Cardinals Are Beaten by Giants

A battered Phil Simms tossed three touchdown passes, and rookie Jess Atkinson kicked two field goals as the New York Giants upended the St. Louis Cardinals, 27-17, Sunday at Giants Stadium.

Simms connected with Bobby Johnson on touchdown passes of eight and 16 yards in the first and fourth quarters, respectively, and he hit Phil McConkey on a key touchdown in the third quarter that broke the game open.

Simms finished the game 10 of 23 for 167 yards and 1 interception.

“That ain’t bad,” Simms said. “Any time you throw three touchdown passes, you’ve done something. That’s 21 points, and that gives us a chance to win.

“Everything went well because of the intensity. We played hard, and that’s the kind of team we were last year. We weren’t real pretty, but we played hard.”

The Giants’ defense forced three second-half turnovers to turn the game around.

“The real Cardinals did not show up today,” said Cardinal running back Ottis Anderson, who missed much of the second half with shin and shoulder injuries. “We had time to win and chances to put points on the board and didn’t. You can’t take anything away from New York’s defense, but we kind of beat ourselves.”

The most telling sign of the Cardinals’ frustration was their third-down efficiency. St. Louis was 0 for 9 in the game.

The Giants broke a 10-10 halftime tie with 17 straight points. Atkinson, signed last week to replace the injured Ali Haji-Sheikh, hit a 19-yard field goal to put New York ahead, 13-10, at 11:20 of the third quarter.

On the Cardinals’ next possession, Stump Mitchell fumbled at his 25 and Giant lineman Curtis McGriff recovered and returned it to the 22. Three plays later, Simms hit McConkey from 20 yards out for a 20-10 lead.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Terry Kinard’s 17-yard interception return of a Neil Lomax pass gave the Giants the ball at St. Louis’ 48. Six plays later, Simms hit Johnson with a 16-yard touchdown pass to give New York a 27-10 lead.

St. Louis pulled to 27-17 at 11:21 of the final quarter when Lomax hit Earl Ferrell with a 15-yard touchdown pass, capping a 9-play, 76-yard drive.

Lomax was 18 of 34 for 234 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.