First quarter On the Broncos' first play after receiving the opening kickoff, quarterback
John Elway faked a handoff, then spun around and ran in the opposite direction for a 10-yard gain to the Denver 34-yard line. Then on third down, his 24-yard completion to wide receiver
Mark Jackson advanced the ball to the Giants' 39-yard line. However, the Giants' defense tightened up and halted the drive at the 30-yard line, forcing Denver to settle for kicker
Rich Karlis's 48-yard field goal to give them an early 3–0 lead. Karlis' kick tied a Super Bowl record for longest field goal set by
Jan Stenerud of the
Kansas City Chiefs in
Super Bowl IV. New York responded on their first possession of the game with a 9-play, 78-yard drive. First, quarterback
Phil Simms completed a 17-yard pass to wide receiver
Lionel Manuel. Then running back
Joe Morris ran for 11 yards to the Denver 41-yard line. Despite a holding penalty on New York tight end
Mark Bavaro, the Giants marched to the Broncos 6 with Simms' 18-yard pass to wide receiver
Stacy Robinson, and then a 17-yard completion to Bavaro two plays later. Simms finished the drive with a 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end
Zeke Mowatt, giving the Giants a 7–3 lead. Broncos kick returner
Ken Bell gave his team great field position by returning the ensuing kickoff 28 yards to the Broncos 42-yard line. Elway's first two passes were a 14-yard completion to running back
Sammy Winder, followed by an 11-yard completion to tight end
Orson Mobley, moving the ball to the New York 33-yard line. On the next play Elway called a screen pass for Winder, which he ran for a gain of 9 yards before going out of bounds. Linebacker
Harry Carson hit Winder after he stepped out, drawing a penalty for unnecessary roughness. Then an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was assessed to linebacker
Lawrence Taylor for picking up and throwing the first flag. Carson's penalty was assessed for 12 yards, half the distance to the goal from the spot of the dead ball, and Taylor's was for half the distance from that spot, resulting in a total of 19 penalty yards and a first down for Denver at the New York 6-yard line. The Giants kept the Broncos out of the end zone for the first two plays, but on third down, Elway scored on a 4-yard quarterback draw to regain the lead for the Broncos, 10–7, with just over two minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Second quarter After Denver forced a punt by New York to start the second quarter, Elway dropped back to pass from his own 18-yard line on 3rd-and-12. The Giants' pass rush forced him to scramble out of the pocket, but it gave him enough time to find wide receiver
Vance Johnson for a 54-yard completion. Elway then moved the Broncos down the field further and after a third down completion to running back
Steve Sewell, the third time Denver converted on the drive (Elway found Mobley for a second first down after the Johnson play), they had the ball on the New York 1-yard line with a chance to take a two-score lead. However, the Giants' defense stood their ground. First, Elway tried a
run-pass option, but Taylor broke through the line and tackled him for a 1-yard loss. Carson stopped fullback
Gerald Willhite on the next play for no gain on a run up the middle, and linebacker
Carl Banks chased down Winder as he attempted to score on a sweep, tackling him for a 4-yard loss, bringing up 4th-and-goal from the 5. Karlis tried to salvage the drive with a 24-yard field goal, but he missed it wide right, giving him the record for the shortest missed field goal in Super Bowl history. The Giants picked up a first down on the first play of the ensuing drive as Bavaro caught a 12-yard pass from Simms on the first play from scrimmage. Simms followed that up with an 8-yard completion to Robinson, and two plays later, Morris picked up a first down with a short run. The drive stalled there, and the Broncos got the ball back on their 15. Elway was tackled for a 2-yard loss by defensive end
Leonard Marshall on the first play of the ensuing drive. What followed was one of the more controversial calls of the game. With the ball on his own 13-yard line, Elway found tight end
Clarence Kay for a gain of 25 yards and an apparent first down. However, referee
Jerry Markbreit conferred with his crew and reversed the call, determining that Kay had not controlled the ball before being tackled. However, the discussion among the crew continued for some time before NFL Director of Officiating
Art McNally paged umpire Bob Boylston; this meant that, for the first time, the newly introduced
instant replay system would be used in a Super Bowl. The crew then waited while McNally and the officials in the replay booth took a second look at the play. They determined that the play should stand as called, since they were not able to find conclusive evidence that the pass was complete. However, CBS discovered that the referees had erred in their judgment; toward the end of the first half, the network showed the Kay play from the reverse angle view, which the replay booth did not have access to, and it clearly showed that the pass was caught cleanly. To make things less ideal for the Broncos, the Giants' pass rush got to Elway again on third down and forced him into the end zone.
George Martin, the veteran New York defensive lineman, tackled him there for a safety, cutting the Denver lead to 10-9 and giving the ball back to the offense with a chance to regain the lead. However, after Simms failed to complete a third down pass to Bavaro on third down (which, incidentally, would his last incompletion of the game), the Broncos were able to get the ball back. With 1:09 left in the half, the Broncos started from their own 37-yard line. On second down, Elway completed a 31-yard pass to wide receiver
Steve Watson, and then a 10-yard pass to Willhite, giving the Broncos a first down at the Giants 21. They moved the ball to the 16, which resulted from a penalty on nose tackle
Jim Burt for jumping offsides, but the Giants forced two incompletions. The last of these saw Elway lead Mobley too far on a throw to the end zone and cause him to collide with the goal post. Despite having missed a relative chip shot field goal on his last attempt, Karlis was called upon again to try to extend the Denver lead, this time with a 34-yarder. Despite having made all but one of his attempts inside of 40 yards during the regular season, Karlis once again pulled the kick wide right and the drive ended with no points. Karlis later admitted his two misses in the first half were devastating to the Broncos: "Both times I didn't get my hips all the way through the kicks. I was steering the ball, and I know better than that. I felt the team unravel after that. I really hurt them."
