Big Blue Huddle

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!

NYSports98 - the NFL Network will be replaying all the original Super Bowl telecasts in the upcoming month so that, at the very least, is a start.

Given that the NFL finally released the 1985 Bears game tapes on DVD, I think that may set a precedence where Giants fans will get to purchase complete (or near-complete anyway) sets of the '86 and '90 seasons which would be a huge step forward in my opinion.

For all the other games, such as the '88 Giants-Jets, you can be like me and collect them through the sports game trading hobby or hunt down the Giant fanatic that recorded all the games back in the 80s and now has closets full of old tapes!

Peace!

I recently converted this entire game to DVD and included Bill Mazer's "Sports Extra" where a pi$$ed of Phil Simms could not stop ranting about how the Giants screwed the pooch big time by letting this game slip from their hands. He claimed the Giants weren't flat, and the Jets weren't anything special ... only they weren't making plays when they needed to which ultimately did them in.

This one is one of the most frustrating games I've ever watched and is exceeded only by the 49ers loss in week #2 of that season.

Peace!

QuoteWhat happened at Wagener-Salley in South Carolina would not have occurred if New York Giants nose guard Jim Burt hadn't decided to seek revenge on his coach, Bill Parcells, in 1985.

The Giants were 3-3 that year, and Parcells, leading up to a game against the archrival Washington Redskins, was trying to motivate Burt.

"The whole week Coach Parcells was telling him how [Redskins offensive lineman] Jeff Bostic was going to eat him up, and it infuriated Jim," said teammate Harry Carson.

So Burt decided on a unique way to both celebrate and get back at his coach after their 17-3 victory over the Redskins. He grabbed the Gatorade cooler, which was still full of the liquid, and poured it on Parcells as time expired.

This is incorrect. The game where Burt first dumped Gatorade on Parcells was the 1984 week #9 encounter against the Redskins. The REAL genesis of the Gatorade Dunk is as follows:

Headed into the 1984 week #9 contest against the Redskins at Giants Stadium, the Skins had taken the last six games between the two teams. In addition, the Giants were still seething after a fourth quarter meltdown in week #3 that witnessed a tenuous 14-13 Giants' lead turn into a shocking 30-14 defeat. The Giants, 4-4 at the time, desprately needed the Redskins' rematch to get back into the playoff picture and instill confidence in the team as they headed into the meat of their schedule where they would face their NFC East rivals in three of the next four weeks (i.e. Skins in wk #9, Cowboys in week #10 and the Cards in week #12).

Coach Parcells knew that, in order to have a shot at winning this game, he needed to contain John Riggins who had been a Giant-killer up to that point.  During the week of preparation leading up to the game, Parcells spent most of it pushing Jim Burt's buttons.  Among the games Parcells played included him constantly yelling at Burt throughout the week, making him do long weight lifting sessions that left Burt's arms numb and on fire, and topped off by Parcells telling the press that the Redskins' Rick Donnalley (Burt's main matchup in the game) had better watch out because Burt was ready for him.  While he knew he was really pissing Burt off, he also knew that Burt would be fired up and be ready to shut down the running lanes to limit Riggins' effectiveness.  The plan worked according to script as Riggins was held to 51 yards rushing for the day on 16 carries.  Near the end of the match, Parcells had walked up to Burt, smiled, and said "I got you ready for the game, didn't I?"  As Parcells walked away, Burt knew he had to get even.  His response was something that shocked the players, drove the fans into further frenzy, and proved to be the start of a new tradition that Giant fans would come to know as "The Gatorade Shower!"  At first, after Burt dumped the bucket on Parcells, he figured he'd be in big trouble.  Through it all, Parcells couldn't stop smiling - his team had FINALLY taken down the Redskins.  Harry Carson knew about Parcells and his superstitions, so he logically concluded that the Giants now had to dump the bucket's contents onto Parcells every time the Giants won.  There you have it - a birth of a tradition!

The article made mention of the Bears' Hampton attempting to take credit for the first dunk, in week #13 of the 1984 season. Go back and do the math ... Jim Burt's execution of the dunk came four weeks beforehand.

Yet another in a long line of erroneous articles where these journalists don't take the time to properly research the facts ... and, as Chris Allen used to say, the beat goes on!

Peace!

Rich - I have the entire game on DVD and those boos you hear from the crowd at the end were from only about 50% of the crowd as the rest of them were either in the parking lot or on the Turnpike on their way home.  Imagine how loud (and potentially dangerous) it would have been had the full 76K+ remained for that play!

To this day, I cannot help but feel bad for John McVay who didn't deserve all the criticism and abuse he received following that play. There was a good chance he would have taken over for Robustelli and have been the Giants' GM had that play never occured (which would have put the Giants in front position for hiring Bill Walsh). At least he was able to redeem himself by taking the GM position for the 49ers and was a major contributor to the dynasty they built in the 80s.

So many memories ... so many what could-a-beens ...

In the end, the new organization that rose out of the ashes of this game yielded seven winning seasons, six playoff appearances and two Super Bowl victories from 1980-1990.  As great as those times were, I cannot help but wonder what would have happened if McVay and Walsh were leading the Giants, instead, during that period.

Peace!

Sal Paolantonio takes a closer look at the dilemma the Giants had in the late 50s between Jim Lee Howell and Vince Lombardi and offers an interesting analysis (as well as a look at "The Catch"):

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=paolantonio_sal&id=3064881

Thoughts?

Peace!

Dasher - another good question!

The 40/40 club consists of, in addition to Tiki Barber:  Alex Webster, Joe Morrison, Ron Johnson, Tucker Frederickson, Joe Dawkins and Rodney Hampton ... there was one other?

You've got me on the other 50/50 member ...

Peace!

Dasher - what a superb trivia question and I apologize I haven't been on due to an increased workload at the office as well as working tirelessly into the night to convert my Giant library to DVD.

Off the top of my head, I would have guessed that guys like Frank Gifford and Joe Morrison would technically qualify since, despite the fact they were primarily RBs for the majority of their respective careers, they were both switched to WR in their later years with the club (i.e. Gifford in 1962-63 and Morrison I believe in 1967 or 1968).



Again, me with my "technicalities" ... maybe Grizz was right in that I should have been a two-bit lawyer versus an engineer ...  ;D

Peace!

Sorry about missing the picture ... here's Jose!



To post an image, you have to use the "BBS" version of HTML which involve the [img] tags. Just insert the complete URL after [img] and then close it by using [img] with a / before img (i.e. /img)... that's all there is to it (I can't use it here or else the board thinks I'm trying to link to an image)!

Peace!

Kicker Jose Cortez was activated from the practice squad and kicked for one game (at St. Louis Rams) for the Giants in 1999.

Peace!