I put this on the BBWC board earlier.
Along the lines of the ESPN Classic
I would swap the Packers and the Cowboy play off games. I think the Cowboy win was extra special, because no one gave the team a chance.
I would add to the list the 38-35 Giants victory over the Cowboys in November, 1980. For me, this was sweet revenge from the heartbreaking loss they faced against them the previous year.
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Excellent list and I can't say I disagree with any of your selections as each are worthy of "top 25" status. I also agree with Wolverine that the barn-burning spectacular against the Cowboys in the rain back in 1980 needs to be considered as top 25 material given that it broke a 12-game losing streak to the Cowboys and had all the highs and lows that made your head spin.
No discussion of the "top 25" all-time Giants games should be complete without including the championship games of 1934 (i.e. Sneakers game vs Chicago), 1938 vs Green Bay and 1956 against Chicago. Each of those are considered highlights in the all-time history of the organization and deserve inclusion.
In reverse chronological order, here are some others that I believe are either worthy of top-25 or honorable mention at the very least:
- Dec 17, 2005: KC 17 @ NYG 27: a heroic effort by an injury-riddled Giants team over an AFC contender that was highlighted by a legendary performance from Tiki Barber and an inspiring debut of LB Chase Blackburn who had over a dozen tackles in his first start.
- Oct 30, 2005: WAS 0 @ NYG 36: on the day they honored their patriarch, the Giants came out inspired and, led by Tiki Barber, put a serious a$$-whoopin' on the rival Redskins that would have made Wellington smile
Dec 12, 1999: NYG 19 @ BUF 17: the Giants drown "Flutie Flakes" and the Bills with a last-second drive that ended when reserve kicker Cary Blanchard kicked a game-winning 48-yarder
Dec 13, 1997: WAS 10 @ NYG 30: for a team that had recently sunk to the depths of the NFL, the Giants capped off a division title with an inspired effort over Washington, and former Giant QB Jeff Hostetler, by storming home to the title
Jan 02, 1994: DAL 16 @ NYG 13 (OT): even though this was a painful loss, it had everything you could ask for between heavyweight contenders with the prize (i.e. division title w/ home-field advantage throughout the playoffs) at stake. The Giants layed it all out on the line, erased a 13-0 deficit and clawed back to send the game into overtime, against what was the greatest team of the 1990s, before falling at the end
Dec 10, 1989: NYG 14 @ DEN 7: a courageous effort in the snow at Mile High where the Giants, coming off two bitter defeats at the hands of the 49ers and Eagles, played with desparation throughout. It was the game of LB Gary Reasons' career and highlighted by a Meggett screen pass he bobbled, secured and took to the house, the famous 4th and 1 goal-line stand where Reasons popped Humphreys so hard he knocked his mouthpiece out and holding on for dear life at the end when they held off Elway long enough for the clock to run out for the big victory
Sep 11, 1989: NYG 27 @ WAS 24: one of the legendary Parcells-Gibbs matchups, this season opener saw the Giants jump out to a big early lead, only to have the Skins storm back and lead by a TD, to Simms marching them back down the field for the tying TD and capped by a Raul Allegre 52-yard FG as time expired for the big win
Nov 27, 1988: NYG 13 @ NO 12: simply put, the game that launched LT to the top of the Mt. Everest of the greatest ever. In a game missing Phil Simms, and the Saints threatening to run away with the game, LT single-handedly stopped the Saints and gave the Giants' offense opportunities to win it ... which they did when Paul McFadden drilled the winning FG in the final seconds
Dec 01, 1986: NYG 21 @ SF 17: nothing can be finer than to beat the 49ers! A 17-0 halftime lead evaporated when an angry and determined Giants team flexed their muscle on national TV, and in front of the arrogant 49ers fans, to completely dominate the second half and wow Giants fans with a display that had rarely been seen before.
Nov 25, 1984: KC 27 @ NYG 28: despite three quarters of frustration, the final quarter set the stage for what was Phil Simms' first great comeback performance in his career as he led two scoring drives in the final eight minutes to pull out a big one.
