Floyd Eddings--A Star is Born

[retrojint]

And so gushed Jack Buck when Giant receiver Floyd Eddings, playing in his first NFL game, torched the Philadelphia Eagles for 148 yards on five catches.  The date was December 11, 1982.  Eddings did not score a touchdown that day, but he had a 41-yard reception that set up the Giants' first touchdown, and he had a 24 yarder that was instrumental in the team's second touchdown drive.  Overall Eddings factored in a huge way in what amounted to a 23-7 victory over the Eagles.

It was easy to see why Old Sandpaper Voice Buck, the longtime broadcasting legend of Cardinal baseball, was so enamored of Floyd.  The guy could fly.  Legitimate 4.4 speed.  He also had hops and great body control.  Several of those catches were highpointed from the Eagle DBs.  And a couple of them were downright circus jobs.  Eddings appeared to be on that day what the club had been lacking since the heyday of the great Homer Jones--a playmaker at WR. 

Eddings had come to the Giants as an undrafted, collegiate free agent from California.  He had been plagued by injuries throughout his entire college career.  However, even amid the injuries, he had shown moments of stardom during his time with the Golden Bears.  He had once caught three touchdown passes in the first quarter of one of their games only to suffer a knee injury before halftime. 

Floyd began the weird season of 1982 on the injured reserve list for the Giants.  He had an eye injury.  The rules regarding players who were placed on IR in those days were different than today's.  I can't remember exactly but I think a team had six free moves if they wanted to activate a player from that list.  Any additional activations could not occur unless the player passed through waivers first.  At least that's how I think it went. 

The pre-season of 1982 began with the natural optimism that resulted from the previous year's extended playoff run, which featured a playoff victory against the defending NFC Champion Eagles in Philadelphia, before the team finally succumbed to the eventual Super Bowl winning 49ers, 24-38, on January 3, 1982 in San Francisco. 

Spirits were dashed somewhat when Phil Simms suffered a knee injury against the Jets in the pre-season of 82.  It knocked him out for the year. And it happened on a filthy double-up sack by Joe Klecko and Abdul Salaam,
which tore knee ligaments.  However, the team had come to believe in Scott Brunner's ability to lead them given the way that he quarterbacked the team the previous season after Simms suffered a knockout shoulder separation against the Redskins. 

1982 was bizarre.  There was an aura of labor unrest all through the pre-season.  The Player's Association was deemed too weak to stay united through an extended labor action.  But the talk of a strike was everywhere.  However few believed it would be long in duration. 

The season began on September 12 at Giants Stadium against the Atlanta Falcons.  It ended as a 14-16 loss.  The game remains as the second worst defeat that I have ever seen at Giant games that I have attended, exceeded in misery only by the playoff loss to the Rams following the 89 season, which many believe should have been the Giants third championship year. 

The Giants appeared to have the game in hand.  They were leading 14-7, early in the fourth quarter, driving deep in Falcon territory for what would at least be a FG to give the team a two-score lead, or perhaps a TD to truly ice the game.  Leon Perry took a handoff and ran inside the Falcon 10.  He was hit and dropped around the nine.  Somewhere in the sequence he lost the ball.  Players on both teams were milling about.  Everybody but Falcon safety Bob Glazebrook, it seemed.  Glazebrook took the ball from the pile and zigzagged his way to an improbable 91 yard touchdown return of Perry's fumble.  Luckhurst missed the extra point, but the Falcons were able to pull out the win when Luckhurst nailed a 29 yard FG with 58 seconds left following a 53 yard drive. 

The loss was all the more galling to me because Joe Morris had fumbled earlier in the game on the Giants 13 to set up the only other Falcon touchdown, and Joe Danelo had missed FGAs of 36 and 53 yards, with the latter hitting the crossbar.  Brutal, excruciating defeat.

The next week's game was the infamous Monday Night contest against the Packers.  Sept 20, 1982, the night that the lights went out in Giants Stadium--twice.  This game proved to be a 19-27 loss.  Other than the power outage, it is remembered for the fierce two-man war that evening that took place between the Giants Harry Carson and the Packers RB Eddie Lee Ivery.  The plastic was popping the entire evening as they two went at it like a cobra and a mongoose.  Ivery probably took the worst of the collisions.  Carson never let any running back get the best of him.  But Eddie did gain a measure of sweet revenge with an 11-yard TD run in the fourth quarter that put the Packers up 21-19 at the time.  All-time great PK Jan Stenerud finished the scoring by kicking FGs of 37 and 22 yards.  And that was it for football, folks, until November 21.  The league had underestimated the resolve of the union. 

Play resumed against the Redskins that November day.  This time is was a 17-27 loss.  Joe Gibbs always did his best coaching during scab or strike-shortened seasons.  This team would go on to be his first Super Bowl champions.  At 0-3 with three losses at home, the Giants playoff hopes were seemingly dead. 

However, the Giants rallied during the nationally televised Thanksgiving Day game against Detroit on November 25.  The great Lawrence Taylor picked off a Gary Danielson pass at the Giants 3 and returned it 97 yards down the right sideline for the go-ahead touchdown.  If you recall, showboating Lion tight-end David Hill held up an official's flag at the end of the play, egging on the Motor City crowd that the play was coming back.  However Hill made a complete ass out of himself when it was announced that the penalty was against the Lions.  Still more heroics were needed to close out this win.  Terry Jackson picked off Danielson at the Giants 3, and Harry Carson provided 15 tackles and an interception.

