Meggett Kept Making Things Happen : Giants: He scores on a 76-yard punt return, sets up a field goal with a 43-yard kickoff return and runs the Raiders out of the playoffs.

Tailback Dave Meggett of the New York Giants was overcome with emotion as he ran through the tunnel that leads to the dressing rooms after the Giants beat the Raiders, 34-17, to win the NFC East championship.

“Way to go Giants!” Meggett shouted as he made his way out of the freezing afternoon and into the warmth of the Giant clubhouse.

A speedy, compact (5 feet 7, 180 pounds) rookie running back, Meggett helped to spark the Giants, returning a punt 76 yards for New York’s first touchdown. He also returned a kickoff 43 yards to set up a field goal that tied the score, 17-17, at halftime.

“You’ve got to be somewhat of a psycho to be a punt returner and that’s Meggett,” Giant running back Ottis Anderson said. “He believes in himself. He believes that every time he touches the football he can make something happen.”

Meggett made things happen the first time he touched the ball, eluding what seemed like the entire Raider punt team on his 76-yard touchdown.

Fielding the kick at the 24, Meggett cut left and eluded Raider cornerback Dan Land. He juked Raider running back Steve Smith by cutting inside and bounced off punter Jeff Gossett. Raider defenders Kerry Porter and Vance Mueller also missed shots at him. The Giants mobbed him in the end zone, piling on top of him.

Meggett credited his teammates.

“Our return team did a great job,” Meggett said. “They created a lot of seams for me. It was just up to me to get to the seams. To get to the seams I broke four tackles. I did what I had to do.

“When I broke the last tackle there was a wide opening and the blockers just escorted me to the end zone.”

Land thought he should have stopped Maggett.

“I had a good shot at him,” Land said. “But my responsibility is to contain the outside so I broke down and when I broke down he cut around me and it was too late. I knew he was quick but I didn’t think he could get outside me.”

Why did the Raiders have such a difficult time containing Meggett, who returned five punts for 114 yards?

“When he gets the ball the first thing he does is come at you,” Land said. “And when he comes at you he’s going to freeze you. And he’s got the quickness to get by you.

“He’s comes straight at you then goes around you. Most punt returners catch the ball and go wherever they’re going. But he’ll come at you and then he’ll make his break. That’s what makes him so hard to catch. He makes the first guy miss and then he relies on his blocking.”

Voted to the Pro Bowl, Meggett is one of the top kick returners in the NFC. He finished the season with 582 yards on 46 punt returns to break a 38-year-old team record for most punt return yardage in a season.

Meggett’s response when informed that he’d broken the record set by Emlen Tunnell: “Who’s Emlen Tunnell? I’ve got a plane to catch.”

With that he was gone, dashing into the night in a black leather trench coat and a matching black leather baseball cap.

A fifth-round draft pick from Towson State, Meggett was almost on the first plane home after fumbling two punts because he lost them in the lights in his first exhibition game.

Meggett felt he was going to be cut after his awful debut, but Coach Bill Parcells reassured him that he was going to make the team.

His confidence restored, Meggett broke a punt return for 45 yards in his second exhibition game. And the Giants cut Phil McConkey, a popular journeyman wide receiver/punt returner, to make room for Meggett.

“Meggett gives us a new dimension to our team that we haven’t had in the past,” said Lawrence Taylor, Giant linebacker. “He’s got speed and quickness out of the backfield. Every defensive player has to worry about him because he can break it every time he touches the football. I was very happy that he had a chance to break one today because he’s worked very hard.”

Does Meggett have more confidence now than he did at the start of the season?

“I feel great about myself,” Meggett said. “Sixteen weeks ago I felt great about myself. I felt great about myself 900 years ago. As the season progresses you get more and more of a feel for the game because you get more NFL experience. But hey, I felt good about myself when I was 3 or 4 years old.”

Meggett has also been adept at turning routine passes into big plays. Meggett turned a screen pass into a 62-yard touchdown to help break open the Giants’ 27-24 season-opening win over the Washington Redskins.

On a third-and-31 play, Meggett turned a dump pass from quarterback Phil Simms into a 57-yard touchdown to lift the Giants to a 14-7 victory at Denver two weeks ago.

“He’s been the one single biggest surprise on the team this year,” Simms said of Meggett. “He’s just done a lot of things for us. Today he was just magnificent. It was the best I’ve ever seen him.”

While Meggett has made some big plays, scoring four touchdowns of more than 50 yards this season, he’s had problems fumbling. He has fumbled seven times this season, losing five, including one which led to the Raiders’ first touchdown.

The Giants feel that too much emphasis has been placed on Meggett’s fumbles.

“If you’ve got a guy who’s only 175 pounds and you’ve got guys hitting you, you’re going to fumble,” said New York fullback Maurice Carthon. “If I was like him I would have coughed it up too. He makes big plays and all those (fumbles) don’t mean anything. He’s made more good plays than bad plays and that’s the way we look at it. We don’t look at how many times he’s fumbled. He’s done positive things for us.

“I’m glad I don’t have to run down and cover kicks when this guy is running the ball. He’s eludes people and breaks tackles and he’s strong. He does a tremendous job on punt returns.”

After Meggett ran them out of the playoffs, the Raiders concurred.