That more than offset the final Minnesota score, Rick Fenney's 1-yard run with 4:03 left.