William Ostrum 
Dec. 25, 1994 
William J. Ostrum, 63, Of Lower Demunds Road, Dallas, Died Sunday In 
Wilkes-barre General Hospital.

By BILL SAVAGE; Times Leader Sports Writer
 Sunday, December 25, 1994 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1C 





EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The Christmas Eve miracle for which the New York
Giants wre hoping just didn't materialize Saturday. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But even though Santa Claus -- or, more specifically, the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers -- didn't deliver what they wanted, at least the Giants kept up
their end of the bargain. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; They beat an uninspired and undermanned two-time Super Bowl champion Dallas
team, 15-10, at Giants Stadium to complete a six-game winning streak and
finish the season at 9-7. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 However, that wasn't good enough to qualify the Giants for an NFC playoff
berth, as Green Bay routed Tampa Bay, 34-19. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 That enabled the Packers to also finish 9-7 and, based on a better
conference record, to edge the Giants for a playoff spot. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Green Bay assumed control of its game in Tampa by halftime, although the
Giants claimed they didn't know that. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "They weren't putting any scores up and I had no idea what the heck they
were doing," said Giants coach Dan Reeves. "I've never been to a game before
where they didn't put up any scores. Some other teams were playing besides
Tampa Bay and Green Bay. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I finally called up to our coaches and said, `Dang, what's going on? Have
you seen a score anywhere?' " &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Finally, offensive coordinator George Henshaw broke the bad news. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "George said, `I think Green Bay's winning 28-12,' but it didn't make any
difference. Our guys weren't going to quit." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Considering they were once 3-7 and among the laughingstocks of the NFL, the
Giants wanted to at least make sure they'd go out with a win, and a winning
record. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "During the course of the game, I didn't see any scores up, so I figured
they (Tampa Bay) weren't doing too well," joked Rodney Hampton, who rushed for
91 yards to finish with 1,075, making him the first Giant back with four
consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Besides the running of Hampton, a big reason the Giants beat Dallas for the
first time since 1991 was their success in pulling out an old high school play
-- a pooch punt by quarterback Dave Brown --in the third quarter. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 That punt set up a safety and field goal and forced Dallas to play catch-up
football in the fourth quarter. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Mike Horan (the Giants' punter) kind of critiques my punting style, but
the bottom line is it helped us win," said Brown, who in his more traditional
role completed 11 of 19 passes for 141 yards. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Before the punt, the Giants drove to the Dallas 32-yard line. But rather
than try a field goal with the wind swirling from sideline to sideline, Reeves
had the Giants set up in a shotgun and Brown punted for 24 yards down to the
Dallas 8. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Three plays later, quarterback Rodney Peete fumbled the ball out of the end
zone after a hard rush by Jesse Armstead, giving the Giants a safety and a
12-10 lead. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 When Dallas kicked following the safety, the Giants moved 41 yards for
another field goal to go up by five points. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Then, after a Dallas punt, they put together a 74-yard drive that took just
over nine minutes and enabled them to run out the clock on the victory, close
out a second-place finish in the NFC East, and snap a 14-game Dallas winning
streak against teams from that division. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Dallas, 12-4, came into the game knowing that, win or lose to the Giants,
it would be the second seed (behind San Francisco) in the NFC playoffs and
would have a bye in the first round of postseason play. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 And, with star running back Emmitt Smith out with the hamstring injury he
suffered this past Monday in New Orleans, the Cowboys were hampered from the
start. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Besides the injury to Smith and the fact that they only had four days
between games, the Cowboys also did not want to risk injury to some key
players, particularly quarterback Troy Aikman. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I don't think the way we played has anything to do with Troy," said
fullback Darrel Johnston. "It would be very easy to say we didn't have Emmitt,
Michael (Irvin) or Troy in the game, but when Michael and Troy were in the
game, we weren't playing well either." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Aikman and Irvin, both of whom have had recent injuries, played most of the
first half but not in the second. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Dallas took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, but the Giants came back as
Dave Brown threw a 49-yard pass to former Cowboy Mike Sherrard for a touchdown
in the opening seconds of the second quarter. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Sherrard ran into the stands and gave the ball to a fan after that
touchdown. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Then, after Aikman fumbled a snap, the Giants went up 10-3 on a 38-yard
field goal by Brad Daluiso. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Kicking into the wind, Dallas kicker Chris Boniol hit an upright on a field
goal try late in the first half. But, after the Giants failed to move on their
opening possession of the second half, Kevin Williams ran a punt back 52 yards
to the New York 11-yard line. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Former Penn State star and New York Jets disappointing first-round draft
pick Blair Thomas, filling in for Smith, scored from a yard out to enable
Dallas to tie the game at 10-10. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Pre-game speculation that Smith might play was ended when the Cowboys put
him on the inactive list for the game. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 However, a pre-game disclosure by the team's public relations staff that
Aikman and receiver Michael Irvin were going to play sparingly, if at all, was
a bit premature. Both played well into the second quarter. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The Giants had a 6-2 record against the NFC East, but lost games to four
other NFC teams (Detroit, the Los Angeles Rams, Minnesota and New Orleans) to
hurt their playoff chances. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "When you finish 9-7, you have to play well in your division, which we
did," said Reeves. "But you also have to play well in your conference, and we
lost those games, and that's what hurt us." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Even though the Giants won't be in the playoffs, they have now had two
straight winning seasons since Reeves replaced Ray Handley and could finish
with one of the best records in the NFC. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Going into today's action, San Francisco and Dallas are the only NFC teams
to have won more than nine games this year. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In the NFC, Chicago and Green Bay also finished 9-7. And, if Detroit and
Minnesota lose their games tonight and Monday, respectively, they also will
finish 9-7. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 They all, however, will have the edge over the Giants based on conference
play. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Patriots make playoffs &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 -- Page 9C &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Giants Win For Naught New York Misses Playoffs Despite Beating Cowboys