I know there have been many, but this one is up there for me.
Giants @ Rams week 5 2001. The Giants entered StL with a healthy 3-1 record although they were dealing with everything going on after the events of 9/11. This loss was followed up with another TV breaker the next week with a 1 point loss to Philly that helped derail what could have been a promising season.
Watching the highlights linked below a few things stand out.
The original Fox broadcast with Madden and Summerall is the height of football watching enjoyment for me as a fan. It is sad that those days are gone. Those old NFC matchups with those 2 guys in the booth and the Fox NFL music which has always been the best, is it for me.
I think that game was one of the most dominant individual performances I've ever seen by a player. Strahan was literally camped in the StL backfield all day and there was nothing they could do about it.
Ron Dayne looked good and pretty thin in a few of his highlighted carries, lol.
I forgot that Faulk fumbled twice in this game.
I miss Jessie Armstead and having a LB of his quality.
Kerry Collins was a very good Giant. I know that the SB leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth, but I appreciate the mini/mildly successful run we had with him.
I always remembered that last pick by Wistrom was bad luck but I had forgotten we were basically in FG range when it happened. I was 18 years old and a senior in HS when this game was played and I remember being sick over it for a full week, this was a reminder of why.
Link - (
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This, or the Playoff collapse to San Francisco
Thread asked for regular season losses though
The Kiwanuka/Vince Young game had me furious. The Jay Feely in Seattle game pissed me off to no end. The blowout loss in the final game at Giants Stadium.
I've/We've been through a lot of shitty losses.
We had a house full of my DW's Pennsylvania relatives that day, because we did Christmas a little early for those carpet-baggers -- the only weekend they could drive to Jersey for a free meal. That 4th Quarter was a Living Hell on Earth as the Iggles scored 28 friggin points, climaxed by Jackson's return. My BIL was cackling about that score. I reminded him that I would be carving a Turkey with a very sharp knife....and it could easily slip out of my hands and across the table. The look in my eyes told him I wasn't kidding.
11/4/79 vs Dallas - Giant splayed their hearts out, lost on a Staubach led drive for winning FG with seconds left.
12/15/85 at Dallas - a nauseating loss where the Giants could have clinched the NFC East in Texas Stadium. Mental errors and a fluke tipped interception return were the difference.
12/18/88 at NY Jets - the Giants completely blew a win-and-in against an inferior team. McConkey fumbled two punts and the normally dependable OL allowed Simms to be sacked 8 times - and the Jets were without Gastineau!
1/2/94 vs Dallas - I still say the Giants would have made it to the Super Bowl this year had they won this game and had the bye week with home field advantage.
12/19/10 vs Philadelphia - already mentioned above several times. At least this game served as a catalyst for the 2011 Super Bowl run.
Larry, good point about the 8 sacks without Gastineau in 1988. Some nobody named Ken Rose had three sacks for the Jets in that game. He had 3.5 sacks total for the rest of his career, 104 games.
Westbrook was a Giants killer. Hated playing against him. Duce Staley, Brian Westbrook...and that other guy. Forgot his name.
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was the Brian Westbrook punt return at the end of regulation I believe.
Westbrook was a Giants killer. Hated playing against him. Duce Staley, Brian Westbrook...and that other guy. Forgot his name.
Correl Buckhalter
This. I was there and the silence afterwards was crazy. I was in the upper deck and leaving the stadium everyone has their head down and nobody said a word. Was one of the strangest experiences I’ve ever had a stadium
Buckhalter?
You could basically assume that any time they were playing a bad team or a team with a backup QB, there was a good chance they were going to lose that game. Always playing down to the competition
1/2/94 vs Dallas - I still say the Giants would have made it to the Super Bowl this year had they won this game and had the bye week with home field advantage.
That was a brutal, brutal loss. The stars were aligned that day - division on the line, at home, record crowd, cold, Hampton playing, Smith got hurt, etc.
After having a dreadful first half - Simms was atrocious - reeled off 13 unanswered points to send the game into OT.
Then that f-cking bullsh-t chop block call on Williams in overtime was a killer...
IIRC, it was the first time Jones had ever given up more than one sack to a player in a single game in his career. That game was frustrating as hell. I also forgot about Shockey's catch in overtime when he could have just gone to the ground in easy field goal range but switched hands and it got knocked loose and they ruled it incomplete on review.
The effect of Desean Jackson was enormous. Packers don't even make the playoffs if we win that game. Instead, they win the Super Bowl.
Then that f-cking bullsh-t chop block call on Williams in overtime was a killer...
Ugh - I remember that! Completely tilted the game toward Dallas.
