Giants Hold Off Cardinals, 20-13

New York Giants Coach Bill Parcells says it was a week of worry for him, but he wound up with two victories he wanted.

Jeff Hostetler, replacing the injured Phil Simms, passed for 177 yards in his second NFL start and also scored his first two touchdowns of his six-year pro career as the Giants beat the Phoenix Cardinals, 20-13, Sunday.

Simms sprained his left ankle early in last Monday night’s win over Minnesota and Parcells feared a loss to the Cardinals.

“All the worries were present--the short week, Simms injury, the weather, the long trip, having our team in the proper frame of mind and having them bounce back physically,” Parcells said. “I knew it was going to be a tough game and it was. But we played within ourselves and Jeff handled the game plan well.”

The Giants, leaders in the NFC East at 8-1, won their fourth straight game and are off to their best start since 1930.

Hostetler completed 12 of 24 passes, rushed for 47 yards in five carries and scored on runs of 19 and three yards--the first touchdowns of his six-year pro career.

“This is the first complete game I’ve played since college,” Hostetler said. “We put in the quarterback draw for me this week. We had never run it before.

“It worked well and it was great to get those touchdowns. I had six years to work on my spike. But the Cardinals hung tough and we had a hard time putting them away.”

Phoenix closed to 20-13 on Al Del Greco’s 46-yard field goal with 5:43 to play and drove to the New York 46-yard line by the two-minute warning. But linebacker Pepper Johnson intercepted Gary Hogeboom’s pass at the Giants’ 38-yard line on a third-and-17 play with 1:27 left to kill the final Phoenix threat.

“It was a credit to our guys that we were still in the ballgame,” Cardinal Coach Gene Stallings said. “We keep losing key personnel.”

The Cardinals (4-5) lost for the fifth time in their last seven games. They also lost six more players to injuries, including Pro Bowl players J.T. Smith, Luis Sharpe and Ron Wolfley.