As part of their 100th Anniversary celebration, the NFL has been reliving their greatest moments and honoring their greatest players and teams. This week, they completed their list of the 100 Greatest Teams.
The New York Giants placed six teams on the list.
No. 93 – 2011 New York Giants
“We didn’t mind winning ugly, the tougher the circumstances, the better we were going to be.” – Eli Manning
NFL.com: “The 2011 New York Giants are the only team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl following a 9-7 regular season. QB Eli Manning had a career-high 4,933 pass yards, but the Giants ranked 25th in scoring defense and nearly missed the playoffs. At 7-7 entering Week 16, a 99-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Victor Cruz became the catalyst to a 29-14 win over the Jets. The Giants beat the Cowboys in Week 17. Then in the playoffs, the Giants crushed the Falcons, 24-2, in the NFC Wild Card Game, and won in Green Bay. 37-20 in the NFC Divisional Round. After beating the 49ers in overtime to capture the NFC Championship, the Giants beat the Tom Brady and Bill Belichick-led Patriots. 21-17. in Super Bowl XLVI. Eli Manning led a game-winning drive which included a memorable throw-and-catch to Mario Manningham. Ahmad Bradshaw scored on a 6-yard rushing TD in the final minute, and Manning was named Super Bowl MVP”.
Fennelly: Certainly a more subdued feeling to this team than the one that won four seasons earlier, perhaps because the Super Bowl was won on a touchdown that they weren’t trying to score. When you go back and review this season however, the Giants were actually a pretty resilient team. The NFC Championship Game in San Francisco was one of the great games of this era — a physical , knock-down, drag-out affair in which Manning himself displayed exceptional grit. If you have any doubt about Eli’s Hall of Fame worthiness, I urge you to re-watch that game.
No. 80 – 1927 New York Giants
NFL.com: “The 1927 New York Giants gave up 20 points – the entire season. In their 13 games, in which they went 11-1-1, the Giants allowed an average of 1.5 points per game and scored 15.2 per contest, which was second-most in the 12-team league. Playing at the Polo Grounds, and under the leadership of head coach Earl Potteiger, the Giants allowed points in just three games: to the Chicago Bears, the Chicago Cardinals, and the Cleveland Bulldogs, their only loss. Teams they defeated included the Duluth Eskimos (21-0) and the Pottsville Maroons (twice, by 19-0 and 16-0). The Giants’ biggest defensive play all season was a 54-yard interception return by Mule Wilson. On the season, fullback Jack McBride rushed for six touchdowns, halfback Hinkey Hanes (who also won a World Series as a Yankees outfielder in 1923) had six total TDs, and Wilson, a Honey Grove, Tex. native, also scored six touchdowns.”
Fennelly: The first of the Giants’ eight NFL championships. I’m not going to pretend I know much about this team because I don’t. I’m pretty certain there’s no one alive that does. The Giants were in the league for only three years at the time and football back then was more like rugby than the game we all know and love today. The football was rounder in that era, making passing more difficult.
No. 77 – 1956 New York Giants
“We had a coach, Jim Lee Howell, who was a former drill sergeant in the Marines, and he got law and order.” – Frank Gifford
NFL.com: “The 1956 New York Giants beat the Chicago Bears, 47-7, in that year’s NFL Championship game. With Vince Lombardi coaching the offensive side and Tom Landry coaching the defensive side as assistants, the Giants won the NFL’s East Division with an 8-3-1 record. Hall of Fame halfback Frank Gifford led the NFL in yards from scrimmage, with 1,422, while QB Charlie Conerly had a Pro Bowl season. Hall of Fame safety Emlen Tunnell had six interceptions to lead the defense. Future Hall of Famer linebacker Sam Huff made his rookie debut in 1956 while the Giants moved their home games from the Polo Grounds to Yankee Stadium. In their championship win against the Bears, Conerly threw for 195 yards and two touchdowns, and Gifford caught four passes for 131 yards and a touchdown.”
Fennelly: In my many interviews with Giants players and fans from this team and era, this was a magical time for the ‘Jints’ as they were known. It was their first season playing at Yankee Stadium and one of the only seasons they came close to filling it each week. These were the Howell Giants but there no mistaking the influence of two the game’s greatest and iconic coaches, Landry and Lombardi. Fans who can recall this era do it fondly, but it always comes down to the depressing “what if” conversation and how the Maras allowed both of those men to walk away.
