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Biggest "What Ifs" of the Giants...and Ramificiations

Anakim : 12/17/2018 10:28 am
Another slow day at work.


On NFL Network recently, they had the top-10 "What Ifs" in NFL History. Figured we'd turn this into a Giants one.


And let's not ONLY keep it modern. For example, what if the Giants had won the Greatest Game Ever Played? How would things have turned out differently..or would they? Perhaps Johnny Unitas wouldn't have been AS revered?

What if the Giants didn't trade Sam Huff to the Washington franchise? Hell, at the very least, I'm assuming he wouldn't be doing their games.

What if the Giants took Reggie White over Gary Zimmerman in the Supplemental Draft? Oh boy...LT and White on the same team!?!?

Some:

What if Plax didn't shoot himself? We probably would've at the very least had a few playoffs runs had he stayed healthy.

What if we chose Gurley over Flowers? Probably no Saquon unless Gurley re-aggravated his knee injury.

What if we kept Rivers or traded down to where the Browns were picking to take Roethlisberger (and pick up an extra second rounder)...geez, what a circus New York Football would've become. And hell, what if Accorsi relented and trade Osi in the Eli trade.

What if we never cut Jessie Armstead?


Then there's the always popular "what if we kept him" ones. What if we kept Cameron Wake, Chris Hogan, Ryan Clark, Matt Stover, Brandon McManus, hell, Matt Bryant even after the SF debacle (though I think he was cut after Coughlin took over).




And speaking of which, no mentioning THAT game. A) It never happened; and B) even if it did happen, I can't see how we would've beaten Tampa Bay in the playoffs that year. Their defense was absolutely loaded.
Matt Bryant SF Debacle???  
WillieYoung : 12/17/2018 10:34 am : link
You do know it was a bad snap not a missed field goal?
What if Kenny Phillips takes down Celek  
The_Boss : 12/17/2018 10:36 am : link
In week 16 of 2010?
What if Dodge kicks it out of bounds?
(We likely lose in OT I think)
What if  
ajr2456 : 12/17/2018 10:39 am : link
they correctly call offsetting penalties in SF in 2002
RE: Matt Bryant SF Debacle???  
Anakim : 12/17/2018 10:39 am : link
In comment 14223028 WillieYoung said:
Quote:
You do know it was a bad snap not a missed field goal?


Duh. But we're talking about collateral damage.


And what did I say?
If we kept Rivers, we’d be less two SBs.  
Big Blue '56 : 12/17/2018 10:42 am : link
If the Giants had won in ‘58, nothing much would have changed. Johnny U had another crack at us (and won) in ‘59.

As to Huff, we were already aging and in need of an infusion of youth. Tittle’s age suddenly caught up with him in the course of just months
What does Jessie Armstead  
McNally's_Nuts : 12/17/2018 10:51 am : link
have to do with anything?

He was released after 2001 season and played his last two season on bad Redskins teams.

WUT?
Picking Reggie White instead of Gary Zimmerman is the one I think of  
Greg from LI : 12/17/2018 10:57 am : link
LT and Reggie White would have been the most dominant defense in the history of the game.
RE: What does Jessie Armstead  
Anakim : 12/17/2018 10:58 am : link
In comment 14223088 McNally's_Nuts said:
Quote:
have to do with anything?

He was released after 2001 season and played his last two season on bad Redskins teams.

WUT?


Would've been nice to have him finish his career here. PLUS, he would've been an upgrade over Short or Jones.
RE: RE: What does Jessie Armstead  
McNally's_Nuts : 12/17/2018 11:00 am : link
In comment 14223112 Anakim said:
Quote:
In comment 14223088 McNally's_Nuts said:


Quote:


have to do with anything?

He was released after 2001 season and played his last two season on bad Redskins teams.

WUT?



Would've been nice to have him finish his career here. PLUS, he would've been an upgrade over Short or Jones.


I agree, but it's not like Armstead was 25 and in his prime when he left.

It's a weird "what if"
RE: RE: RE: What does Jessie Armstead  
Anakim : 12/17/2018 11:03 am : link
In comment 14223117 McNally's_Nuts said:
Quote:
In comment 14223112 Anakim said:


Quote:


In comment 14223088 McNally's_Nuts said:


Quote:


have to do with anything?

He was released after 2001 season and played his last two season on bad Redskins teams.

WUT?



Would've been nice to have him finish his career here. PLUS, he would've been an upgrade over Short or Jones.



I agree, but it's not like Armstead was 25 and in his prime when he left.

It's a weird "what if"


I'm just coming up with different shit
What Vince Lombardi Never Leaves The Giants  
Trainmaster : 12/17/2018 11:06 am : link
For Green Bay?
RE: What Vince Lombardi Never Leaves The Giants  
McNally's_Nuts : 12/17/2018 11:08 am : link
In comment 14223130 Trainmaster said:
Quote:
For Green Bay?


