I know for many of us, this may have been to most brutal loss in our time.
Hard to believe it's been four whole years.
I still remember enjoying myself in the first half, but having a bad feeling that we needed to pile it on in order to put them away. When they recovered the on-side kick, I knew we were in for a doozy. Never could I imagine the events that followed...
Discuss where you were and what you went thru in the subsequent hours, days, and months :
I dunno why I care so much.
Those uniforms are so plain it makes them awesome.
agreed, even for one week as a throwback game, i think a lot of fans that grew up with the 80s/90s giants would love it.
- Flipper Anderson
- '97 Vikings game
- '02 49ers game
- Super Bowl 35
- Matt Dodge
Honorable mention to...
- 1988 OT loss to Eagles (Giants block FG in OT, picked up by Eagles and returned for TD)
- 1988 loss to Jets, knocked out of playoffs
- 2001 Week 17 loss to Eagles (Lambuth Special)
- 2002 loss to Titans
- 2003 loss to Dallas on MNF
- 2004 loss to Eagles (Westbrook game)
- 2006 loss to Titans
- 2006 loss to Eagles in playoffs
- 2008 loss to Eagles in playoffs
The SF loss was worse because the Giants O was rolling and they had a lot of momentum. TB did not want to deal with the Giants. Shockey catches that TD pass and it never gets to that point
I went back to see the carnage - The Eagle game was just an all out 7 minute cluster fuck.
K. Phillips with awful play on Celek TD catch Eagles score in 49 seconds
Onside kick - clueless
Vick then runs 35 yards for 1st & goal. On 2nd & 9 vick is sacked - defensive offsides. Instead of 3rd down from the 12, 2nd from the 4
2nd & 6 at Eagle 44 and Deihl gets penalty - 2nd & 11 Giants punt from Eagle 40
3rd & 10 Vick scrambles for 35 then later scrambles for 23. Another TD
Giants get good kick return. Go 3 & out in .14 seconds and the rest is history
The Eagles ran 15 plays for 220 yards (14.6 avg per play) for 4:35 of possession and scored 21 points. Plus jackson fumbled after a 31 yard gain right before the Giants went up 31-10. Really an astounding amount of yards given up
Ugly!
- Flipper Anderson
- '97 Vikings game
- '02 49ers game
- Super Bowl 35
- Matt Dodge
Honorable mention to...
- 1988 OT loss to Eagles (Giants block FG in OT, picked up by Eagles and returned for TD)
- 1988 loss to Jets, knocked out of playoffs
- 2001 Week 17 loss to Eagles (Lambuth Special)
- 2002 loss to Titans
- 2003 loss to Dallas on MNF
- 2004 loss to Eagles (Westbrook game)
- 2006 loss to Titans
- 2006 loss to Eagles in playoffs
- 2008 loss to Eagles in playoffs
Agree to a T... And in perfect order..
Hopefully he is more precise with a virtual lightsabre than he is with his foot!
Quote:
For a Giants fan born in '81 with '85-'86 as my first memories, you guys nailed all of the obvious choices...
- Flipper Anderson
- '97 Vikings game
- '02 49ers game
- Super Bowl 35
- Matt Dodge
Honorable mention to...
- 1988 OT loss to Eagles (Giants block FG in OT, picked up by Eagles and returned for TD)
- 1988 loss to Jets, knocked out of playoffs
- 2001 Week 17 loss to Eagles (Lambuth Special)
- 2002 loss to Titans
- 2003 loss to Dallas on MNF
- 2004 loss to Eagles (Westbrook game)
- 2006 loss to Titans
- 2006 loss to Eagles in playoffs
- 2008 loss to Eagles in playoffs
Agree to a T... And in perfect order..
My List of Heartbreakers:
1. The Fumble (for obvious reasons not including the fact that it was the Eagles)
2. Calloway botching onside kick against Minny (a home playoff game that was in the bag); That was painful seeing it in person. That was a pumped up crowd ready to celebrate).
3. Matt Allen and the SF playoff game in 02 (Never saw momentum swing in a game like that so fast and I'ms till waiting for PI call when Suebert was a tackle eligible downfield. Then NFL apologizes next day - brutal.