Sep 09, 1984: DAL 7 @ NYG 28: this was the first time I had ever seen the Giants kick the living $h!t out of the Cowboys and it gave me (as well as all the fans at the stadium that day) great pleasure ... 'nuff said!
Jan 02, 1983: NYG 26 @ PHI 24: the Giants send off Ray Perkins to Alabama with a spirited effort that culminated with a Joe Danelo chip shot winner at the gun.
Oct 25, 1981: NYG 27 @ ATL 24 (OT): the Giants defeated the team picked in the pre-season be be in the Super Bowl. The Giants shut down the #1 offense in the league and managed to kick the winner in OT
Oct 28, 1979: NYG 20 @ LAR 14: the Giants defeated the eventual NFC Champs in Los Angeles (first time since 1959) with a courageous effort from Phil Simms, who was knocked out of the game but came back to lead a number of big scoring drives and completely frustrate the more physical Rams in one of the most memorable games of that era.
Nov 14, 1976: WAS 9 @ NYG 12: the first Giants win ever against George Allen ... which ended the ordeal of Giants players not shaving until they defeated George Allen and the Skins; it was also the first ever win in Giant Stadium for Big Blue
Nov 26, 1972: PHI 10 @ NYG 62: the Giants clicked on all cylinders to score the most ever points in their history
Peace!
Nov 08, 1970: DAL 20 @ NYG 23: the hated Cowboys go down in the final minutes with a Tarkenton laser beam to Ron Johnson for the winning points.
October 29, 1967 - Giants 38 Browns 34
Thrilling win over the first place Browns (remember the Century Division?) was another good memory which just missed making the list.
A great compilation by all. But one game is missing in order to make the set complete:
November 16, 1986. The Giants face the Vikings in the Hubie Dome. Bud Grant's final season with the Vikings. A brutal "take no prisoners" football game by any and all standards. With 1:12 to go the game, the Giants, down 20-19, face a fourth and 17 from midfield. Under a ferocious Viking pass rush, Phil Simms completes a 22 yard deep out pass to Giant WR Bobby Johnson. First down Giants. Five plays later, Raul Allegre hits the game winning field goal.
Final: Giants 22, Vikings 20.
Big Hitter
Did I miss something significant or have we won so many NFL Titles that we can just dismiss them all in a list of 10 or 20 or 25 franchise greatest games?
In the 1956 National Football League Championship Game played at Yankee Stadium in New York City on 30 December 1956, the New York Giants defeated the Chicago Bears 47-7.
The game was played on an icy field. To adjust to the conditions, the Giants opted to wear sneakers instead of traditional football cleats (called Sneaker's Game Two by many). The advantage the sneakers provided in footing was cited as a major factor in New York's romp.
This Giant' teams featured a number of Hall of Fame players, including running back Frank Gifford, offensive tackle Roosevelt Brown, defensive back Emlen Tunnell, linebacker Sam Huff, and defensive end Andy Robustelli. Two Giant assistants of head coach Jim Lee Howell, Offensive Coordinator Vince Lombardi and Defensive Coordinator Tom Landry, later became NFL Hall of Fame head coaches with other teams.
The 1956 season marked the Giants first at Yankee Stadium and the team earned its way to the championship game by winning the NFL Eastern Division title with a regular season record of 8-3-1. The 1956 NFL Championship was the third in the history of the New York Giants franchise.
After this NFL Title, we went THIRTY SEASONS without another one. How can this game/team be dissed by not even being in our top 25 in franchise history.
Apparently now that we have won three more title games, this team loaded with Hall of Famers can't even make a list of the Giants Top 25 games in franchise history. That's pathetic Giant fans. :boooo:
No disrespect intended to the '56 Giants, who obviously were a great team with a great Championship Game victory.
My list was a personal one of my favorite games. I was only 2 in 1956.
No problem schloss. I did not see a start date on the Top 25.