Or better yet. What if he leaves Green Bay after Jim Lee Howell retires?

RE: What Vince Lombardi Never Leaves The Giants  
Anakim : 12/17/2018 11:08 am : link
In comment 14223130 Trainmaster said:
Quote:
For Green Bay?



Oh that's a great one. Or if Landry never left.
Landry was always going to leave, though  
Greg from LI : 12/17/2018 11:11 am : link
He wanted to go home to Texas. He was never going to stay with the Giants. Lombardi is a very different story though.

Since we're talking about coaches, gotta mention Bill Belichick. If George Young didn't dislike him for whatever reason, and had hired him to replace Parcells, would he have been the great Belichick we know today?
what would have happened if  
GFiLA : 12/17/2018 11:15 am : link
there were no NFL strike in 1987?
Plax..  
FatMan in Charlotte : 12/17/2018 11:18 am : link
would've made us a lot stronger in the 2008 postseason, but I think he was gone as a Giants after that season no matter what he did with the gun.
RE: Landry was always going to leave, though  
Big Blue '56 : 12/17/2018 11:21 am : link
In comment 14223145 Greg from LI said:
Quote:
He wanted to go home to Texas. He was never going to stay with the Giants. Lombardi is a very different story though.

Since we're talking about coaches, gotta mention Bill Belichick. If George Young didn't dislike him for whatever reason, and had hired him to replace Parcells, would he have been the great Belichick we know today?


Hard to say. Though not the all inclusive factor, Not having Brady could very well have determined his ultimate fate. Lombardi otoh, was a lock to make any team great. His one and only year at Washington before his death, he turned around an absolutely abysmal team and led them to a miraculous 7-5 record. It was similar to his turning around a 1-10-1 Packers’ team towards another miracle 7-5 record his first year and leading them to a championship game in year 2
BB56  
PaulN : 12/17/2018 11:23 am : link
Let's wait this off season and see what Rivers does, there are no excuses for him now, but there is a San Diego fan that I know who insists he will choke like he always does. if he does and they don't do anything in the playoffs, then I am no longer even going to bother with people who want to say he is better then Eli. Maybe now he is, although it is close, but 2 rings is something we would sign up for in any franchise QB, and the QB position is all about winning and championships.
What if we promote Belichek to HC after Parcells resigned instead  
GiantBlue : 12/17/2018 11:40 am : link
of Hapless Ray Handley. Sure, Bill didn't really succeed until NE, but who knows if things were different and Wellington leading the team...he may have stayed with Bill B.

What is Bill drafted Brady for the Giants??????

I think about that the most honestly even though we beat him twice with Eli in 08 & 12.
What if...  
Dan in the Springs : 12/17/2018 11:45 am : link
we didn't win in 2011? My thinking is that the victory led them to believe the OL wasn't as bad as it was, and that the team was capable of winning again sometime soon with some relatively small fixes. I think that led to a lot of mistakes in the draft room, including taking more chances on draft picks than they should have.
"What if"  
McNally's_Nuts : 12/17/2018 11:47 am : link
John Mara catches George Young in time to say Wellington and Bob Tisch signed off on hiring Parcells before they offered the job to good time Jim Fassel?
I Believe Belichick Had Already Left To Be HC  
Trainmaster : 12/17/2018 11:47 am : link
In Cleveland at the time of Parcells retirement.

You need to modify your “What If”.

“Belichick is told he is Parcells successor and Parcells let’s it be known he’s likely to retire after the 1990 - 1991 season”. I think that gets you what you want.
Gotta realize this works both ways...  
FranknWeezer : 12/17/2018 11:55 am : link
What if Norwood hooked that ball back to the middle?
What if Eli didn't escape that sack and the Harrison dislodged the ball from Tyree's head?
What if Lawrence "Prime" Tynes didn't have ice in his veins?
We've talked about the Reggie White thing  
Matt in SGS : 12/17/2018 11:57 am : link
and that's still insane to think what might have been if the was there. But also remember that Zimmerman was traded to the Vikings for a number of picks, along with other swaps (Mark Haynes) that helped put Erik Howard, Pepper Johnson, and John Washington on that defense and be part of a core which helped win 2 Super Bowls.

I still go back to 1988. What if the Giants beat the Jets in the final game. 1988 was a wide open year. The Giants had gotten very hot late in the year and seemed to be getting on roll and were peaking. If the Giants win that game, they win the NFC East at 11-5. That means they would have been the #2 seed behind the Bears. Which means they would have faced the Vikings in the 2nd round (since back then the rules were you couldn't play a team in the same division in the 2nd round).

