Before Y.A. Tittle was a NY Giant...

.

signing his Niners’ contract under the goalposts after the completion of the East/West Shrine game(?) in 1957..They did that back then

Just FYI, the narrator on that highlight film is the voice of the 49ers, Bob Fouts, Dan's father.

YA was impressive, but what stood out to me after only 5 minutes in, was the two armed, wrap up tackling. No one threw a shoulder into the runner and hoped he'd go down.

of the great qb’s of all time. It is a disgrace that he is not in the HOF since he played with a head coach who according to #16; Frank Gifford was an idiot. As a result Charlie only played 3/4 of all games so don’t point out his stats without that corrected, and an acknowledgment of his combat service in the Pacific in WWII which aged him and decreased his time at U of Miss.

To me he will always be giant football during the initial “glory years”. The Giants and NY should besiege the HoF until Charlie gets his posthumous due.

I couldn't agree more, even with playing only 3/4 of the games his stats are good for his time when compared with other HOF QBs of his day. He is the only QB in NFL history who has won a championship and an MVP that is not in the HOF.

should absolutely be in

to draft Eli.

rotating out of a shotgun. Brody, Kilmer and Waters. They were unstoppable until the Bears figured it out in about the 5th game of the season.

YA was a Giant, there was barely human existence.

Not many will agree, but if you look at accuracy and production, Y.A. Tittle was the best QB the Giants ever had. No disrespect to Eli, Phil Simms. Fran Takenton or the venerable and very tough and talented Charlie Connerly (whom I seem to recall was the actor portraying the Marlboro Man in commercials on TV). Y.A. lifted the Giant's performance from the moment the Giants acquired him.

"Considered washed-up, the 34-year-old Tittle was traded to the Giants following the 1960 season. Over the next four seasons, he won several individual awards, twice set the league single-season record for touchdown passes, and led the Giants to three straight NFL championship games. Although he was never able to deliver a championship to the team, Tittle's time in New York is regarded among the glory years of the franchise.[3]

In his final season, Tittle was photographed bloodied and kneeling down in the end zone after a tackle by a defender left him helmetless. The photograph is considered one of the most iconic images in North American sports history. He retired as the NFL's all-time leader in passing yards, passing touchdowns, attempts, completions, and games played. Tittle was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971, and his jersey number 14 is retired by the Giants."

Interesting fact, at age 34, facing major competion from John Brodie, Tittle chose to get in top shape rather than retire. He was unexpectedly traded from San Francisco to the Giants.

"In January 1962, Tittle stated his intention to retire following the 1962 season.[55] After an off-season quarterback competition with Ralph Guglielmi,[45] Tittle played and started in a career-high 14 games. He tied an NFL record by throwing seven touchdown passes in a game on October 28, 1962, in a 49–34 win over the Washington Redskins.[56][57] Against the Dallas Cowboys in the regular season finale, Tittle threw six touchdown passes to set the single-season record with 33, which had been set the previous year by Sonny Jurgensen's 32.[58] He earned player of the year honors from the Washington D.C. Touchdown Club,[59] UPI,[36] and The Sporting News,[60] and finished just behind Green Bay's Jim Taylor in voting for the AP NFL Most Valuable Player Award.[61] The Giants again finished first in the Eastern Conference and faced the Packers in the 1962 NFL Championship Game. In frigid, windy conditions at Yankee Stadium and facing a constant pass rush from the Packers' front seven, Tittle completed only 18 of his 41 attempts in the game. The Packers won, 16–7, with New York's lone score coming on a blocked punt recovered in the end zone by Jim Collier.

Tittle returned to the Giants in 1963 and, at age 37, supplanted his single-season passing touchdowns record by throwing 36. He broke the record in the final game with three touchdowns against the Steelers, three days after being named NFL MVP by the AP.[64] The Giants led the league in scoring by a wide margin, and for the third time in as many years clinched the Eastern Conference title."

OK, bring on the Eli and Simms loyalists: compare the records. Y.A. was long past his prime when he gave the Giants 3 consecutive championship level years. Does anyone agree?

