December 18th: The Date in Giants History

[Fred Exley]

Today's date is memorable for two Giants games with similar outcomes: They were both closely fought, bitter losses. Out of those disappointments, however, came the seeds of better days to come.

December 18th, 1988 - Jets 27, Giants 21

The 1988 Giants team stands out in my mind as a squad that could have accomplished so much more. The season's final game against "the tenants" typifies the near misses that characterized the team.

The Giants stood at 10-5 going into the game and needed only a victory against the 7-7-1 Jets to win their second NFC East crown and lock up the 2nd seed in the NFC playoffs. Two losses to the 9-6 Eagles of Buddy Ryan, Reggie White and Randall Cunningham had made outright victory a must. The schedule had been a rollercoaster. While Lawrence Taylor was suspended for the first four games for violating the league drug policy, the Giants lost a heartbreaker 20-17 to the eventual Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers when Joe Montana connected with Jerry Rice on a 70+ yard bomb as time expired. The Men in Blue stood at 7-5 after their second loss to the Eagles, and the season appeared to be in peril. Then came the famous game in which Taylor managed 3 sacks and a forced fumble against a good New Orleans Saints team while playing with a separated shoulder. The Giants went on to crush the Cardinals and Chiefs the next two weeks, appearing to build momentum toward a postseason run while taking control of their own destiny.

Alas, that playoff run was not to be. That day against the Jets, everything that could go wrong for the Giants, did go wrong. The Giants ran at will, but had a hard time converting 3rd downs because the offensive line, so dominant in the run game, was shockingly like a sieve against the Jets' pass rush. The Giants' kicker, Paul McFadden, missed two field goals which would have tied the game in retrospect. Special teams were awful, giving up long kick returns and suffering from Phil McConkey's uncharacteristic fumble of a punt at his own 6 yard line. Despite all that, Simms drove the Giants down the field and found Lionel Manuel for a go-ahead touchdown with about 3 minutes to play. Leading 21-20 and needing a stop from the Big Blue Wrecking Crew defense, the kickoff coverage broke down again, giving the Jets the ball around midfield. Gang Green drove into field goal range, but wouldn't even need to bring out their kicker, as Ken O'Brien found Al Toon in the end zone for the winning score with 37 seconds to play. Covering Toon was rookie CB Sheldon White, thrust into the game when Perry Williams was injured earlier that day.

The Giants could have still clinched a Wild Card berth, but lost out on tiebreakers when the Rams beat the heavily favored 49ers in San Francisco later that night. The Giants season was over.

The offseason would see the offensive line revamped, with Jumbo Elliott and Doug Reisenberg inserted at the tackles. Safeties Greg Jackson and Myron Guyton would be drafted, along with return man David Meggett. All of them would play key roles as the Giants went 28-8 over the next two years, winning the Super Bowl at the conclusion of the 1990 season.

December 18th, 2004 - Steelers 33, Giants 30

I'm sure most of us recall this game from just five years ago in which the 12-1 Steelers got all they could handle against the 5-8 Giants. The first game between rookie quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Eli Manning saw the young Manning show fans for the first time why the Giants front office had tried so hard to get him. Manning threw 2 TD passes and drove the Giants down the field to set up a Tiki Barber TD for a 30-26 lead late in the game. The Steelers would come back and win, of course, then go on to win a Super Bowl the following season. As we all know, Manning would lead the Giants to their own title three years later.

[MightyGiants]

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