4. Flipper Anderson still running through the Stadium in '89. That Giants team was probably the best team to not win it all.
5. Matt Dodge/Coughlin/Quinn/Jackson - Perfect Eagles storm. That still hurts - at least it wasn't a playoff game.
My honorable mention:
Titans in '06. Blowing a 21 point lead with 10 minutes left. I was screaming for Coughlin's head after that one. Thank God I don't run the team because I would have fired the guy...
The 2000 Super Bowl loss never bothered me for some reason. Probably because Ravens were clearly the better team and that Giants team obviously overachieved. Plus that NFC Championship ass-kicking of the Vikings kind of softened the blow...
That game was actually a blessing in disguise
And I always get a good chuckle when I think of Eagle fans selling shirts about that regular season game. Some of those losers probably still wear them around Philly.
We have four Lombardis so I can't waste my time thinking about the bad moments - many of which led to good ones.
Are you sure you don't mean the '88 Eagles game? We ended up winning the Div in '89. 1988 had 3 brutal losses - Niners, Eagles and Jets. The latter 2 are both in my top 10.
After the game, a bunch of the Iggles players stayed on the field and were yelling up at me about how they just won. I was yelling right back at them, cursing and screaming, flipping them off and saying all kinds of things. At one point one of the Iggles started to rush towards me in the stands and his fellow teammates pulled him back. Then they just ran off the field laughing at me.
My cousin was with me and says that's I was freakishly angry - says he never has seen anyone that angry and that he was afraid to even speak the whole ride home.
I was also at the playoff game where McNabb ran onto our sidelines and picked up the phone. Remember how we were running the ball down their throats in the first half of that game? Man, I hate the Iggles.
The fumble a "dark day"? It was the BEST day in Giants history! By far. As a Giants fan dating back to the 1950s, I celebrate the FUMBLE in every way possible. I bow down to it and thank the lord for it. It was wonderful. It literally changed my life.
While that loss still really, really stings, I also use it as a argument stopper with Eagles fans. When describing their best game ever I laugh at them that their best game is a regular season game. Not playoffs, not championship game, not a Super Bowl moment. Regular season, ha, now stop talking and go back to dusting your empty trophy case.
thinking about that game gives me bad chills. the '06 titans game caused me to chuck a paper shredder through my wall.
the jay feely game @ SEA in '05 wasn't much fun either...
i still think top to bottom the 2010 team is probably the 2nd or 3rd best of the Eli era. damn shame that we didn't even get a shot in the tourney. sigh.
the bye bye Allie game
the OT loss to the Colts "greatest game ever played"
Vs the Eagles,
(1) Perry's masterful gameplan executed to perfection for 3 quarters only to see his players lose discipline by failing to contain.
(2) The entire year everyone knew that Dodge was a liability. We waited the whole year to watch him piss away a game when everyone knew it was coming. He was too inconsistent for that not to happen.
Coughlin still let him kick failure after failure
(3) Coughlin killing Dodge at the end there was downright embarrassing. It exonerated Aaron Ross and Tom Coughlin
It's very simple.
The Giants go to Candlestick the next week and (most likely) lose.
Or they perform the upset, win the SB and then miss the playoffs in '90 (going by traditional NYG history following a Lombardi). Then the '90 49ers win the SB.
Net result: '89 and '90 SB champions are potentially swapped. Or they probably stay the same.
I'm 95% certain that's what would have happened. The 49ers were always destined to win 4 in the '80s and the Giants 2 (the '90 team was really '80s for the purpose of this conversation).
The competitive balance of the NFL ensured that you could only be on top for so long. Losing the NFC divisional/championship game meant that usually you would go on to win it the next year ('83-'84 SF, '84-'85 CHI, '85-'86 Giants, '86-'87 Redskins, '87-'88 49ers).
That's why the Niners failed 3peat attempt looking back wasn't such a big deal -- it never was supposed to happen by order of the football gods. That it almost nearly happened was a miracle.
Link - ( New Window )
I don't remember how bad we were in 1969 but in 1970 we turned it around. Homer Jones was traded to the Browns for Ron Johnson and DT Jim Kanicki. Bob Tucker emerged as our TE. And Fran Tarkenton scrambled. Somehow we got to 9-4 on those players. Win the final game at home and we are in the playoffs.
