When one thinks of the Detroit Lions and the New York Giants, it’s hard to envision those throwback, smash-mouth meetings from the 1960s and ’70s.
That’s because, despite being two of the league’s legacy teams, they only met seven times between 1959 and 1981. Sounds ridiculous, no? Well, it’s true.
One of the reasons was that the two teams were not in the same division during that period (in fact, they’ve never been), so there were no compulsory yearly meetings, and for various reasons the schedule rarely pitted them against each other.
The Giants did not qualify for the postseason from 1964 through 1980, while the Lions only made the playoffs once over that period (1970).
After the Giants defeated the Lions, 19-17, on Dec. 7, 1958, the two did not meet again until Oct. 21, 1962, at Yankee Stadium with the Giants prevailing again, 17-14.
But the Lions would then rip off five straight wins against the Giants, who went into the tank after the 1963 NFL championship game. Detroit won, 26-3 in 1964; 30-7 in 1967; 24-0 in 1969; 30-16 in 1972; and 20-19 in 1974.
The Giants would win the 1976 meeting, 24-10, at the newly opened Giants Stadium. In one of the few victories they enjoyed with Craig Morton at quarterback, the Giants rushed for 196 yards in the game and leaned on their defense to do the rest.
The Giants wouldn’t face the Lions again for another six years — Thanksgiving 1982, to be exact. That will be the focus of our Flashback Friday feature.
