Taylor’s Giants Overpower Manley’s Redskins, 24-14

In the days leading up to Sunday’s gigantic game between Washington and New York, Dexter Manley and Lawrence Taylor were a study in contrasts.

Manley, a Redskin defensive end, was going around town saying: “Man, if someone calls me on the morning of the game and says I just won the $15 million jackpot, I won’t even go pick up the money. I can’t miss this game.”

Meanwhile Taylor, a Giant linebacker, was giving a lot of yes and no answers to reporters.

By game time, Taylor was so wound up that fellow linebacker Harry Carson said he feared for the Redskins. As the New York players ran onto the field, Taylor shook each by the hand and said something like: “Get nasty.”

Manley, meanwhile, was hardly participating in pre-game warmups. He said the Redskin trainer had taped his right ankle too tight, causing him to limp.

It was an indication of things to come. For it was Taylor, not Manley, around whom the game revolved.

It took not one player, but two--All-Pro Joe Jacoby and tight end Don Warren--to try to keep Taylor in check. And he still couldn’t be stopped.

Taylor sacked Redskin quarterback Jay Schroeder three times and knocked him on his noggin a half-dozen other times. Schroeder also threw a half-dozen interceptions and finally played like the inexperienced quarterback that he really is.

So the Giants won easily, 24-14, and practically assured themselves of their first division title in 23 years. To clinch, they must only win one of their final two games. Both are in New York, against St. Louis and Green Bay.

That they could do this to the Redskins in RFK Stadium was startling. The Redskins had won nine in a row at home and Coach Joe Gibbs had said all week how much he wanted the fans to be ready to scream. The Giants knew they would have a hard time hearing quarterback Phil Simms’ signals, and they designed some plays that would work with no snap counts.

“Never got loud enough to use them, though,” Simms said. “My linemen never said, ‘Speak up, Phil.’ ”

That’s because the Redskins never led. Simms, the best quarterback nobody talks about, threw an early touchdown pass to tight end Mark Bavaro--to make it 7-0. Kelvin Bryant’s four-yard run tied the game with 1:55 left in the first half, but Simms then led New York on an 81-yard touchdown drive. The score came on a pass from Simms to Bobby Johnson.

When Simms saw it was a touchdown, he did his touchdown dance. Afterward, he explained why.

“I work hard and long to throw those (touchdown) passes,” Simms said. “I don’t do it (the dance) to show anybody up. But it’s just a great feeling. I’m calm when I play, but when you throw a touchdown pass. . . . Well, if you’ve never thrown one, you just can’t understand the feeling.”

The Giants made it 17-7 early in the third quarter, while Schroeder kept running from Taylor. Taylor kept lining up opposite Jacoby, who is 6-foot-7, 300 pounds and slow. Taylor ran right by him.

Jacoby declined comment after the game, but Taylor said: “On a quarterback that holds the ball a shorter time than Schroeder, I wouldn’t have been able to get as many sacks.”

Schroeder, who has more than 3,500 passing yards this season, holds the ball a long time because he loves to throw long. To do so, though, he needs good blocking, and nobody blocked Taylor. So the Redskins had to resort to short passes to their running backs. Bryant, for example, caught a career-high 13 passes.

“Why was LT (Taylor) so good? Because he was scared,” Carson said. “The guy was nervous. We football players play best when we’re scared, and LT was quiet all week. When guys get off to themselves, you have this feeling they’ll have good games. Well, LT was quiet.”

Unfortunately for the Redskins, Manley was quiet during the game. He had come into the game leading the NFC with 17 1/2 sacks, but didn’t get one. Brad Benson, a 31-year-old Giant tackle, shut him down.

“Brad was saying all week how great Manley was,” Simms said. “And, tonight, if he sits next to me on the plane, I bet he’ll be talking about the St. Louis defensive end he faces next week. He’ll say, ‘That guy, he’s the best ever.’ ”

Benson admits he’s the nervous type. During the week, he hardly talks to his wife, Lisa.

“She understands it’s not because I hate her,” Benson said. “I’m just concentrating. Let me tell you, the biggest fear an offensive lineman has is failing. I don’t worry about getting hurt when I play, but I have visions of a defensive ends running past me and killing the quarterback.”

Sunday, it never happened.

Manley, at one point, grabbed a headphone and asked the coaches upstairs what to do. The Giants were double-teaming him. When Manley hung up the phone, he was so angry he knocked over a dozen cups of Gatorade.

“How do I feel?” he said afterward. “I feel like I’ve just sucked a bunch of raw eggs.”

Late in the third quarter, the Giants extended their lead to 24-7. Carson intercepted a Schroeder pass, and Simms hit Phil McConkey in the corner of the end zone for his third touchdown pass of the day. “Listen, Phil Simms is the best quarterback we’ve had in the last 25 years,” said George Young, the Giants’ general manager.

The experts predicted this game would come down to Manley vs. Taylor. Whichever guy dominated, his team would win. Well, Taylor undoubtedly won. He ended Joe Theismann’s career here last year, and he didn’t help Schroeder’s career Sunday.

“Without a doubt, Taylor’s the best in the league,” Schroeder said.