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Where are They Now? Brad Benson
Former left tackle now riding high in retirement.
By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

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March 22, 2007

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Virtually every longtime Giants fan knows what happened in the Metrodome in Minneapolis on Nov. 16, 1986. The Giants trailed, 20-19, and faced with a seemingly impossible fourth-and-17 situation with 1:06 remaining in the fourth quarter. But Phil Simms threw a 21-yard pass to Bobby Johnson on the right sideline and moments later, Raul Allegre kicked a 33-yard field goal to give the Giants an improbable 22-20 victory.

Allegre seemingly kicked a 55-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter. But the score was nullified by Benson's illegal motion penalty. Pushed back five yards, Allegre then missed a 60-yard attempt. That's when Parcells, who had a volcanic temper when provoked, went after Benson. And Benson started heading toward his coach.

"I was smoking," Benson said. "I could read his lips on the sideline. It wasn't pretty.  There were words there that would set just about anybody off."

Appropriately, team leaders Harry Carson and George Martin intervened. Carson grabbed Benson, while Martin managed to restrain Parcells.

"George Martin put his arm around my neck," Parcells said. "I was going to chase Benson and George tackled me. I said, 'Let me go, what do you think I'm going to do?' He said, 'I think you're going to kill Benson.' George knew what I was doing."

"I remember that so distinctly," Martin said. "Bill had homicide written all over his face.  And Brad knew it."

As they made the long walk to the locker room, Parcells directed a withering verbal assault at Benson. After the dramatic victory, he had pretty much calmed down. Although he mercilessly critiqued him at virtually every practice, Parcells had a soft spot in his heart for Benson, who overcame his athletic limitations to become a Pro Bowl tackle.

"On the flight home, Ronnie Barnes (then the head trainer, now the vice president of medical services) comes back and said, 'Listen, Bill would like you to come up and see him,'" Benson said. "So I came up and I sat down beside him. He got on me pretty good.  And he said, 'Listen, I just want you to know I love you. You are my man. I have a lot of confidence in you.' Normally you could only have beer - you couldn't have any hard liquor, but he ordered me a drink. I was really in the cat's seat. So he said, 'So are we okay?' I said, 'Yeah, we are fine.' Parcells said, 'Good, go back to your seat.' I said, 'Okay.' I got up and he said, 'By the way, you move like that one more time, I'm going to cut you.' He had that last word."

Parcells always did. But that was fine with Benson, who credits Parcells for helping make him the player he was.

Benson joined the Giants as a rookie free agent in 1977, following a stellar career at Penn State, where he was a three-year starter and an offensive captain as a senior. He was actually drafted in the eighth round by the New England Patriots, released and picked up by the Giants. Benson was active for five games as a rookie, then played in all 16 games as a pro sophomore. The Giants won a total of 11 games under coach John McVay in those two years, and the lowlight of the 1978 season was Joe Pisarcik's infamous fumble.

"I was in the huddle for the Philadelphia fumble," Benson said. "My first two years - I really don't want to say bad things about an administration, but it was a real step down from Penn State. Guys were leaving at lunch time to go have beers. It was just incredible.  I couldn't believe the things that were going on."

In 1979, George Young hired Ray Perkins to be the head coach and Benson became the starting left tackle.

"When Perkins came in, he instilled the discipline and everything that we needed, but he was just missing something," Benson said. "In other words, he had no relationship with his players - no relationship."

That changed when Parcells was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach for the 1983 season. Parcells was a tough guy who could also massage souls and egos. He knew who he could ride hard and who needed a softer touch. It quickly became clear in which category Benson resided.

"Brad was the whipping boy," said Phil Simms, then the Giants' quarterback. "Billy (Ard, the left guard) never heard anything."

Benson rarely made it through a practice without receiving a verbal blast from the coach. Part of it was the position he played. Parcells rode left tackles and cornerbacks, because he believed those players were on an island and had to possess mental toughness to survive. Also, Parcells knew that riding Benson made the all-important left tackle a better player.

"The left tackle was one of the key spots," Parcells said. "He had to protect your quarterback's backside. So I was always on Benson. He had the temperament and personality. He was tough mentally. He was a guy that had to be technically precise. And when he wasn't technically precise, he was going to give up sacks. So I was always on his butt. Billy Ard always used to tell me that he got the benefit of a free ride, because he played next to Benson."

For several reasons, Benson never objected to the barbs.

"Before Parcells got the head coaching job there, my butt was out the door," Benson said. "There is no doubt in my mind that I was going.  Perkins was getting rid of me. Parcells knew how to push every guy's butt differently. He knew that he could get on me and that I could take it. I didn't have the most athletically ability in the world so I had to be at 120 percent all of the time. I was probably, on the whole offensive line, the worst athlete of the bunch. It didn't mean I was the worst football player, it just meant that I was perhaps not born with quite the ability of some of the other guys. Everything I did and achieved was through motivation. And Bill knew that. And he knew that he had to do certain things to me to keep me on top of my game. So Parcells had an excellent way of pushing people's buttons without having them fall apart. He just challenged me everyday is what he did."

