Giants Give Handley a Victory; It Might Be Going-Away Present

Ray Handley’s future with the New York Giants is in question, but for one day he seemed to have all the answers.

Rodney Hampton ran for three touchdowns, Jeff Hostetler returned to the lineup and passed for two scores Saturday and the Giants played perhaps their best game in two seasons under Handley, defeating the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-21.

“If I knew the answer why we couldn’t do this every week, I’m sure things around here would be a lot different,” Handley said after the Giants ended a five-game losing streak, their longest since 1980.

The Chiefs (9-6) missed a chance to clinch a playoff berth and lost a share of the AFC West lead. San Diego (9-5) can win the division by beating the Raiders today and Seattle next week.

The Chiefs can make the playoffs by beating Denver next week.

New York (6-9), which scored 13 points in its previous three games with rookies Kent Graham and Dave Brown at quarterback, got touchdowns on its final three possessions of the first half to take a 21-7 lead.

Hostetler threw touchdown passes to Mark Ingram and Chris Calloway, and Hampton ran four yards for a touchdown during the Giants’ onslaught in the second quarter. Christian Okoye ran one yard for the Chiefs’ touchdown.

Hampton scored on runs for one and 20 yards in the third quarter to make it 35-7. It was the Giants’ highest-scoring game in Handley’s two seasons.

Dave Krieg and Tim Barnett combined on a 77-yard pass play in the third quarter, the Chiefs’ longest touchdown pass play of the season.

Tracy Rogers accounted for the Chiefs’ final touchdown, recovering a blocked punt in the end zone with 3:40 to play.