25 greatest Giants games

[jimv]

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.   

[LennG]

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.

[kartanoman]

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!

[jimv]

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.

[Matt]

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.