When you look back at the 1999 New York Giants, you aren't looking at a Super Bowl champion or a team that changed the landscape of the NFL forever. It was a weird year. Honestly, it was the kind of season that feels like a fever dream for fans who survived the post-Parcells drought. You had a head coach in Jim Fassel who was essentially coaching for his life, a quarterback carousel that made your head spin, and a defense that—while talented—just couldn't quite haul the rest of the roster over the finish line.
It was a 7-9 finish. That sounds mediocre. On paper, it is mediocre. But the 1999 season was the messy, necessary predecessor to the miracle "Thunder and Lightning" run of 2000. It was the year the Giants found out exactly what they had in Kerry Collins, for better or worse, and the year the defense established itself as a top-tier unit despite the losing record.
The Quarterback Quagmire: Kent Graham vs. Kerry Collins
The biggest storyline heading into the 1999 New York Giants season was who would take the snaps. Kent Graham started the year as the guy. He was safe. He was "steady." But "steady" doesn't win games in a division that featured a high-flying Washington team and a dangerous Dallas squad.
Fassel had brought in Kerry Collins, a former first-round pick who had flamed out in Carolina and New Orleans due to a mix of performance issues and personal struggles with alcohol. It was a massive gamble. People forget how much of a "pariah" status Collins had at the time. The transition happened midway through the season. Graham got hurt, Collins stepped in, and the offense immediately looked... different. Not always better, mind you—Collins threw 11 interceptions to only 8 touchdowns that year—but the arm talent was undeniable. You could see the flashes of the vertical passing game that Fassel desperately wanted to implement.
It wasn't pretty. Not at all. There were games, like the Week 11 loss to the Washington Redskins, where the offense looked completely stagnant. But that's the thing about the '99 Giants: they were a team trying to find an identity while the house was partially on fire.
A Defense That Deserved Better
If you want to talk about the real tragedy of the 1999 New York Giants, you have to talk about the defense. This unit was ranked 10th in the league for yards allowed. That’s top-tier. Led by the legendary Jessie Armstead, who was at the absolute peak of his powers, this group played with a chip on their shoulder that the offense just couldn't match.
Armstead was everywhere. He racked up 118 tackles and forced fumbles like it was his job (which, well, it was). Michael Strahan was there, too, recording 10.5 sacks. He hadn't yet become the media mogul we know today; he was just a terrifying defensive end who made life miserable for opposing tackles.
Then there was the secondary. Jason Sehorn was returning from that horrific knee injury he suffered in the 1998 preseason. He wasn't the "shut down everything" corner he used to be, but his presence mattered. The defense kept the Giants in games they had no business being in. Look at the Week 4 game against the Eagles—a 16-15 win where the defense basically told the offense, "Just stay out of the way, we've got this."
The Running Game: Joe Montgomery and the Brief Spark
Gary Brown had been the workhorse in '98, but by '99, his tires were bald. Enter Joe Montgomery. For a few weeks there, it felt like the Giants had found their next great back. He was a second-round pick out of Ohio State, and he ran with a violence that Giants fans loved. He finished the season with 474 yards in limited action, including a massive performance against the Jets in the "Snoopy Bowl" regular season matchup.
Unfortunately, injuries plagued him, and he never became the star people hoped for. But in 1999, he was the guy keeping the chains moving while Collins was still trying to figure out which jersey color he was supposed to throw to.
Key Moments and Heartbreaks
The season was defined by close losses. Five of their nine losses were by seven points or less. If a couple of bounces go their way, this is a 10-win playoff team. Instead, they were the "almost" team.
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- The Jets Rivalry: Beating the Jets 41-28 in Week 13 was a rare high point. It was a reminder that when the offense clicked, the Giants could be explosive.
- The Week 15 Collapse: Losing 20-17 to the St. Louis Rams—the "Greatest Show on Turf"—showed that the Giants' defense could hang with the best in history, but the offense just didn't have the firepower to close the deal.
- The Buffalo Finale: A 31-7 drubbing at the hands of the Bills to end the season was a sour note that led many to believe Fassel was a goner.
People were calling for Fassel’s head. The media in New York was relentless. "Same old Giants" was the refrain in the tabloids. But George Young and Ernie Accorsi saw something the rest of us didn't. They saw that the pieces were mostly there; they just needed to be arranged better.
The Legacy of a Losing Season
Why does the 1999 New York Giants season even matter? Why talk about a 7-9 team?
Because without '99, you don't get the 2000 Super Bowl appearance. This was the year Kerry Collins earned the trust of the locker room. This was the year Michael Strahan and Jessie Armstead solidified their leadership. It was the year they realized they needed more weapons, which led to the drafting of Ron Dayne and the rise of Amani Toomer as a true WR1 (he had his first 1,000-yard season in '99).
Toomer was the quiet hero of that year. 79 catches, 1,183 yards, and 6 touchdowns. He was the only consistent thing about that offense. While everyone else was oscillating between brilliance and disaster, Toomer was just... there. Catching everything. Running perfect routes. He was the bridge between the old-school Giants and the modern era.
What Most People Get Wrong
A common misconception is that the 1999 Giants were a "bad" team. They weren't. They were a frustrating team. They had the 4th fewest rushing yards allowed in the league. They were stout. They were tough. But in an era where the NFL was shifting toward high-scoring offenses—think the Kurt Warner Rams or the Peyton Manning Colts—the Giants were still playing a 1980s style of football with a 1990s roster.
They lacked an identity. Were they a ground-and-pound team? They tried, but the line was inconsistent. Were they a vertical passing team? Fassel wanted to be, but the turnovers were backbreaking.
Stat Check: The 1999 Reality
- Record: 7-9 (3rd in NFC East)
- Points For: 299 (20th of 31)
- Points Against: 358 (20th of 31) - Note: Defensive yards were low, but turnovers gave opponents short fields.
- Turnover Margin: -10 (Ouch.)
How to Apply the 1999 Lessons Today
If you're a football fan, or even if you just study how organizations grow, the 1999 Giants offer a masterclass in "patience vs. results." Most owners would have fired Fassel after that 7-9 finish. They didn't. They saw the underlying metrics. They saw a defense that was top-10 in yards and a quarterback who was finally starting to read defenses correctly in December.
Actionable Insight for Fans and Analysts:
- Look beyond the record. A 7-9 team with a top-10 defense and a positive point differential in close games is usually a "bounce-back" candidate for the following year.
- Evaluate the "Why" of turnovers. Were Kerry Collins' interceptions bad reads or receiver drops? In '99, it was a mix, but the chemistry improved significantly in the final four weeks.
- Respect the "Quiet" Seasons. Championships are rarely built in one year. They are built in the ugly, 7-9 years where the core learns how to lose together before they learn how to win.
If you want to understand the New York Giants of the early 2000s, you have to start here. You have to look at the muddy turf of Giants Stadium in 1999, where a defense was screaming at an offense to just score one more time, and where a coach was staring at a headset wondering if he'd have a job on Monday. It wasn't pretty, but it was the foundation.
To truly appreciate the history of this franchise, go back and watch some clips of Jessie Armstead in '99. Watch him navigate a screen pass or blow up a draw play. It’s a reminder that even in "down" years, there is greatness to be found if you know where to look.
Next Steps for Deep-Dive Fans:
- Research the 1999 NFL Draft to see how the Giants' picks (like Luke Petitgout) shored up the line for the 2000 run.
- Compare the 1999 defensive stats to the 2000 "All-Blue" defense to see the marginal gains in turnover creation.
- Look up the "Fassel Guarantee" which happened a year later, and see how the seeds of that confidence were actually planted during the struggle of the '99 season.