Ballad of West Virginia's Jeff Hostetler)". Professional career New York Giants Hostetler was drafted by the Giants in the third round of the 1984 NFL Draft. In his first five seasons he played sparingly, rarely making an appearance as he was the third-string quarterback behind Phil Simms and Jeff Rutledge. The first time he ever touched a football in a regular season game was in the 1986 season, when he blocked a punt in a game against the Philadelphia Eagles. His first start came late in the 1988 season, where he helped lead the Giants to victory in a road game against the New Orleans Saints. In 1989, he started a key game in the middle of the season, leading the Giants to a Monday night victory over the Minnesota Vikings. However, outside of these games, Hostetler's primary roles were mop-up duty and as a holder for kickers Raul Allegre, Bjorn Nittmo, and Matt Bahr. In 2007, in the episode of America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions that profiled the 1990 Giants team, Hostetler noted that he was frustrated with his lack of playing time and volunteered to play other positions, including wide receiver and blocker on the punt return team. Hostetler finally seemed to reach his breaking point in December 1990. He had seen meaningful action in only one game that season, replacing Simms in the Giants' first game against the Phoenix Cardinals. Although he led the team to victory by engineering a late comeback with the team down 19-10 (they would win 20-19), Simms resumed his starting position the next week. Heading into Week 15 against the Buffalo Bills, Hostetler had decided that at the end of the season, he was retiring from the NFL and returning home. Something happened that week, however, that would eventually lead him to change his mind. In the second half of the Buffalo game, which the Giants would go on to lose, Simms again went down with an injury. The Giants lost the game; Hostetler, speaking again to NFL Network, did not believe that Simms was hurt badly and figured that he was only a placeholder until Simms returned. As it turned out, Simms had suffered a severe foot injury and thus would be out for the remainder of the season, giving Hostetler his long awaited opportunity. He led the Giants to two victories, a second win to secure a season sweep