NY Giants Schedule: Top-10 season openers of all-time

7. September 11, 1989 – NY Giants 27, Washington Football Team 24

Following two straight seasons of missing the playoffs after winning the Super Bowl in 1986, Bill Parcells and the NY Giants were looking to get back to their dominant style of play of the mid-80s.

Re-establishing that mindset on the road vs Joe Gibbs and division rival Washington in the season opener was going to be a challenge.

The first half was all G-Men as Phil Simms connected on two long touchdown passes to give the Giants a 14-3 lead at halftime. A 14-yard run by Ottis Anderson gave New York a 21-10 lead at the start of what would be a wild fourth quarter.

Washington responded on the following possession with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Mark Rypien to Art Monk to trim the lead to 21-17. On the very next possession, a Simms interception was returned for a touchdown giving Washington a 24-21 lead and two touchdowns in the span of one minute of game time.

Big Blue would respond with a game-tying field goal with under three minutes left in the game. After forcing a punt, Simms and the offense was able to make their way into field goal range. Kicker Raul Allegre would take full advantage, and knocked through the 52-yard field goal as time expired –  his second field goal in less than three minutes.

Although Rypien threw for almost 350 yards and Washington converted 6-12 3rd downs, New York churned out 160 yards on the ground (93 coming from Ottis Anderson) and forced three turnovers, with one being a fumble the halted a Washington drive in the redzone.

Lawrence Taylor registered a sack and two forced fumbles, kick-starting a 15-sack year and the final 1st Team All-Pro season of his career.

While the Giants would go on to lose in the divisional round of the playoffs that year, their 12-4 record starting with a crucial division victory in week one propelled them to the following year’s success. In 1990, New York would go 13-3 and win Super Bowl XXV over the Bills.