Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

The New York Giants had been no better than a 7 and 7 team since their last dynasty year of Y.A. Tittle, Sam Huff, Alex Webster, Frank Gifford, etc. in 1963. There were some bad trades, some bad drafts, and some aging players. Y.A. Tittle said after the 2-10-2 1964 season that "We all played one year too long (All meaning the older players like himself, Andy Robustelli, Alex Webster, Jack Stroud, Frank Gifford, Tom Scott, etc.)"

The Giants did make a very good trade for one Fran Tarkenton in 1967, which greatly improved the Giants offense, but still could do no better than a break even 7 wins and 7 losses. In 1970, the Giants did improve to 9 wins and 5 losses, and almost won the NFC Eastern Division. So, what happened that year? Well, a number of things.

The Giants did improve themselves at a number of positions. From the minor leagues came a tight end named Bob Tucker who was to become one of the best tight ends in football. Cleveland's Art Modell contributed defensive tackle Jim Kanicki and running back Ron Johnson for a past his prime receiver named Homer Jones. Both players from Cleveland became starters in 1970 and Johnson became the Giants best ball carrier in years. The Giants traded with the 49ers to acquire wide receiver Clifton McNeil to replace Homer Jones, and McNeil proved to be more than adequate.

Also picked up from the 49ers was linebacker Matt Hazeltine. Matt had been retired for a year, but came to the Giants as a 37 year old free agent and proved that he could still play. The Giants also got a pretty good rookie in first round draft choice Jim Files. Files did well at middle linebacker, and was flanked by veteran Ralph Heck at left linebacker. Heck could also help coach the rookie Files, if needed, because he was the middle backer for the Giants the previous year.

Getting Kanicki at right defensive tackle allowed Bob Lurtsema to move to left defensive end where he helped the pass rush. At the other defensive end position was Fred "Hunter" Dryer, who was a rookie in 1969. Dryer had become one of the league's best pass rushers. Another good pick up was defensive tackle Jerry Shay from Atlanta. Shay played well in 1970 at left defensive tackle for the Giants.

So, the Giants got enough good new players to add to their base players like safety Spider Lockhart, center Greg Larson, fullback Tucker Frederickson, guards Pete Case and Doug Van Horn, tackle Willie Young, cornerbacks Willie Williams and Scott Eaton, place kicker Pete Gogolak and of course, quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who had a great season in 1970. So, with the younger players getting more experienced and the good additions to the team, the Giants were starting to look like a formidable team in the NFL.

If that doesn't explain the improvement, there is more. The schedule was made out differently than in previous years and favored the Giants. Each team played 6 teams outside of their division, and some teams in the same division played mostly tough teams and others mostly weak teams. The Giants played only one winning team outside of their division (the Los Angeles Rams) and three of the weakest (New Orleans, Boston (Patriots), and Buffalo). They also played the Jets, but by the time of that game, the Jets were riddled with injuries including Joe Namath (out for the season) and their great fullback, Matt Snell. Rookie Al Woodall handled the quarterbacking chores for the Jets, but was no match for Fran Tarkenton and the revamped Giants squad.

Another break for the Giants was the death of Redskins head coach Vince Lombardi. The Giants did end up winning two close, come from behind games with Washington, but may have lost one or both of those games if a healthy Vince was still in control of the Redskins.

One bad break that went against the Giants was a controversial call in a game with the New Orleans Saints which some say cost the Giants the game. Win that one and the Giants may have made the playoffs, and then, who knows.

Saban wrote:One bad break that went against the Giants was a controversial call in a game with the New Orleans Saints which some say cost the Giants the game. Win that one and the Giants may have made the playoffs, and then, who knows.

I've seen the play. It was a late TD pass from Tarkenton to Aaron Thomas that would have given the Giants a 17-14 lead. The endzone graphic in the old grass Tulane Stadium was such that there was a painted white box with black letters with an exterior swath of grass, and then you have the out-of-bounds white paint. Its a stupid setup...I think University of Tennessee had something similar with the checkerboard pattern not being the entire endzone, there were parts of the endzone that were just grass...anyways, Thomas caught the ball near the left sideline of the endzone. He was outside the white box/black letters and standing in the grass, but still literally about 5-7 yards from the actual sideline. The ref got confused, thinking the white box/black letters was the entire endzone, and ruled that Thomas was out of bounds. Not sure if I am doing the call justice here...you kind of have to see it to believe it.

