December 28, 1958 NFL fans gathered at Yankee Stadium to see the Baltimore Colts play against the New York Giants. The Giants where the darlings of the NFL and the Colts where just starting to emerge as a good football team. In this game their were 17 individuals who would go on to the Hall of Fame. Back in a time when the average salary was 4,500 and a franchise was worth 1 million. In this time football was not a big sport and sports such as boxing and baseball where bigger. At the time Baltimore was economically troubled and it is a fact that this game would help out. When over 4 million fans tuned into NBC and filled in to Yankee Stadium there is no way they thought they where about to witness the greatest game ever played.
Around 7 weeks earlier the Colts met the Giants in the regular season and won the game 24-21. Johnny Unitas the Colts starting QB was out with broken ribs and a punctured lung. Johnny U lead the Colts offense against Sam Huff and the rock solid defense of the Giants. The field on this day was frozen over causing players to slip. There also was not much grass on the field. Early on in the first quarter Colts kicker Steve Myhra lined up for a field goal. Myhra was not a real consistent or reliable kicker but got his kick blocked. The Giants would then go down the field and kicker Pat Summerall kicked a field goal to give them the early lead 3-0. The Colts would fire back with a strong running game with Lenny Moore and Alan Amache as Amache ran it in for a one yard TD which wouldn't be his last. This is when the Colts started to pull away. In the second quarter the Giants defense started to fall apart as Unitas started to pick them apart. He would hook up with Amache for a TD. 14-3. This would be the score at halftime as it looked like the mighty Colts would win this one easy. In the 3rd quarter the Colts where threatening once again but a mighty goal line stand by the stingy Giants D caused it to be 4th and 1. Coach Weeb Ewbank decided not to kick the field goal. The called play was a pitch to Amache for him to then throw it. Amache didn't here the call right and ended up getting dragged down and the 5 yard line. This would be a huge momentum shifter as it took just two great plays for the Giants to score and make it 14-10. At the end of three it looked like a game and it would turn out to be a great one. In the 4th quarter QB Charlie Conerly hooked up with RB Frank Gifford who had a great game and put the Giants in front 17-14. Later on in the 4th Colts kicker Steve Myhra missed a field goal which gave the Giants the ball. They were going to run the clock out now.On 3rd down Gifford was running to the outside and a controversial call would be made. It was said that he did not make the first down causing the Giants to punt with 3 minutes left. The truth of this call would be unknown untill early tonight where the game was being re-aired on ESPN. They brought in a car crash expert who used technology to show us whether or not he made it. He used the 40 and 45 yard lines as what appeared to be parralell lines but they did go back to a common point. He then traced back that common point and found out that point was the first down line. He showed where Gifford landed and showed he was short about 9 inches. I found this very interesting as was the whole ESPN telecast. This call was at first believed to be changed by an injury to Gino Marchetti he was screaming and it is belived that the ball was moved back several inches due to this. Even with the Giants punting several people on the team where confident that they had this game. Great communication between Johnny Unitas and Raymond Berry helped them throughout the whole game and it helped them drive down and with 10 seconds on the clock got Myhra out there. With the whole stadium watching Myhra hit the field goal and sent the game to OT. We found out that 50 years ago Donovan McNabb wouldn't have been alone because many people didn't know that the game would go to overtime. With OT starting the Giants won the toss. They didn't get anywhere though as they where forced to punt. Now Colts players got confident and Johnny U and Alan Amache led the team down the field where the most famous picture would be taken from this game. Amache running it in for a one yard score and the win. The Colts won the game and the championship.
Now what made this game so great? Well to start off it had so many ups and downs, it was a see-saw game, there where 17 individuals who would go on to the Hall Of Fame, and that it was the first championship game to go to overtime. This game boosted the NFL's popularity to what it is today. The game was shown on NBC to thousands of viewers. At the time no one thought it would become the greatest game. This game also inspired the start of the AFL which made many of the teams in our league today. Johnny U among other players became famous from this game. I currently live in Maryland and I can tell you that many people around here idolize Johnny U and he is a loved player here. Of course the Colts left Baltimore and went to Indianapolis. At the end of the article I will post all of the Hall Of Famers involved so you can see. Of course there was Giants offensive coordiantor Vince Lombardi who went on to coach the Packers, win many Super Bowls, and get the trophy named after him. One last thing that I would like to take from this game is the similarity between these two teams and their championship teams from the past two years. To start off Peyton Manning looks very much like Johnny Unitas and the realationship Unitas had with Raymond Berry reminds me alot of the Manning & Marvin Harrison realationship. Both of these teams won the super bowl with a strong offense, strong QB, and a tough D. Now the Giants last years champs who won on pure defense. The Giants shut down Tom Brady in last years super bowl. Even thought they failed to do that to Unitas they still made him struggle sacking him 5 times. Once again there is no doubt this was the best game ever as it opened up oppurtunities to many people and gave us all the sport that we love.
Here is the list of Hall Of Famers
Giants:
OL Rosy Brown
HB Frank Gifford
LB Sam Huff
WR Don Maynard
DE Andy Robustelli
DB Emlen Tunnell
Offensive Coordinator Vince Lombardi
Defensive Coordiantor Tom Landry
Owner Tim Mara
Vice President/ Secretary Wellington Mara
Colts:
WR Raymond Berry
DL Art Donovan
DL Gino Marchetti
HB/WR Lenny Moore
OL Jim Parker
QB Johnny Unitas
Head Coach Weeb Ewbank
No comments:
Post a Comment