Just the "25 greatest Giants games" and I figured any team that wins us a NFL Title AND includes FIVE on-field Giant HOFers PLUS Lombardi AND Landry coaching us should rate in someone's Top Games.
Now you know about this fine Giant team that's in your history. BTW, you grew up in a real rough period in becoming a Giant fan. Congrats for sticking out the horrendous late Sixties, all the Seventies and the early Eighties. Now you have three more Titles to enjoy. =D>
Geez, Sam ... read my second paragraph a little more closely ... you haven't missed a thing ... apart from where I wrote:
"No discussion of the "top 25" all-time Giants games should be complete without including the championship games of 1934 (i.e. Sneakers game vs Chicago), 1938 vs Green Bay and 1956 against Chicago. Each of those are considered highlights in the all-time history of the organization and deserve inclusion."
I may have been born in 1969, and missed those HOFers in action, but even I know better than to not include them in the all-time list.
Charlie, Sam, Frank and Kyle and the Gang get their due props!
Peace, my friend!
Chris, it must have been my 65 year old eyes and that bottle of Sam Adams I had at lunch. :what:
I know it's a loss, but I think you got to list the '58 Championship game against the Colts.
It's one of the greatest games ever.
Quote from: Wolverine1975 on March 28, 2008, 07:31:53 PM
I would add to the list the 38-35 Giants victory over the Cowboys in November, 1980. For me, this was sweet revenge from the heartbreaking loss they faced against them the previous year.
That was such a back and forth game. Certainly a classic. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198011090nyg.htm
DAL NYG
NYG Earnest Gray 25 yard pass from Phil Simms (Joe Danelo kick) 0 7
DAL Tony Dorsett 1 yard rush (Rafael Septien kick) 7 7
NYG Larry Heater 1 yard rush (Joe Danelo kick) 7 14
DAL Robert Newhouse 1 yard rush (Rafael Septien kick) 14 14
NYG George Martin 4 yard pass from Phil Simms (Joe Danelo kick) 14 21
NYG Leon Perry 1 yard rush (Joe Danelo kick) 14 28
DAL Ron Springs 58 yard pass from Danny White (Rafael Septien kick) 21 28
DAL Robert Newhouse 29 yard rush (Rafael Septien kick) 28 28
DAL Tony Dorsett 13 yard rush (Rafael Septien kick) 35 28
NYG Tom Mullady 20 yard pass from Phil Simms (Joe Danelo kick) 35 35
NYG Joe Danelo 27 yard field goal 35 38
"I know it's a loss, but I think you got to list the '58 Championship game against the Colts. It's one of the greatest games ever."
No offense meant Gunga, but to me, who lived through this game, I personally consider it one of the two worst New York championship games of my lifetime. I was just 14 then (and I am 66 now) and I still get sick to my stomach thinking about the so-called "Greatest NFL Game Ever". I remember telling this to our late, great Chris Allen when he talked that game up. It was hateful and I will NEVER put it on any "greatest Giant games" list. Man, a loss is a loss, especially in a game we should have won.
If your wondering what the other "worst championship game" was, it was Game 7 of the 1960 World Series between the Pirates and the Yanks. Yeah, the Maz homerun game. Damn there goes my stomach all over again! :boooo:
kart,
December 9th, 1934..
The Sneakers Game, of course! Remember the Bears were undefeated (13-0) and had allowed 16 points all season until losing to the Jints 30-13. So the Giants have done it twice-stopping an undefeated team in a championship. Unprecedented!
At this point in time, I don't think I can put together 25 games. But here a few off the top of my head:
1. Supe XLII...'Nuf said.
2. NFC Championship Game 1/11/87...GIANTS 17 'Skins 0. Was first til XLII.
3. 12/14/58...GIANTS 13 Browns 10...Giants had to win the game just to tie the Browns for the Division lead. First play of game, Jimmy Brown ran 80 yds for a TD. As that occurred, the first snowflakes started to fall. Snow continued throughout the game. Pat Summerall hit a 50 yard (?) FG late in the game to win.