Under Parcells' prodding, Benson kept improving. His best season was 1986, when he joined Ard, Bart Oates, Chris Godfrey and Karl Nelson on the Suburbanites offensive line that help pave the way for the Giants' Super Bowl victory. Benson was voted to his first and only Pro Bowl and was named All-NFL second team. And on Dec. 7 of that season, he played perhaps the most memorable game of his career.

That afternoon, the Giants defeated the Washington Redskins in RFK Stadium, 24-14, a victory that effectively clinched the NFC East title. Benson was matched up against defensive end Dexter Manley, whose impressive skills were matched only by his considerable loquaciousness. Manley could talk a good game, but Benson played a great one, holding the Pro Bowl end to just three tackles and no sacks. Three days later, Benson became the first lineman to ever win the NFC Offensive Player of the Week award.

"I had a lot of stress before that game," Benson said. "Dexter and Lawrence (Taylor) were tied for leading the league in sacks. Somebody said to Dexter, 'It really looks like you should end up leading the league in sacks.' He said, 'I have a double-edged sword. I have got the situation with Lawrence and he generally plays well against us. And I have a situation with Benson. Typically, Brad Benson gives me a lot of trouble when I play against him.' (Later in the week), somebody asked him, 'Why do you have trouble with him?' He said, 'Well, I was misquoted. I don't have trouble with him.  As a matter of fact I am going to kick his butt.'

"At RFK at the time you came up from the tunnel and went through this old dugout to step up on the field. You had to duck your head to get up on this field. I will never forget coming out of the tunnel, ducking, then pulling my head straight up. I just saw all of these number 60 dolls hanging by a noose around the stadium. Quarterbacks are used to that.  Defensive linemen, like Dexter, who has a lot of publicity might get used to that. Holy (cow), I wasn't used to that."

Despite the unnerving start, Benson played perhaps the most memorable game of his career.

"I did play well against him," Benson said. "I was really prepared well. And my fellow lineman helped me a great deal. If Bart didn't have anything to do he would come out and bump him and Billy would bump him. The backs were great, because they knew the pressure I was under. They did whatever they could to help me." 

In addition to his sturdy play, Benson was known for possessing a few quirks and superstitions. For example, he refused to walk through the huge garage door near the locker at the West end of Giants Stadium. Benson insisted on walking through smaller double doors just off to the side.

"I always had to go through the door, the regular door, even though the big door was open," Benson said. "Jim Burt used to think that was great. He tried to do whatever he could to get that door locked so that I couldn't walk through it, so I had to walk somewhere else, which I didn't think was at all funny on game day. I wasn't buying into that crap at that time. But, yeah, I had to walk through that door."

Simms was well aware of Benson's idiosyncrasies, because they sat in the same row on every flight.

Benson retired after the 1987 season and 137 regular season games with the Giants. He made an easy transition into a post-football life. Benson had already purchased a Jaguar dealership. In 1994, he dropped Jaguar and has since owned a Mitsubishi/Hyundai dealership on Route 1 in South Brunswick, N.J.

"I was always enchanted by cars," Benson said. "I'll never forget when Carl Banks came in as a first-round draft pick and he was driving a new Jaguar. I loved that car. I used to kid Carl, 'I couldn't afford to buy a Jag so I bought a dealership.' I just always really loved cars. I still do.

"I love trucks now. You love everything you don't have. Cars have become kind of mundane for me and now I enjoy trucks. Of course, we don't sell any trucks. I wish we did."

Benson and his family live on a 40-acre farm in Hillsborough, N.J. which he hopes will to expand in the near future. "Horses and cattle are a big part of our life," Benson said. "We really enjoy that. We generally keep a herd of 30-40 longhorn cattle and 10-11 horses at any given time. We have a bunch of dogs, chickens, goats, the whole menagerie - an alpaca, donkey and a miniature horse."

Benson and his wife have three children: Tyler attended Raritan Valley Community College this year and will go to Rutgers in the fall. He does not play football because of concussions he suffered as a high school freshman. Clint, who will turn 15 next month, was a freshman offensive lineman and defensive end at Hillsborough High School this year. Daughter Destini, 13, is a straight A student who wants to be a veterinarian.

"My daughter and I are the animal fanatics of the family. That's our hobby together, but she has more animals that I know what to do with. She's got a zoo on the farm, that's all I can say.

"My boys and I have drag race four wheelers. We go around the country doing that. We've been to Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky, Indiana. It's on a national level. We're on a professional circuit with that."

Benson enjoys an active and fulfilling life. But when he does get down, he has the perfect elixir: the Super Bowl ring he won 20 years ago.

"There are times that I get in the habit of not wearing it because I worry about it when I am working - slinging a sledge hammer, changing implements on a tractor and stuff like that," he said. "But I get in grooves where I wear it. It makes me feel better. When I don't wear it for a while, I think I am going through a tough time or something like that, then I put it back on. It is kind of like, if I could do this, I can get through this kind of thing."