Third quarter In the second half, the Giants dominated the Broncos, outscoring them 30–10 with four touchdowns and a field goal on their first five possessions. The Giants took the opening kickoff in the third quarter, but faced 4th-and-1 after their first three plays. New York sent their punt formation out onto the field. Parcells had entertained the possibility of running a fake punt and sent backup quarterback
Jeff Rutledge onto the field to line up as a third blocking back along with running backs
Maurice Carthon and
Lee Rouson. Parcells said his reasoning was that if the Broncos were not going to pick up on Rutledge being used as a decoy for a potential fake, he would take advantage. As he had thought, Denver paid no attention to Rutledge, and he moved under center while punter
Sean Landeta split out as a receiver and Carthon and Rouson lined up in a split back set behind him. Rutledge then took the snap from center and ran a quarterback sneak to the New York 47-yard line for a first down. On the next play, Simms completed a 13-yard pass to Morris, and then followed it up with a 23-yard completion to Rouson. Three plays later, Simms finished the drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Bavaro to give the Giants a 16–10 lead. The Broncos were forced to punt on their next drive, and wide receiver
Phil McConkey returned the punt 25 yards to Denver's 36-yard line. The Broncos managed to keep the Giants out of the end zone, but kicker
Raúl Allegre increased New York's lead to 19–10 with a 21-yard field goal. Denver was again forced to punt on their ensuing possession. Afterwards, Simms completed a 17-yard pass to Manuel at the Broncos 45-yard line. Two plays later, the Giants executed a
flea flicker play for a 44-yard gain. Simms handed off to Morris, but before he crossed the line of scrimmage, Morris pitched the ball back to Simms. With the ensuing pass, Simms found McConkey, who was wide open at the Broncos 20-yard line. After eluding safety
Steve Foley, McConkey was upended by cornerback
Mark Haynes just before he reached the goal line, throwing his hands up in mock frustration after being stopped at the 1-yard line. On the next play, Morris scored on a 1-yard touchdown run, increasing the Giants' lead to 26–10 and essentially putting the game away.
Fourth quarter Elway barely avoided a turnover by recovering his own fumble on the last play of the third quarter before getting sacked for an 11-yard loss by Marshall. After a false start by offensive tackle
Ken Lanier pushed Denver back to their own 4-yard line to start the fourth quarter, Elway threw an interception to Giants cornerback
Elvis Patterson, who was tackled at the Denver 42 by Watson, but an illegal use of hands penalty on Patterson after the interception moved the ball to the New York 48. On the second play after the turnover, Simms completed a 36-yard pass to Robinson. Four plays later, from the Broncos 6, Simms threw a pass to Bavaro in the end zone. The pass bounced off Bavaro's fingertips, but fell right into the hands of McConkey for a touchdown, extending the Giants' lead to 33–10. The Broncos, now playing for pride, finally managed to get a good drive going on their next possession, advancing the ball 74 yards in 13 plays. Elway completed 5 of 6 passes for 46 yards (including a 15-yard reception by Jackson) and rushed for 14, while Karlis finished the drive with a 28-yard field goal, cutting Denver's deficit to 33–13. But Giants wide receiver
Bobby Johnson recovered Karlis' ensuing onside kick attempt and New York responded with yet another scoring drive. Rouson ran twice for 21 yards, and then Simms ran for a 22-yard gain. On the next play, running back
Ottis Anderson scored on a 2-yard touchdown run, giving the Giants a 39–13 lead after Allegre missed the extra point wide left. Denver finally scored their second touchdown of the game when Elway found Vance Johnson on a 47-yard bomb later on, which was the 100th recorded Super Bowl touchdown. Elway would eventually be replaced by
Gary Kubiak, who took a sack to end the game, and the Giants were victorious in a 39–20 rout of the Broncos. As the final seconds of the game ticked away, Carson, continuing the recent trend started by the Giants, gave Parcells a
Gatorade shower, going as far as to take off his jersey and pads and sneak behind Parcells with a Rose Bowl security team shirt on. Thanks in large part to this particular Gatorade dunking, a tradition of sorts was formed that continues to this day. In addition, offensive tackle
Brad Benson and center
Bart Oates drenched Simms with a cooler of ice water. "I think it was very appropriate to cool the guy down", Oates explained, "as hot as he was in the game." Morris was the top rusher of the game, gaining 67 yards, and added another 20 yards on 4 receptions. Robinson was the Giants' top receiver with 3 catches for 62 yards. Bavaro caught 4 passes for 51 yards and a touchdown. McConkey caught 2 passes for 50 yards and a touchdown, returned a punt for 25 yards, and even got to make a contribution after the game, discovering a dropped police pistol on the field and turning it over to a stadium security guard. Defensively, while the Broncos managed to bottle up Lawrence Taylor, Carl Banks had 14 tackles, 10 of which were unassisted and four of those for negative yardage, while
Leonard Marshall had two sacks and forced a fumble. Elway finished the game with 22 out of 37 pass completions for 304 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. He also was the Broncos' leading rusher in the game, with 27 rushing yards and a touchdown on 6 carries. Denver's Vance Johnson was the top receiver of the game, with 5 receptions for 121 yards, an average of 24.2 yards per catch, and a touchdown. The Giants' victory in Super Bowl XXI marked the second time in four months that the
New York metropolitan area had won a championship in a major professional sport; three months before, the
New York Mets had won the
1986 World Series.
Box score ==Final statistics==