Y.A. Tittle Wikipedia - ( New Window )

The Giants traded their first and secons round picks to Baltimore for QB
George Shaw in 1959. The Colts then sent that first round pick of the Giants to SF and SF drafted Kilmer.

Despite his appearance in later years with the Redskins, Kilmer was athletic coming out of UCLA, his joining the 49ers in 1961 and the switch to an offense requiring a mobile QB helped push Tittle out the door in SF.

reminds me of how for many years all the televised games used to show the local half time entertainment instead of going to the studios.

Unfortunately his Giants career was only 3 years, but he
had the golden arm. It's very difficult to compare him to
Simms or Eli because of the length of Giants years. But if
you were to pick one Giants q.b. for one big game
- - - it's Tittle hands down.

Is a Hall of famer, there is no question his three years at the QB position were the three best years the Giants ever had at that position, no doubt about that. He had some tough luck in the 2 latter championship games, the 1962 game was played in a brutally cold day with winds howling at 30 mph, and bears game he got hurt, those two games were both games we could have and should have won if not for the weather and the injury.

Reasons why unequivocal statements that Eli is hands down best Giants quarterback ever don’t sit well.

In comment 14285194 Phil in Joisey said:

Quote:

Unfortunately his Giants career was only 3 years, but he had the golden arm. It's very difficult to compare him to Simms or Eli because of the length of Giants years. But if you were to pick one Giants q.b. for one big game - - - it's Tittle hands down.

Actually Phil, YA who was one of my faves as well, was not the big game QB Eli was..So for one big game, it’s actually Eli

own games and their play calling ability was a big part of their role. I think there’s much to be said for the idea. Actually, I’d love if they banned play calling by the coaches. It would add so much to the game.

and some of the tailgaters encountered YA in the parking lot. YA told the Giants fans he was "going to have a look at Eli"

It was my first exposure to football. I knew then what I wanted to do - like thousands of other kids. That was to be QB for the NY Giants. I wasn’t able to do that but I have done OK. He is why I watch the game today.

...lofting bombs down the sideline hitting Del Shofner in stride.

My Dad used to call them the "West Coast Connection." I was a little too young to understand the reference of Tittle coming from the San Fran 49ers and Shofner from the L.A. Rams.

Some great football!

Should be in the HOF. No contest.

And as for taking Y.A. Tittle as the QB for one big game, I must make this observation. And bear in mind that I saw him play late in his 49ers time and during all three years that he played for the GIANTS and took them to the Championship game. As great as Y.A. was for the GIANTS, and he was a great QB even late in his career, but he NEVER WON that Championship game. And that's what separates him from Conerly, Simms, and Manning, and even Hostetler. They all won the biggest game at the end of the season.

He used to tell me about him when I was 4 or 5 too little to understand or appreciate but I remember how animated my father got while talking about “Y.A”. He rarely showed that much emotion.

Where Y.A. is tossing TD passes to Buddy Dial and Don Maynard and the Giants keep the much desired first round draft choice they acquired from expansion Minnesota and draft Roman Gabriel with that selection to be Tittle’s successor...

Dial a second round pick in 1959 lost out to a eighteenth round pick Joey Biscaha and Dial went on to become one of the better deep threats of the early to mid sixties with Pittsburgh. Maynard a favorite of Lombardi’s was on the 1958 championship team and waived in 1959.

The Giants must have had something important in mind when they sent veterans Bob Schnelker and Mel Triplett among others to the Vikings for a pick everyone knew would be first or second in the 1962 draft.

But in reality it’s hard to argue with the process. It brought Tittle, Shofner, Joe Walton and Erich Barnes to a franchise that had an aging QB in Conerly, had lost its star player in Gifford, had a plodding WR corp and a aging secondary. Just like the Rangers trading away Doug Weight and Tony Amonte brought them the Cup, without the process 61-63 would never have happened...it was the last real run of genius the Giants had, well worth disregarding the future for.