Two in a row with the win over the Oilers, 17-14, at Giants Stadium on December 5.  This game is remembered for rookie running back Butch Woolfoks's two fourth quarter touchdowns, the first on a 2 yard run, the second coming on a 40 yard pass from Brunner. 

The following week Buck crooned while the Eagles were burned by Floyd Eddings.  But then in the year's crucial game, the team lost to the Redskins on 12-19 at RFK, 14-15, even though the Giants had led 14-3 at the end of the first half.  The timing of Ray Perkins decision to leave the ballclub to return to his alma mater Alabama had occurred the previous Tuesday.  It didn't help matters.  But the Redskins defense was too strong that day as Brunner was held to 10-26, 128 yards while being sacked 5 times. 

Hopes for a second consecutive playoff berth were dashed the following week in St Louis on Dec. 26.  The game was pretty much a funeral dirge yawner until Brunner caught fire in the fourth quarter, working from an extended no huddle.  He completed two touchdown strikes of 13 and 3 yards to John Mistler, but then Parcells called for a three-man rush and a three-deep zone.  The high-powered Cardinal offense led by quarterback Neil Lomax, covered 70 yards on three completions, the final shot an eight-yard TD pass to Roy Green to win it with less than 30 seconds remaining.

The season ended on January 3, 1983 with a close victory against Philadelphia in the Vet.  This officially ended the Ray Perkins era and ushered in the reign of Bill Parcells. 

PS A star wasn't born that day December day at Giants Stadium.  The incredibly gifted Floyd Eddings never did much of anything following the 82 season.  He would catch 14 passes for 231 yards during the disastrous 1983 season.  They tried him on a reverse that went for three yards. But he would be out of the league the following season, a career shortened by a series of debilitating injuries.  It's too bad because the guy had the goods.  Had he stayed healthy he could have been a player for them, perhaps the Giants version of a playmaking wide receiver that the club always lacked in the matchups with the Redskins, Niners and Rams.  But it wasn't meant to be.  Jack Buck spoke prematurely.

[kartanoman]

Retro - outstanding synopsis on the '82 season and, having recently watched most of those games as I was converting them to DVD, am impressed with your accurate attention to detail ... do you have the '82 season on video as well?

No question that opener against the Falcons set the tone for the entire season. The sense of shock continues to this very day over that Perry fumble and Glazebrook's TD return. As pi$$ed off as I was at the time, it was a slight measure of revenge when a player on the Giants' line (McGriff?) blocked Luckhurst's XP. I still cannot get over how hot it was that day as I remember the A/C was on full blast in the house and ranked up there along some of the heat waves I experience on a regular basis here in Alabama during the summer (though we're cool at rainy at the moment). Though a tough loss to take, you have to think that Atlanta had this one coming based on the fact that the Giants' stole one from them the season before at Fulton County Stadium in OT. The Falcons basically ran rough-shod over the Giants in the rain but self-destructed when golden boy and media darling Steve Bartkowski threw some lame ducks and turned the ball over to open the door for the Giants to get back into the game. Of course, who can forget the Falcons' melt-down on special teams when Frank Marion plowed untouched into John James and blocked his punt ... causing a roller that ended up on the goal line that Mike Dennis fell on in the end zone for the Giants' first points of the day ... a play that completely reversed killed the momentum Atlanta had up to that point. Though Danelo's 40-yarder gave the good guys the "W" that day, I think Perkins would be the first to say that his boys played hard and never gave up; however, they had a bit of good fortune on their side that day.

That 23-7 win over Philly will forever be known as the "Floyd Eddings game' ... didn't he catch something like five or six passes for over 160 yards? You never want to give someone the "flash in a pan" title if they don't deserve it, and your dissertation on behalf of Floyd is indeed compelling, but I also remember him dropping a considerable number of balls in 1983 when Brunner needed all the help he could get at the time.

The Houston game that year was easily Butch Woolfolk's greatest game as a Giant. The one-handed pull-down grab and dash for a TD was a remarkable play that sent the stadium into euphoria. As great as Woolfolk was that day, what I remember most about that game was how relentless the Giants' defense was after they captured the lead at 17-14.  They beat Archie Manning like a pinata and LT tossing Archie around like a rag doll in the end zone was the icing on the cake. I think Dave Jennings set his personal record that day with the longest punt of his career which was 73 yards, I believe.

Finally, watching games back in the day with Jack Buck and Hank Stram (they also paired Jack with John Madden when Summerall was covering tennis or golf early in the season) was entertaining to say the least. Both men were colorful in their commentary and a fine alternative to Pat and John (and Frank Glieber wasn't too bad either!).

Thanks for the great post!

Peace!

[retrojint]

Kart:  Thanks.  God Bless.  And keep that leg in shape.  We might need you.  I have 82 on tape.  I also attended two games.  Plus I used the summaries from the media guides, Game Day programs, which I always scribble notes on as the game goes on, and the always useful Pro Football Encyclopedia.  I didn't cite them directly because I think things like summaries, statistics, quotes--etc are part of the public record. 

It was a truly weird season.  Enjoy summer.  It's almost time.

[LennG]

Great reading guys.

A hot nite, a glass of cold ice tea, I close my eyes and I can still see some of those plays and games you have been talking about.

Thanks

[MightyGiants]

I remember him.  He was the first player that really taught me the importance of balancing results with potential.  I remember it was at least a couple of years I thought the Giants had a potential star.