But we come out flat and finish 9-5. Symptomanic of many Giants game not being able to get up for a game when it mattered.
I don't remember how bad we were in 1969 but in 1970 we turned it around. Homer Jones was traded to the Browns for Ron Johnson and DT Jim Kanicki. Bob Tucker emerged as our TE. And Fran Tarkenton scrambled. Somehow we got to 9-4 on those players. Win the final game at home and we are in the playoffs.
But we come out flat and finish 9-5. Symptomanic of many Giants game not being able to get up for a game when it mattered.
Also symptomatic of Tarkenton not good enough to win the big one.
The game that killed them was the Monday night game in Franklin Field when the officials called Ben Hawkins in bounds for a TD when he was clearly out of bounds. I think there was a bad call against the Saints that also cost them a game. With replay, they probably would have made the playoffs.
I won't go back any earlier than the 1950s, but there are two periods which make the "dark days" related earlier in this thread look relatively bright:
- They had two winning seasons from 1964 to 1980, and no playoff appearances.
- From 1958 to 1963, the Giants played in the NFL championship game five times, but failed to win any of them.
Sure, the Giants have had many, many glorious outings, but as a fan since 1954, it's been ingrained in me that, when watching the Giants, I generally expect the worst but hope for the best. The 1958 Colts game, followed by the losses to the Packers, cemented that outlook.
Frankly, nothing much has changed up to the current day. They'll break your heart as often as not, but have a predilection for making amazing plays and for winning as underdogs. That's what makes all this so worthwhile. You just never really know what you're going to get on any given game day.
Thank the football gods we won it all a year later. The eagles fans can wear those pathetic tshirts with pride.
97 and 2002 still bother me. 2010 was probably worse if you look at it in a vacuum but in the game scheme that loss was merely a speed bump-- same with flipper in 89, again, brutal but merely a speed bump.
That team could have won the Super Bowl. The nfl not just the NFC was weak sauce. Forget 89 we may beat the niners 1 out of 10 times in that playoff game. Simms was shaky all year and offense just wasn't consistent enough to win three tough playoff games. They couldn't beat the rams for a reason.
The 88 giants host a playoff game and a bye week if they beat the lousy shit show dead man walking joe Walton led jets. And they lost a bizarre game. Brutal. Play that game ten times the giants win 9 of them. Not that day.
One other game that sticks with me is the third game of the 98 season. The Giants were hosting the cowboys on MNF. The cowboys were coming in with no Aikman, Emmitt was banged up and not the same player anymore. The Giants were coming in at 1-1. They got an opening game win against the Redskins (strahan interception return for td) before losing out west to the Jeff George Raiders who got help by the officials at the close of the first half which gave them a field goal which prompted Fassell to tell the Ref "We better not lose this game by 3 points", which they did. As for the MNF game against the Cowboys, it was a big early game for the Giants, a game I really wanted. The Giants end up losing 31-7 in the "Deion Game" where he returned a punt 59 yards for a td, returned an int 71 yards for a td, and caught a 55 yard pass in the same game. I actually renounced my fanship after the the game that night! Lol, of course I was hot with emotion so once that subsided I was there rooting for them again the next week which they won, thank goodness!
That team could have won the Super Bowl. The nfl not just the NFC was weak sauce. Forget 89 we may beat the niners 1 out of 10 times in that playoff game. Simms was shaky all year and offense just wasn't consistent enough to win three tough playoff games. They couldn't beat the rams for a reason.
The 88 giants host a playoff game and a bye week if they beat the lousy shit show dead man walking joe Walton led jets. And they lost a bizarre game. Brutal. Play that game ten times the giants win 9 of them. Not that day.
Cincinnati was no easy opponent in SB 23. They could have beaten SF.
Rice had 200+ yards and the 49ers barely won.
Cause they were a helluva good team that was as good as either the 49ers or Bills all year? We lost 3 games. 4 points to 49ers in SF, 3 points to the Bills and one bad loss to a very good Eagles team in Philly. And it was defensive oriented team with great special teams and a power running game. The QB was mostly a game mananger. The backup was nearly as good for that role as the starter. An all-time great coaching staff didn't hurt. Nothing mysterious or miraculous about it at all.
