Tag: Mark Collins

‘Humbled’ Mark Collins reacts to ‘very special’ Giants honor

Retired New York Giants CB Mark Collins reacts to the “very special” honor of being named among the franchise’s top 100 players.

With training camp in full effect, the New York Giants continued their celebration of their 100th season and in particular, their countdown of the top 100 players in franchise history.

The list, which was compiled by a committee of 14 individuals, has been releasing players in reverse order each of the last five weeks in groups of 10.

This week, the list revealed players 60 through 51, which included cornerback Mark Collins coming in at No. 56.

56 – Mark Collins

The Giants’ first six draft choices in 1986, their Super Bowl XXI season, were all defensive players, including linemen Eric Dorsey and Erik Howard, linebacker Pepper Johnson, and cornerback Mark Collins. “I remember looking at those guys in training camp and saying, ‘We have some help here,'” coach Bill Parcells said. “Pepper Johnson was my nickel linebacker. Collins was my nickel back. Dorsey and Howard – they played more because they were linemen. We got a big contribution out of those kids. I remember thinking to myself, ‘We are going to have five or six rookies make the team.’ And not only that, but they are going to make the team better.”

A second-round pick out of Cal State Fullerton, Collins did just that and contributed immediately with 14 passes defensed, three fumble recoveries, and an interception in his rookie season. The Giants won eight consecutive games to end the regular season to clinch home-field advantage throughout the postseason. “We knew we were going to win,” Collins said. “We just had to figure out by how much. We were so confident without being cocky. That came from the leadership of Harry [Carson] and George [Martin]. One thing about this team, we were close then and we’re close now. Being around the league – and I played for three other teams – I never played on a group this tight, a group that genuinely cared about each other.”

Four years later, Collins was part of a group that played significant roles in another championship run in 1990. In all, Collins started 104 of 112 games as a Giant, recording 17 interceptions, four forced fumbles, and seven fumble recoveries.

The retired Giants cornerback shared his thoughts on the honor of being named on this list while praising the franchise.

Collins is on a very exclusive list of players who won two Super Bowls with the franchise.

The Giants selected Collins in the second round of the 1986 NFL draft. He spent the first eight years of his career with Big Blue and was named a First-Team All-Pro in 1989.

He spent time with the Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers, and Seattle Seahawks after his tenure with the Giants.

Collins played 112 games with the Giants and clearly, he was not only one of the best at his position, but one of the best players in franchise history as well.

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Throwback Thursday: Rams, Flipper Anderson stun Giants in 1989 playoffs

In the latest Giants Wire Throwback Thursday, we head back to the 1989 playoffs when the Los Angeles Rams stunned the New York Giants in OT.

In 1989, the New York Giants were back in the playoffs for the first time since their dominant, Super Bowl-winning season three years before.

In 1987, they opened at 0-2 before the players went on strike. The owners continued the season with replacement players, something the Giants did not stock up on, and before you could blink an eye, they were 0-5. They recovered to finish 6-9, but it was not enough to qualify for the postseason.

In 1988, the Giants finished 10-6 but failed to secure a postseason berth when they lost to the Jets, 27-21, in the final game.

The 1989 season would be the year the Giants rose back to prominence. They opened the season with an 8-1 record and went on to win the NFC East with a 12-4 record. As a division winner, they drew a bye in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

On Jan. 7, 1990, Bill Parcells’ crew hosted John Robinson’s Los Angeles Rams at Giants Stadium in the NFC divisional round. The Rams had disposed of the Philadelphia Eagles the week before in the wild-card round and came into New Jersey as three-point underdogs.

The Rams were one of the teams that managed to beat the Giants during the regular season, knocking them off, 31-10, in Anaheim on Nov. 12.

In this game, however, L.A. had to come 3,000 miles to play a Giants team that had lost just once at home that season. On a typical blustery Meadowlands afternoon, the feeling in the air was that the Giants were going to romp.

That didn’t happen. Instead, they were flatter than they had looked in weeks.

The over/under on the game was 39 points because, well, it was a Giants game with Parcells at the helm. As predicted, the game was a low-scoring one.

The Giants defense was putting in their typical home cold-weather defensive performance, and New York was up, 6-0, with 17 seconds to go in the first half. That’s when Los Angeles quarterback Jim Everett caught the Giants napping and hit wide receiver Willie “Flipper” Anderson for a 30-yard touchdown strike.

That would not be the last the Giants would see of Anderson on the day.

The Giants regained the lead in the third quarter on a 2-yard touchdown plunge by Ottis Anderson. The Rams would hold the Giants scoreless in the fourth quarter and tie the game at 13 with two short field goals by Mike Lansford, sending the game into overtime.

Fans were getting antsy, groaning about the Giants offense being put in dry dock in the second half by Parcells. An earlier interception that led to a Rams touchdown may have been the reason.

In overtime, the Rams won the coin toss and marched down the field on the stunned Giants. It took only 1:06 for the visitors to score the winning touchdown, a 30-yard reception by Anderson over Giants cornerback Mark Collins that ended with Flipper running straight through the back of the end zone, through the tunnel and into the locker room.

“When I came into the lockers, I was here by myself,” said Anderson, whose only two catches that Sunday were the Rams’ only touchdowns. “I didn’t know what to do.”

Neither did any of us who were watching in the stands. Was that it? Is the game over? Does that count?

It sure did. And it still stings.

The Giants would bounce back from this devastating loss and win the Super Bowl the next season, but it was another long offseason for Giants fans in 1990.

In retrospect, fans still cringe when they think about that day, and when they hear Flipper Anderson’s name, but they shouldn’t. Anderson only caught two passes on the day — both went for touchdowns — but was a well-known deep threat.

They should have been more aware of Anderson, who set a single-game NFL record for receiving yards (336) six weeks before against New Orleans. That record still stands.

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