No. 53 – 2007 New York Giants
“We called ourselves the ‘Road Warriors.'” – Shaun O’Hara
NFL.com: “The 2007 New York Giants stunningly won Super Bowl XLII and denied the New England Patriots a perfect season. The Giants were an unlikely team to defeat the 18-0 Patriots. New York ranked middle of the pack in scoring offense and defense while the Patriots averaged nearly 37 points per game. But while the Giants went 4-4 in the second half of their schedule, a competitive 38-35 Week 17 loss to the Patriots gave the Giants renewed confidence. In the playoffs, the Giants beat Tampa Bay, 24-14 on the road in the NFC Wild Card, then won a pair of nail biters at Dallas (21-17) and at Green Bay (23-20, in OT) to make the Super Bowl. They were big underdogs against the Patriots of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, who were being talked about as perhaps the best team of all-time. In an exhilarating, back-and-forth final quarter highlighted by an unbelievable David Tyree helmet catch, a 13-yard TD pass from QB Eli Manning to WR Plaxico Burress gave the Giants a 17-14 victory and a Super Bowl upset to remember.”
Fennelly: The most pleasant surprise in the history of the franchise. The Giants had been competitive, but floundering under Tom Coughlin for three seasons, frustrating the fans with inconsistent play. In 2007, they weren’t predicted to do a whole lot after their best player -= running back Tiki Barber — retired to pursue a career in media. But they shocked everyone. Dallas was the No. 1 seed in the NFC and owner Jerry Jones was talking Super Bowl before the game, which made the victory more satisfying. Eli out-dueling Favre at Lambeau was a classic and the win in the Super Bowl over the Pats was perhaps the greatest win in Giants history.
No. 29 – 1990 New York Giants
“We were just such a physical team and I think that made the difference.” – Carl Banks
NFL.com: “The 1990 New York Giants won a second Super Bowl in five seasons under head coach Bill Parcells. The Giants won their first 10 games and finished 13-3, allowing an NFL-low 13.2 points per game. They beat the Bears 31-3 in the NFC Divisional before winning two nail-biters: 15-13 against the two-time defending Super Bowl champion 49ers for the NFC title, and 20-19 over the high-scoring Bills in Super Bowl XXV. The defense was led by several Pro Bowlers including Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor, who had 10.5 sacks; linebacker Pepper Johnson and defensive end Leonard Marshall. The Giants offense, which ranked middle of the pack in scoring offense and total yards, was led by an efficient QB in Phil Simms (15 TDs, 4 interceptions) until Simms was hurt late in the year and replaced by Jeff Hostetler. In the playoffs, Hostetler threw 3 TDs and no interceptions, and passed for 222 yards in the Super Bowl. The Giants hung on to win in the closing seconds thanks to a missed Scott Norwood field goal, that veered “wide right.””
Fennelly: I’ve written quite a bit about this season and this team. They weren’t very flashy, a typical NFC East smash-mouth style club that simply came out and pushed people around. Nothing came easy because the offense wasn’t very dynamic and Parcells was more conservative than ever, calling high-percentage plays to eliminate turnovers. A lot of that changed after Simms got hurt. Hostetler’s mobility gave them a different look on offense and along with the defense, allowed them to stand toe-to-toe with two better teams in San Francisco and Buffalo. The 7-3 loss to San Francisco on a Monday night during this season just might be the greatest game I’ve ever seen.
No. 12 – 1986 New York Giants
“Little bit of a chip on their shoulder. A little bit of: You can hit me and I’m just going to get back up and hit you harder.” – Harlan Coben
NFL.com: “The 1986 New York Giants went 14-2 and dominated in the playoffs, defeating their three opponents by a total score of 105 to 23. The Giants defense starred Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor, who had a career-high 20.5 sacks and was named league MVP. Other Pro Bowl players on defense included Leonard Marshall, along with Hall of Fame linebacker Harry Carson, whose Gatorade showers of head coach Bill Parcells became must-see-TV during the season. On offense, QB Phil Simms led an attack whose stars included 5-foot-7 running back Joe Morris (1,516 yards rushing, 14 TDs rushing) and tight end Mark Bavaro (66 catches for 1,001 yards). The Giants allowed the second fewest points per game (14.8) and tightened the screws even further during the playoffs. They beat San Francisco 49-3, Washington 17-0, and then the Broncos, 39-20 in Super Bowl XXI. Simms completed 22 of 25 passes for 3 touchdowns in a Giants Super Bowl triumph.”
Fennelly: This team was built to win, and it did. Any Giant fan who was old enough to enjoy this season will tell you that it just might be the best season ever. There wasn’t very much to worry about after losing the opener to Herschel Walker and the Cowboys on Monday Night Football. There was only one other loss after that — a hiccup in Seattle. The rest were all victories. They made the plays they needed to made practically every time: the 4th-and-17 from Simms to Bobby Johnson in Minnesota; George Martin’s pick six off John Elway and a playoff run that saw them outscore two of their nemeses — San Francisco and Washington — by a combined score of 66-3. The Super Bowl was a celebration of Giant fans old and young, as Big Blue won their first NFL title in 30 years.