The other thing I clearly remember from this game (I was there in my end zone seats) was that Jumbo Elliot played his ass off despite being in tremendous back pain. We walked to the huddle after every play stiff as a board, he could barely move. But once he got into his stance he fired off like he was playing SB XXV against Bruce Smith. Emmett Smith got all the accolades for playing the game with the shoulder injury, while Elliott's was completely ignored. Truly unfair.
Not an onside kick - Bryant kicked it out of bounds. Also part of the 2003 experience. That season was something else.
Jerry Rice TD with 42 seconds left pulls out a win at Giants Stadium.
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but the night where the Cowboys beat the Giants after recovering an onside kick and having Quincy Fucking Carter beat us.
Not an onside kick - Bryant kicked it out of bounds. Also part of the 2003 experience. That season was something else.
That’s right. I knew a kickoff was involved.
And that was the ONLY time the Giants’ franchise ever lost back to back 1 point games
97 and 02 Playoffs obviously.
StL and Philly 01 as noted above.
Philly and Dallas 03.
Tennessee 02.
He sure did and Jones being considered one of the best at his position of all time makes it stand out even more.
Toughest ever regular season loss for me, bar none. The worst ever playoff loss was the 1997 Vikes meltdown game
Jerry Rice TD with 42 seconds left pulls out a win at Giants Stadium.
We've written about this so many times, 1988 was the gut punch. They had those 2 losses and the horrible Jets loss, which I still maintain was the worst regular season loss for the Giants the past 35 years.
1988 was a wide open season to win the Super Bowl in an era where you had a dominant team that got on a roll and was unstoppable. And that 1988 season, the Giants started to get hot late, with the win at New Orleans (the LT injury game) and then they blew out the Cardinals and Chiefs going into that Jets game. There is a reason the 49ers "laid down like dogs" in that loss to the Rams, they wanted no part of the Giants, no matter how much Ronnie Lott took it personally. They make it in 1988, I think Parcells has 3 rings, not 2.
https://www.newsday.com/sports/football/giants/simms-recalls-dog-days-of-88-1.3402156 - ( New Window )
I agree with you. The 1989 team would have given the Niners a fight, but I don't think they would have won. That Niners team was one of your typical 1980s teams that got on a roll and was too good. 1988 they were a much more vulnerable team.
There were so many ridiculous losses in 2003 before the injuries piled up and the players just gave up. They lost 17-6 to the eventual champion Patriots despite holding them to 220 total yards, because of 5 turnovers. Lost to the Dolphins 23-10 despite holding them to 280 yards because. again, four turnovers. Somehow were blown out by the shitty Falcons 27-7 in a game where the immortal Kurt Kittner threw a whopping 65 yards against them on 9-23 passing.
Seeing Parcells celebrate was disgusting
LOL. The OP listed it.
02 vs. Titans.
06 vs. Titans.
'10 vs. Eagles. Jackson game.
That was 2004. Craig Krenzel. Awful loss
If a game ever felt rigged, that was one.
If a game ever felt rigged, that was one.
Didn't Strahan have 3-4 sacks in that game?
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included a personal foul, I believe on Dayne, for lowering the helmet to deliver a blow, a huge shitty call.
If a game ever felt rigged, that was one.
Didn't Strahan have 3-4 sacks in that game?
4, I believe. He was otherworldly, Giants deserved the win.
Toughest ever regular season loss for me, bar none. The worst ever playoff loss was the 1997 Vikes meltdown game
I was at that Titans game and there were a ton of Giants fans in attendance. Worst experience ever at an away game having to walk across that bridge to head back to downtown Nashville.
- Seattle '05 game: They played GREAT that fucking day and pretty much should've won the game 3 freakin' times. Led to an unfunny SNL skit... "The Long Ride Home: The Jay Feely Story". Jay Feely skit
- Brian Westbrook punt return game: I just remember my then gf/now wife saying, "You're taking this loss really well." I responded, "I knew they were going to lose." But to see it happen was still shocking.
There were so many ridiculous losses in 2003 before the injuries piled up and the players just gave up. They lost 17-6 to the eventual champion Patriots despite holding them to 220 total yards, because of 5 turnovers. Lost to the Dolphins 23-10 despite holding them to 280 yards because. again, four turnovers. Somehow were blown out by the shitty Falcons 27-7 in a game where the immortal Kurt Kittner threw a whopping 65 yards against them on 9-23 passing.
Tiki Barber fumbled 9000 times that year (accurate number, don't Google it though) and Kerry Collins sucked.
