Big Blue Huddle

I pulled this one up and thought this was worth sharing. Motts pudding jars starring Alex Webster, Fran Tarkenton, Ron Johnson and Tucker Fredrickson ... a REAL classic!

Enjoy!

http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/screen.php?c=1422

It was a week #8 contest at Arrowhead Stadium.

Peace!

At least the Giants achieved some measure of "revenge" for "The Fumble" in 1979 when the Kansas City Chiefs had their rendition of "The Fumble" that Harry Carson picked up and ran in for the winning TD with barely a minute left in the game ... a 21-17 Giants win. Even at that, it almost didn't end that way as Livingston drove the Chiefs inside the Giants' 10 yard line but couldn't get in ... thanks to outstanding coverage by the defensive backs.

Peace!

A 23-17 final at the Vet in Philly; however, despite a beating to the tune of eight sacks, Joe Pisarcik brought the team from 23-3 back with a chance to actually win the game in the final moments. Unfortuntately, they couldn't get it in and walked away with a close loss. In all, an entertaining game and the new-look Giants, now wearing white pants with their away uniforms (dissing the disco blue pants worn from 1975-78), played hard for their coach and gave fans hope for the future ... a hope that faded quickly with losses to the Cards, Skins, Eagles at home and Saints but was restored when rookie Phil Simms led the way for five wins in the next six games.

Peace!

It's one of the few games from 1977-present that I don't have a complete game of in my Giants video archive.

Pisarcik was beaten up so badly in this game that he had to sit out the following week's contest at home against Philly; a game in which Randy Dean played in and los 17-13.

Gordon Gravele was largely responsible for an inordinate number of  Giants' quarterbacks took from the blind side from 1977 until they shipped him off to the Rams midway during the 1979 season when Tom Nevelle came in and steadied the ship when Phil Simms eventually took over at QB.

Peace!

Good article, Rob ... thanks for posting!

Ironically, I have that 1970 pre-season game on DVD ... the official opener of Three Rivers Stadium. Tarkenton didn't play for the Giants that day as he was being held out as a precautionary measure for an injury. Instead, the golden arm of Dick Shiner was featured in NY's attack and, as you can see by the final score, was a little lackluster to say the very least! Tarkenton gave a pretty good interview on the sidelines between plays, though.

It's funny but I remember the 1979 pre-season game very well although I don't have a video copy of it. It ended at 10-3 Steelers but Simms played very well as I recall. 

I was 10 at the time but remember how excited my father was about Simms and that he used to tell me that he is going to be for the Giants what Bradshaw was to the Steelers ... perhaps he even read Vinny's article back in the day before he told me that!

Sure enough, 10 years after that pre-season game at Three Rivers, Simms already had one NFL Championship and was gearing the club up for another.

Peace!

Some good insight from "Patterson Plank" Joe Pisarcik as well as a few zingers he uses as comebacks at smarta$$es who bust his balls about the play:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-miracles30th&prov=ap&type=lgns

Peace!

spider - everything you wanted to know about Timberlake but were afraid to ask:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Timberlake

I'll check the Giants' 1965 season highlight and see if Jack Whitaker covers any games that Timberlake, as you say, "screwed up."

Peace!

One of the very few trades, in the 70s, that actually panned out well for the Giants.



Peace!

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!

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.

It's a clip from the memorable 1970 game where the Giants came from behind and won 23-20 ... a game where Pete Gogolak  kicked a then-NFL record 54-yard FG only to have it eclipsed, later in the day ironically enough, by Tom Dempsey who kicked that 63-yarder for the Saints against the Lions.

Frank Glieber and Frank Gifford are calling the PbP.

I have the DVD on this game (a partial) which consists of the third and most of the fourth quarters.

Peace!

At least it worked! The Giants finished the season by defeating the Saints and 49ers.

Peace!

The bottom line from Pat Summerall's commentary at the end of that game ...

"THERE ... WILL ... BEEEEE ... NOOOO ... THREEEEEPEAT!!!!!"

By far, the greatest commentary even spoken over the course of Giants' televised broadcast that perfectly sums up, in my opinion, what was the greatest game in Giants' history.  I rank this one greater than either Super Bowl victory because the end result forced the 49ers to swallow the biggest slice of humble pie ever dished up. That arrogant bunch by the Bay had their equipment shipped out to Tampa even before this game was played and the talk of three-peat was spoken in the context of a foregone conclusion. Joe Montana may have received even more "love press" from the mass media than Tom Brady, Brett Favre and Tony Romo combined! The manner in which the Giants conducted themselves in this game was the very definition of inspiration. Against all odds, the entire team, from the head coach all the way to the placekicker, used their grit and determination to find ways to stay in the contest until the opportunity presented itself to go for the game winner ... which they did in as dramatic fashion as I've ever witnessed.

For those of you who have never seen this game, do yourself a favor and find yourselves a copy of this game and watch; you'll understand exactly what I'm talking about.

To this day, watching Bahr's kick float through the uprights, followed by Summerall's legendary commentary, emotionally drives me to tears as a team nobody gave a chance to win ended up dethroning what was, at that time, the greatest team in the history of the NFL. Yet, they found a way and their accomplishment completely turned the entire NFL upside down. The game, for all practical purposes, ended the career of Joe Montana in San Francisco as well as knocked the 49ers off the pedestal of invincibility from which they would never recover. Their arrogance and cockiness were humbled and this Giant fan took great pleasure in seeing their empire crumble as the Giants went on to win the Super Bowl in another dramatic game.

The 2007 Giants can look to their predecessors from 1990 to reinforce their belief that they can do the same to the Pats in a week and a half.

Peace!

1 - Dave Brown in 1995 (he actually executed quite a few that season but I believe the Seattle game may have been hs final attempt).

2 - It's a sign of weakness ... that your offense is totally overwhelmed by the defense and you're scraping the bottom of the barrell. Now, I would say that it's a decent tactic if you're 3rd and very long AND have either a QB or RB who can execute one effectively. I truly believe that's why you just don't see them all that much. Brown was actually a very good quick-kick specialist which is why Dan Reeves used it often ... especially since the Giants' offense usually went nowhere with Brown undre center.

Hope that helps!

Peace!