Snowball Game (1995)

The Giants opened the scoring after forcing the Chargers to punt on their opening possession. After converting consecutive third downs and crossing into San Diego territory, Dave Brown found Charles Way for a long pass play that put the Giants inside the Chargers' 10-yard line. New York settled for a field goal after Brown fumbled, Rodney Hampton gained three yards, and an incomplete pass. Brad Daluiso's 30-yard field goal put the Giants ahead 3–0.

On the ensuing drive, Chargers starter Stan Humphries suffered a neck injury and was unable to continue. Backup quarterback Gale Gilbert came in but the Giants forced another punt. The Chargers responded by stopping Tyrone Wheatley after two short runs and Brown missed Chris Calloway on third down. Chargers punt returner Andre Coleman fumbled the kick on fourth down, however, and the Giants recovered. With the ball on the San Diego 23-yard line, it took the Giants four plays to score as Brown ran in from three yards out. The extra point made the score 10–0.

The Giants then forced the Chargers into a three-and-out on their next drive, but they would suffer their own punt miscue as Arthur Marshall fumbled and the Chargers recovered on the 16-yard line. After Aaron Hayden got two short gains, Gilbert threw an incompletion on third down. John Carney put the Chargers on the board with a field goal, making the score 10–3.

New York scored their second touchdown on a long drive just before the half. Brown completed all six passes he threw on the drive, including a third down completion to Marshall that brought the Giants to the San Diego 1-yard line. Hampton would cap off the drive with a touchdown run and Daluiso added the extra point to make the score 17–3. These would be the last points the Giants would score.

On the opening drive of the second half, the Giants turned the ball over when Mike Sherrard fumbled after catching a short pass from Brown on third down. The Chargers took advantage of the short field and on the seventh play of their drive, Hayden scored on an eight-yard touchdown run. Carney's extra point cut the deficit to seven.

The Giants tried to make up for their gaffe on the previous drive and moved the ball again into the opposing side of the field, as Brown's completion to Aaron Pierce gained twenty-four yards and put New York at the San Diego 29. Three straight incompletions followed, however, and Daluiso missed his field goal attempt.

After both teams traded punts, San Diego tied the game in the fourth quarter. The Giants had a chance to stop the Chargers on fourth down at their 29-yard line, but Gilbert found Tony Martin for a 13-yard completion to keep the drive going. The Chargers again found themselves down to a fourth down three plays later, but Rodney Culver found the end zone on an eight-yard touchdown run. Carney made the extra point to even the score at 17.

The Giants took advantage of a short kick by Carney and Brian Kozlowski's return set them up at their own 47. Brown completed a pass to Sherrard for fourteen yards and Hampton followed with three more significant gains to put the Giants at the 9-yard line with a chance to regain the lead. However, Hampton was stopped for a loss on first-and-goal, and on the next play Brown threw a pass that was intercepted by Shaun Gayle at the 1 and taken the entire length of the field for a Chargers touchdown and a 24–17 lead with the extra point.

Brown then lost a fumble on the next drive, giving the Chargers the ball inside New York territory on the 40-yard line. San Diego forced the Giants to use two of their timeouts by rushing the ball with Hayden four times, and then Carney came out and closed the scoring with a field goal. A failed fourth down conversion was the result of the Giants' subsequent drive and Brown was sacked on the final play.

A significant winter storm had passed through the New York metropolitan area in the week leading up to the game. The storm was the third snow event to strike the area in the prior two weeks, and as a result the region surrounding the Meadowlands received nearly a foot of new snow.[1]

Stadium maintenance workers managed to clear out the aisles before the game started so fans were able to get to their seats. Much of the seating areas were still covered in snow, however, and had been sitting exposed to the elements for three days prior to the game. This meant that there had been enough time for the snow already in the seating area to melt and freeze back over. The temperatures at game time were hovering near freezing, with wind chills below freezing; this, combined with the icy conditions in the area and the home team’s poor play, kept fans away and the attendance was well below a sellout.

Some of the fans decided to toss snowballs at each other during the course of the game. Many of the projectiles, however, were significantly harder and some were mostly ice after the melted snow refroze. This became a problem as some of the over 50,000 in attendance began throwing their snowballs onto the playing surface.

The conditions grew worse as the game wore on. In all, ten of the stadium's security guards were injured, fourteen fans were arrested, and 175 were removed from the stadium. Chargers equipment manager Sid Brooks was struck with a snowball, and the coach holding Giants' head coach Dan Reeves' headset wire ran and took cover after nearly getting struck.[2]

Things got so out of control that Chargers players did not bother to take their helmets off once they reached the sideline for concern that they might be struck in their heads. Referee Ron Blum finally decided to take matters into his own hands early in the fourth quarter and called for public address announcer Bob Sheppard to announce that if the fans did not stop throwing snowballs onto the field, the game would be called off and the Chargers would win by forfeit. The snowballs kept flying, especially as Gayle returned his interception for the winning touchdown, but the game was played to its conclusion.[3] Reeves, in his postgame interview, said that he would have been fine with the forfeit saying that the fans who were throwing snowballs had no respect for other people. Giants owner Wellington Mara agreed. The team would later purchase a full-page advertisement in the local San Diego newspapers apologizing for the incident, and the league decided not to pursue discipline against them.

During the game, an Associated Press photographer snapped a photo of a man in a brown coat throwing a snowball. The Giants and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority asked for assistance in identifying him, offering a reward, and after fifteen people notified the team that they knew the man, New Jersey State Police arrested Jeffrey Lange, a 26-year-old man from Readington, New Jersey on December 27.[4] Facing a judge on January 3, 1996, Lange pleaded innocent to charges of improper behavior and claimed he was being scapegoated for the entire incident and the unwelcome publicity had cost him his job. Lange was eventually convicted in April 1996 in East Rutherford municipal court and received a fine, which he appealed. The Bergen County Superior Court affirmed the verdict in August 1996.[5]

The Giants-Chargers game was one of two to take place at Giants Stadium that weekend, with the New York Jets playing host to the New Orleans Saints in their season finale the following day. There were no further snow throwing incidents that weekend as the remaining snow was cleared from the stands before kickoff. (The Jets, like the Giants, failed to record the victory at home as the Saints defeated them 12-0 for their thirteenth loss of the season.)

The Chargers' win resulted in the team advancing to the playoffs as the highest seeded Wild Card team, and they earned a home game in the playoffs. They were defeated by the Indianapolis Colts, however, and did not return to the postseason afterward until 2004.

The Giants’ 5-11 finish was their worst since Bill Parcells’ rookie year as coach in 1983, when they went 3-12-1. The team decided, in spite of their regression from the prior season when they went 9-7 and barely missed the playoffs, to retain the services of Dan Reeves as head coach for 1996 (he would be fired following that season after recording a 6-10 record).

Rodney Culver's touchdown was his third rushing touchdown of the season and the last of his NFL career. On May 11, 1996, Culver was aboard ValuJet Flight 592 when it crashed into the Florida Everglades following a fire in the cabin killing everyone on the aircraft.