Weren't there 3 or 4 "Kurt Kittner"-type losses during the Fassel era? Didn't they lose to Doug Johnson or someone like that?
Best game of Braylon Edwards' otherwise forgettable career.
Ugh - I remember that! Completely tilted the game toward Dallas.
The other thing I clearly remember from this game (I was there in my end zone seats) was that Jumbo Elliot played his ass off despite being in tremendous back pain. We walked to the huddle after every play stiff as a board, he could barely move. But once he got into his stance he fired off like he was playing SB XXV against Bruce Smith. Emmett Smith got all the accolades for playing the game with the shoulder injury, while Elliott's was completely ignored. Truly unfair.
That’s right. Elliott was a warrior that day. I think it still lingered into the playoffs. And what a horrible conclusion to that year - having Watters score 100 TDs in the catastrophe at Candlestick.
I don’t recall specifically but I think that Williams call negated a good play and made it like 2nd down and forever. Completely flipped any field position advantage.
After watching, the Dayne call was really weak. Garnes WAS holding. Ball was probably never going to be caught anyway but that one gets flagged most of the time.
Not as bad as losing to Kurt Kittner and Tim Hasselbeck
Went in all confident; came out stunned.
If I recall that POS bronco flunky mark jackson dropped a sure fire TD IN THE ENDZONE ! we had to settle for a field goal
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1/2/94 vs Dallas - I still say the Giants would have made it to the Super Bowl this year had they won this game and had the bye week with home field advantage.
That was a brutal, brutal loss. The stars were aligned that day - division on the line, at home, record crowd, cold, Hampton playing, Smith got hurt, etc.
After having a dreadful first half - Simms was atrocious - reeled off 13 unanswered points to send the game into OT.
Then that f-cking bullsh-t chop block call on Williams in overtime was a killer...
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linked in the OP of the Rams game. Garnes and Dayne penalties were both lame
After watching, the Dayne call was really weak. Garnes WAS holding. Ball was probably never going to be caught anyway but that one gets flagged most of the time.
Yeah more so just a completely unnecessary penalty by Garnes
Second place would be that horrible Jet loss in 1988.
2nd Philly 2008 game (Hixon dropping that TD, goddammit)
1988 regular season finale vs. Jets. More frustrating than heartbreaking, because it seemed the whole team was sleep walking except for Simms. But heartbreaking because Giants ended up not making the playoffs because they lost.
It's always worth remembering that the Giants had 1st and 10 on the Cowboys 17 with 14 seconds left and two timeouts just before that field goal. Dallas only had one timeout left.
If the Giants had run the ball one more time or even just kneeled, they could have forced Dallas to call their last timeout or called one themselves to ensure that Bryant's field goal try would be the last play of the game. Instead Fassel deliberately left time on the clock because he was so shell-shocked by the 49ers debacle in the playoffs that he was afraid of a bad snap.
That game was one of the clearest signs I've ever seen that a coach needs to go. When your disappointing losses have left you so shell-shocked that they affect a simple decision like that, you can't be an effective head coach.
1) That loss kept the Giants in a tie with the Eagles and as such lose the East because of the Tie.
2) It meant both the Giants and 49ers would finish the year tied at 10-6, Giants lost out of the Wild Card spot.
3) Because of that win the 49ers were able to qualify for the playoffs and thus end up winning the SB. A Giants win would have meant the East was theirs, they would be in the playoffs and the 49ers would have been out.
There were so many ridiculous losses in 2003 before the injuries piled up and the players just gave up. They lost 17-6 to the eventual champion Patriots despite holding them to 220 total yards, because of 5 turnovers. Lost to the Dolphins 23-10 despite holding them to 280 yards because. again, four turnovers. Somehow were blown out by the shitty Falcons 27-7 in a game where the immortal Kurt Kittner threw a whopping 65 yards against them on 9-23 passing.
And if I am remembering correctly, there were only 11 seconds left because the Giants stopped the clock at about 15 before the field goal. Then again, I was so pissed off, I might have imagined it.
1988 let up last drive to The Jets to lose the division and playoffs
1985 two times to Dallas, we were the better team. Dumb turnovers.
So many lol....
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ELEVEN. Matt Bryant, who ended up having a helluva career for other teams that's still going on, kicks it out of bounds to give Dallas the ball at the 40 without a second running off the clock. Quincy fucking Carter of all people throws a 26 yard pass to Antonio Bryant with four seconds to go, and Cundiff kicks a 52 yard FG to win, because of course no one ever misses a 50+ kick that will prevent the Giants from winning.
