Wild Card, 1984: New York Giants 16 Los Angeles Rams 13

In a defensive struggle, the Giants managed to pull out a win with key defensive stands on the last two LA drives.

After forcing the Rams to punt on the opening drive, New York scored first with kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh's 37-yard field goal. On the Rams ensuing drive, Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor forced a fumble from Eric Dickerson, and defensive back Bill Currier recovered it at Los Angeles 23-yard line. This set up running back Rob Carpenter's 1-yard touchdown run, giving the Giants a 10-0 lead. Mike Lansford's 38-yard field goal in the second quarter cut the score to 10-3 going into halftime.

Haji-Sheikh kicked a 39-yard field goal in the third quarter, but this was countered by Dickerson's 14-yard touchdown run, making the score 13-10. New York responded with Haji-Sheikh's 36-yard field goal five minutes later to go up by 6 points. LA then took the ball back and drove to a first down on the Giants 7-yard line, with Dickerson rushing four times for 44 yards along the way. Dickerson picked up 3 more yards on the next play, but then Giants defensive end Leonard Marshall dropped fullback Dwayne Crutchfield for a 3-yard loss and Jeff Kemp's 3rd down completion to Henry Ellard picked up just 2 yards. Faced with 4th and goal from the 5, the Rams decided to settle for Lansford's 22-yard field goal, cutting their deficit to 16-13 with 7:02 left in the game.

Los Angeles caught a break on the Giants next possession when Joe Morris' 61-yard run was eliminated by a holding penalty against center Kevin Belcher and the team ended up punting. This gave the Rams one last chance to drive for the tying field goal or winning touchdown at the 2:48 mark. However, they were unable to gain even a single first down. Faced with 4th and 6 after three plays, Kemp was sacked by George Martin and fumbled the ball. Linebacker Andy Headen recovered for New York on the Rams 33, enabling them to run out the rest of the clock.

This game marked an impressive turnaround for the Giants, who had finished the previous year with a 3-12-1 record. Both teams combined for just 406 yards (214 for LA, 192 for New York). The only offensive star of the game was Dickerson, who rushed for 107 yards and a touchdown, though he rushed for only 37 yards on 12 carries in the first half, including his costly fumble.

This was the first postseason meeting between the Giants and Rams.

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