4. 12/21/58...GIANTS 10 Browns 0...Complete dominance; Brown only had about 20 yards.
5. 12/7/58...GIANTS 19 Lions 17...This was AT the Lions. The Giants had to win just to have the CHANCE to meet the Browns the next week with the opportunity to tie the Division. The lead was 19-17 with time running out and the Lions set up for about a 40 yd FG. It was blocked by Carl Karilivacz, a DB who only played that one year. WOW!
6. 9/50...GIANTS 6 Browns 0...This was at Cleveland, the second game of the season, and my ear was intently on the radio (I think Ted Husing was still doing the games then). What made this game so important to me was that the Browns had just moved to the NFL with the collapse of the AAFC. They had dominated the AAFC, winning ALL four championships; they had Otto Graham, Dante Lavelli, Marion Motely, Lou Groza, et al. In the meantime, the Giants had picked up Tom Landry, Harmon Rowe & Otto Schnellbacher from the defunct AAFC NY Yankees. This led to Stout Steve to come up with the historic "Umbella Defense" which was basically tailored to cut down passing teams like the Browns. (Some say that it was really Landry who came up with that D. But, I prefer to think that Landry & Owens worked together on it.) Finally, the Browns had just demolished the Eagles, who won the NFL Title in '49, in the opening week. It was COMPLETE DOMINATION by the Giants' D! I LOVED IT! Eddie Price scored the only TD. I remember that beacuse he got the start at FB as a rookie.
6. Supe XXI...'Nuf said.
7. Supe XXV...'Nuf Said.
While my memory of some of these older games has been obscured by time, there was one game that hasn't been mentioned that I do remember very well. It was Oct 28, 1962 and my hero, YA Tittle threw for 7 TD passes against the Deadskins. He threw for over 500 yards that day.
The years have taken their toll, and some of the games of the past two decades have erased many of the older memories with new ones, just as good and maybe even better.
Our entire run to SB XLII, with remarkable wins against all odds in Dallas, in Green Bay and in the super bowl. All games that had everything in them, with us being the big underdogs, yet we persevered.
Super Bowl XXV,a nd the game leading up to that, against the 'threepeat 49ers', where banks said to parcels, "think we ought to show up?', and then beating the bills with their Kgun offense, with an ingenious defensive plan. And let's not forget 86, and that championship win over the deadskins. maybe that game wasn't as thrilling as some of the others, but to those that had waited since 1956 for another championship and had suffered thru some of the worst football EVER by a NY team, that win was as good as it could get.
For me though, as all these games were just magnificent, the two that I will always remember as the best of them all, are SB XLII,a nd the championship win over the 49ers in 1991. Both these games we weren't given a prayer of winning, yet we advanced on pure grit and both were a herculean defensive effort to win. I had thought nothing would ever eclipse the 91 Championship game, but SB LXII may have done it. it is really hard to choice between them.
Lenn - I agree with you 100% that those two games are the greatest in the history of the team for the reasons you mentioned. They remain the only two Giants games I watched where I ended up in tears - I was THAT moved watching them.
Peace!
I beg everybody's pardon on my FB selection for my All-Time Team. I am too hasty with Hedgecock. (NO more passes to him.) I put Maurice Carthon back in.
I love reading the first hand accounts of the older games. It gives you a feel no boxscore or highlight reel can duplicate.
I was 10 years old in 1991, but the 15-13 victory over the 49ers in the NFC Championship will always be my favorite game. I cried myself to sleep after Flipper Anderson knocked them out of the playoffs in '89. Starting with the '87 strike, they lost 4 straight to the '9ers, and the last 3 were heartbreakers... 20-17 in '88 on that ridiculous last-second TD to Rice... 34-24 in '89 after coming back from 24-7 at halftime to tie it 24-24 in the 4th... 7-3 in '90 with three shots from the 1-yard-line in the 4th...
That game was a mountain it took the Giants four years to climb. It was the most physical, hardest-fought game I've ever seen.