 The Giants played the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXI in front of 101 @,@ 063 fans at the Rose Bowl . After the Broncos ' Rich Karlis kicked a 48 @-@ yard field goal on the game 's opening drive , the Giants took the lead with a 78 @-@ yard touchdown scoring drive , led by quarterback Phil Simms 's 6 @-@ for @-@ 6 passing . The Broncos scored on a 4 @-@ yard quarterback draw by John Elway to make the score 10 – 7 at the end of the first quarter . Although the two teams quarterbacks combined to complete all 13 passes attempted in the second quarter , the only score came when Giants ' defensive end George Martin sacked Elway in the endzone for a safety to make the score 10 – 9 . 