So you play that out, the Niners beat the Bears in Chicago in the NFC Championship, so you could see that happening in this game (in what turned out to be the fog bowl in Philly). Giants beat the Vikings.

So you would have the Giants playing a 49ers team (who the Giants should have beaten if not for the late Jerry Rice bomb) and they avoid the Bears who the Giants didn't match up well with.

That's a what if.
RE: Plax..  
ShockNRoll : 12/17/2018 12:03 pm : link
In comment 14223162 FatMan in Charlotte said:
Quote:
would've made us a lot stronger in the 2008 postseason, but I think he was gone as a Giants after that season no matter what he did with the gun.


Didn't Plax sign a big extension just before the season opener against the Redskins in 08?
What if we don’ t trade Fran Tarkenton back...  
yalebowl : 12/17/2018 12:44 pm : link
...to the Vikings;
What if we don’t draft Rocky Thompson
What if Joe Pisarcek takes a knee
.  
Anakim : 12/17/2018 12:47 pm : link
"What if Joe Pisarcek takes a knee"


We win the game and the Miracle at the Meadowlands II from 2010 becomes just the Miracle at the Meadowlands...at least for Eagles fans.
RE: .  
Big Blue '56 : 12/17/2018 12:49 pm : link
In comment 14223372 Anakim said:
Quote:
"What if Joe Pisarcek takes a knee"


We win the game and the Miracle at the Meadowlands II from 2010 becomes just the Miracle at the Meadowlands...at least for Eagles fans.


We perhaps don’t get Young and Perkins (and then the Tuna)
What if  
Doomster : 12/17/2018 12:51 pm : link
Chunky's still tasted like the ones I had as a kid?
RE: RE: .  
Anakim : 12/17/2018 12:57 pm : link
In comment 14223379 Big Blue '56 said:
Quote:
In comment 14223372 Anakim said:


Quote:


"What if Joe Pisarcek takes a knee"


We win the game and the Miracle at the Meadowlands II from 2010 becomes just the Miracle at the Meadowlands...at least for Eagles fans.



We perhaps don’t get Young and Perkins (and then the Tuna)


Really? The ramifications were that reaching?
RE: Gotta realize this works both ways...  
Pete in MD : 12/17/2018 6:43 pm : link
In comment 14223257 FranknWeezer said:
Quote:
What if Norwood hooked that ball back to the middle?
What if Eli didn't escape that sack and the Harrison dislodged the ball from Tyree's head?
What if Lawrence "Prime" Tynes didn't have ice in his veins?

One more of these: What if Tony Romo hits a wide open Miles Austin in 2012?
Here are my few:  
FStubbs : 12/17/2018 6:44 pm : link
What if the Saints drafted LT instead of George Rogers?
What if Howard Schellenberger decided he'd try out the Giants after Parcells went 3-12-1?
What if the Giants hadn't drafted Dave Brown?
What if Simms hadn't gotten hurt in 1990?
What if Sehorn hadn't ripped up his knee playing special teams in the preseason?
What if Osi was able to play in 2008?
What if the Giants had drafted Aaron Donald or Zach Martin instead of Odell Beckham?
What if Reese hadn't put him that Superbowl clock in 2013?
What if Terrell Thomas had never gotten hurt?

What if Peyton hadn't snubbed the Jets in 1997?
What if the 2000 Ravens had stayed with Tony Banks?
What if the league did not force the Mara's to hire  
EricJ : 12/17/2018 6:52 pm : link
George Young?
The Giants would have taken  
section125 : 12/17/2018 6:54 pm : link
Roethlisberger had the trade not been made. That is a fact. THe Chargers wanted Rivers if they were trading Eli. Accorsi said the fall back was Big Ben.
RE: The Giants would have taken  
EricJ : 12/17/2018 7:00 pm : link
In comment 14223869 section125 said:
Quote:
Roethlisberger had the trade not been made. That is a fact. THe Chargers wanted Rivers if they were trading Eli. Accorsi said the fall back was Big Ben.


We were sitting there at #4 and Cleveland wanted to swap positions with us. I think they were at #7. We could have done that deal with them, grabbed a couple of picks and still would have a shot at Rivers or Ben.
What if the Giants didn't play to win  
micky : 12/17/2018 7:13 pm : link
The final season game vs Patriots when nothing was to play for in 2007??

Would've they went on to winning that Super Bowl vs Pats. Or not??? Playing to win gave confidence in beatingthe Pats
We're living a "what if" right now  
Go Terps : 12/17/2018 7:16 pm : link
What if Mara hadn't botched this past offseason so badly? It's possible that we could have entered 2018 with a different GM/head coach/QB combo.
Why we’re 3 of the greatest NFL HC’s of all time..  
Sean : 12/17/2018 7:23 pm : link
NYG assistants, but not ever head coaches with this franchise? (Lombardi, Landry & Belichick).
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