2007 and 2011 may or may not be hard to believe, but not 1990.
That team could have won the Super Bowl. The nfl not just the NFC was weak sauce. Forget 89 we may beat the niners 1 out of 10 times in that playoff game. Simms was shaky all year and offense just wasn't consistent enough to win three tough playoff games. They couldn't beat the rams for a reason.
The 88 giants host a playoff game and a bye week if they beat the lousy shit show dead man walking joe Walton led jets. And they lost a bizarre game. Brutal.
With you all the way on this. By far this is number 1 on my list. Phil McConkey had one task as a punt returner - catch the damned ball. He never returned one more than 10 yards. Usually he did little more than catch it and fall down. In this game he coughs one up and sets up a Jets TD. And then Simms leads us on two 4th qtr TD drives to take the lead. We kick off and let friggin Kurt Sohn return it past midfield. Worst feeling in my fan-life watching the Jets move into FG range and then score.
We could've won it all and didn't even make the damned playoffs. And this on top of the nightmarish '87 season. Brutal.
[quote] And no it wasn't the darkest day in Giants history. On the field The Fumble in 1978 was. Off the field I would say Troy Archer being killed in a car accident was. [/quote
"The Fumble" gets my vote. You must realize however that there are Giant fans who never even heard of "The Fumble," so we must forgive them for their innocence. Remember also that "The Fumble" was not only our darkest day, but was the first step toward 2 Super Bowls because it resulted in a complete housecleaning of the Giants management & the hiring of George Young as GM.
This is good thing for Giant fans to contemplatet in this bummer of a season. As the old Brooklyn Dodger fans use to say every time they lost the World Series to the Yankees, "Wait til next year.!"
It's the only time I ever cried because of a game. Just went outside and walked around in the backyard in the rain crying. It was actually kind've pathetic.
The sting from the league office saying they botched the final call in an elimination game will never go away. Ever.
I think our team was better than TB, which means I feel we were robbed of a Super Bowl opportunity, which I think not only would have gone well for us but also would likely have left Warren Sapp as a paper champion.
I'm reminded of the loss by him and Mariucci every time they are on TV. This has led in part to my not wanting to watch as much football coverage as I would otherwise.
Every other loss sucked, but in each case we deserved to lose. Not in that one case. The only responsibility for that loss in my view falls on the officials for botching the final call.
This game is burned into my head but it lead the way for a better punter who had an impact in the big one.
The sting from the league office saying they botched the final call in an elimination game will never go away. Ever.
I think our team was better than TB, which means I feel we were robbed of a Super Bowl opportunity, which I think not only would have gone well for us but also would likely have left Warren Sapp as a paper champion.
I'm reminded of the loss by him and Mariucci every time they are on TV. This has led in part to my not wanting to watch as much football coverage as I would otherwise.
Every other loss sucked, but in each case we deserved to lose. Not in that one case. The only responsibility for that loss in my view falls on the officials for botching the final call.
That was definitely the worst loss I recall, but no way would we have won it that year.
We were ravaged by injuries to the front 7 to the point that we were signing guys off of the street. Our offense was also kind of an illusion. Hilliard was out that year with the torn labrum in his shoulder after the Dawkins cheapshot, so it was Toomer and Shockey as the only threats in the passing game, aside from Butterfingers Barber out of the backfield. We also only put it together on offense when Fassell streamlined the offense and took over playcalling.
The loss still hurts because of the bad call, but because of the illegal man downfield penalty, we would have only gotten another shot at the same spot. No way I trusted Junkin to snap the ball well or Bryant to hit the 40+ yard field goal, either. At least that loss + the 2003 fiasco set the stage for the Coughlin/Eli era.
Plus we got sweet revenge on TO in divisional round in 2007 against the Cowboys when he dropped a ball on a slant with not one Giant defender within ten yards of him, and had that bizarre post-game press conference... "It's unfurl, that's ma quwartabaack, that's ma quwarterback,man."
It gave the Packers a spot in the playoffs. I'll always associate the shit fest with how the Pack beat Philly in the playoffs.