After losing their first three games, that 1970 Giants team ran off nine wins in their next 10 games. The only loss was the MNF game in Philly that's presumably best remembered for Humble Howie's "stomach trouble."

In their season-opening 24-16 loss to the Bears (at home), the Giants were only able to get the ball in the end zone once. They had a 13-3 second quarter lead, with the Bears' touchdown coming on a 95-yard runback by Cecil Turner.

That Eagles loss saw Philly hold onto the ball for more than nine minutes in the fourth quarter, though a young Mark Moseley missed a FG that gave the Giants the ball back with 50 seconds left. A weak special teams effort by the Giants allowed the immortal Bobby Walik to have two kickoff returns of 57 and 45 yards (among four for 146 on the night) that helped put Philly in position to score 10 points. In addition, a fumbled snap on a punt gave the Eagles the ball on the Giants' two-yard-line, which they also converted into a score.

I placed G-men at #4 in the 1970 PRs thread a while back. That 9-1 stretch, beating Dallas at least once and sweeping Cards is what did it. Both games in that StL sweep were lopsided, the first of them taking place when Cards were still in juggernaut mode (113-0 over Oilers/Pats/@DAL yet to come). Had an extra (5th) team been allowed to get in the NFC playoffs that year, G-men still wouldn't have gotten in. It would have been the 9-4-1 Rams who whipped them in finale at the Stadium.

I'm assuming had Giants won that last game, they get WC over Detroit; right?

74_75_78_79_ wrote:I placed G-men at #4 in the 1970 PRs thread a while back. That 9-1 stretch, beating Dallas at least once and sweeping Cards is what did it. Both games in that StL sweep were lopsided, the first of them taking place when Cards were still in juggernaut mode (113-0 over Oilers/Pats/@DAL yet to come). Had an extra (5th) team been allowed to get in the NFC playoffs that year, G-men still wouldn't have gotten in. It would have been the 9-4-1 Rams who whipped them in finale at the Stadium.

I'm assuming had Giants won that last game, they get WC over Detroit; right?

I believe the Giants would have gotten in as division winners as they had a better record in their division than Dallas. Dallas then would have gotten in as WC instead of Detroit, I think.

Saban wrote:

74_75_78_79_ wrote:I placed G-men at #4 in the 1970 PRs thread a while back. That 9-1 stretch, beating Dallas at least once and sweeping Cards is what did it. Both games in that StL sweep were lopsided, the first of them taking place when Cards were still in juggernaut mode (113-0 over Oilers/Pats/@DAL yet to come). Had an extra (5th) team been allowed to get in the NFC playoffs that year, G-men still wouldn't have gotten in. It would have been the 9-4-1 Rams who whipped them in finale at the Stadium.

I'm assuming had Giants won that last game, they get WC over Detroit; right?

I believe the Giants would have gotten in as division winners as they had a better record in their division than Dallas. Dallas then would have gotten in as WC instead of Detroit, I think.

It's been noted before that it actually would have come down to a coin flip.

BD Sullivan wrote:

Saban wrote:

74_75_78_79_ wrote:I placed G-men at #4 in the 1970 PRs thread a while back. That 9-1 stretch, beating Dallas at least once and sweeping Cards is what did it. Both games in that StL sweep were lopsided, the first of them taking place when Cards were still in juggernaut mode (113-0 over Oilers/Pats/@DAL yet to come). Had an extra (5th) team been allowed to get in the NFC playoffs that year, G-men still wouldn't have gotten in. It would have been the 9-4-1 Rams who whipped them in finale at the Stadium.

I'm assuming had Giants won that last game, they get WC over Detroit; right?

I believe the Giants would have gotten in as division winners as they had a better record in their division than Dallas. Dallas then would have gotten in as WC instead of Detroit, I think.

It's been noted before that it actually would have come down to a coin flip.

Do you mean for WC between Dallas and Detroit?