There were so many ridiculous losses in 2003 before the injuries piled up and the players just gave up. They lost 17-6 to the eventual champion Patriots despite holding them to 220 total yards, because of 5 turnovers. Lost to the Dolphins 23-10 despite holding them to 280 yards because. again, four turnovers. Somehow were blown out by the shitty Falcons 27-7 in a game where the immortal Kurt Kittner threw a whopping 65 yards against them on 9-23 passing.
And if I am remembering correctly, there were only 11 seconds left because the Giants stopped the clock at about 15 before the field goal. Then again, I was so pissed off, I might have imagined it.
Yup, looked it up. Tiki ran for a first down with 14 seconds left to the Dallas 12. Giants call an immediate timeout and kick the field goal. I remember hollering why call it so quick?
1) That loss kept the Giants in a tie with the Eagles and as such lose the East because of the Tie.
2) It meant both the Giants and 49ers would finish the year tied at 10-6, Giants lost out of the Wild Card spot.
3) Because of that win the 49ers were able to qualify for the playoffs and thus end up winning the SB. A Giants win would have meant the East was theirs, they would be in the playoffs and the 49ers would have been out.
Good points. The NFC was brutal in the ‘80s. The juggernaut conference.
Not only didn’t the Giants qualify in ‘88, but neither did the Saints and Rams at 10-6.
Meanwhile, 10-6 easily would have qualified in the AFC. Seattle won the AFCW at 9-7.
Jerry Rice TD with 42 seconds left pulls out a win at Giants Stadium.
Blocks a FG.
I didn't read the entire thread, but I didn't see the 2006 home game against the Bears. We were 6-2 going into that game and nearly got doubled up (38-20) at home. Devin Hester returned a weak Feely FG for a 108 yard TD, too. Thomas Jones running almost untouched to convert a 3rd and 22. Extremely frustrating. Two ridiculous plays right there and that's just off the top of my head.
Steve Young played the entire first half of that game because Bill Walsh wasn't sure Joe Montana should be his starting QB.
Joe Montana, two-time SB MVP with two more to come.
Montana didn't say a word, didn't cry. When his number was called for the second half, he went in and won the game.
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San Francisco 42 seconds left and Montana hits Rice as Collins and Hill bump into each other.
Steve Young played the entire first half of that game because Bill Walsh wasn't sure Joe Montana should be his starting QB.
Joe Montana, two-time SB MVP with two more to come.
Montana didn't say a word, didn't cry. When his number was called for the second half, he went in and won the game.
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San Francisco 42 seconds left and Montana hits Rice as Collins and Hill bump into each other.
yes remember it well. still bothers me that game.
Steve Young played the entire first half of that game because Bill Walsh wasn't sure Joe Montana should be his starting QB.
Joe Montana, two-time SB MVP with two more to come.
Montana didn't say a word, didn't cry. When his number was called for the second half, he went in and won the game.
There were so many ridiculous losses in 2003 before the injuries piled up and the players just gave up. They lost 17-6 to the eventual champion Patriots despite holding them to 220 total yards, because of 5 turnovers. Lost to the Dolphins 23-10 despite holding them to 280 yards because. again, four turnovers. Somehow were blown out by the shitty Falcons 27-7 in a game where the immortal Kurt Kittner threw a whopping 65 yards against them on 9-23 passing.
I remember that Pats game. It was in the rain. Collins had Tiki in the back of the end zone wide open and Tiki slipped. Crappy pass interference call on a deep throw by Brady also. Tiki fumbled 2-3 times that game..
Infuriating.
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LT blocks a punt, Clyde Simmons scoops it up for a TD, Eagles win.
Jerry Rice TD with 42 seconds left pulls out a win at Giants Stadium.
Blocks a FG.
Yup, typo. Poor multi-tasker at times.
the eagles home game
the 49er game was the biggest gut punch though.
that giant team wins sb if they win one of those games
also being 13 and not being numbed to losing after the good years then the 87 disappointment i was in tears when the giants did not qualify for playoffs after the rams beat the 9ers.
i’m a little thicker skinned now...
That game would be my pick, because it was a game I was there for. Giants offense wasn't moving the ball well that game, but the Eagles were even worse. The Giants defense was DOMINATING them. The Eagles had only 135 yards of total offense. McNabb had only 64 yards. When the Giants punted back to the Eagles with 1:34 to go, I didn't think there was a chance in hell that the Eagles drove down and scored, not even a game-tying field goal. And then Brian Westbrook happened. And everyone left the stadium in SILENCE.
Both teams were 2-3 going into the game. The Giants went 2-8 the rest of the way. The Eagles didn't lose again until December 21, and made it to the NFC Championship Game.
^this