Maybe Daniel Jones and Brian Daboll should take a page out of Jim Lee Howell’s playbook. After that egregious offensive performance, I thought I should reminisce on the glory days at Yankee Stadium.

 

Maybe Daniel Jones and Brian Daboll should take a page out of Jim Lee Howell’s playbook. After that egregious offensive performance, the other day I thought I should reminisce on the Giants during the mid century when they played on River Avenue. After moving directly across the Harlem River from the Polo Grounds to “The House That Ruth Built” which is so close in proximity it can be walked in 20 minutes, Jim Lee Howell turned the New York Football Giants into instant winners.

The footballers who were tenants at Yankee Stadium were tremendously under shadowed in America because baseball was America’s game at the time and Casey Stengel’s Yankees became World Champions for the sixth time in eight years that fall.

But Yankee Stadium was the home of champions in 1956 as the Giants hoisted a trophy of their own; their first championship since 1938. I always love to give credit to the old timers that get forgotten. Prior to the Super Bowl era football really wasn’t beloved in America and there are tons of names that deserve their due. There were plenty of offensive playmakers from the Giants teams in the late 50’s and early 60’s.

Charlie Conerly, who was later known as the Marlboro Man for doing Marlboro cigarette commercials bled blue as the signal caller for 14 seasons. He led the Giants to a 47-7 annihilation over the Bears in the 1956 NFL Championship game going seven for ten throwing for 195 yards and two touchdowns. His longest completion on that historic day on River Avenue was for 67 yards and his QB rating was 115.7. Chuck threw for over 1,000 yards in 12 of the 14 seasons and over 2,000 twice. This was when the game was far more a running game than today’s high-powered offense. In 161 games as a Giant Chuck’s record was 57-31-1 and he would average 18 touchdown tosses a year which again was impressive for the time. The field general summated 121 yards per game on average in 14 years and led the league in QB rating in 1959 with 102.7, yards per completion with 15.1, and yards gained per attempt with 8.8. He had 14 touchdowns and only four interceptions that year, finishing second to Johnny Unitas who beat him in the NFL Championship game that December.

Charlie Conerly has been snubbed of Canton for way too long and the wrongs should be rewritten because he belongs in the Hall.

Of all the guys that get lost in the shuffle one does not. Francis Newton Gifford. Years after his retirement he was known for hosting Monday Night Football with Howard Cosell and Don Meredith on ABC as well as much more being an Emmy Award winning commentator and in the 80’s married Kathy Lee. But in his playing days he was a versatile superstar. Playing Halfback, Wide Receiver, Defensive Back, Flanker, even a bit of Quarterback and Kicker. From 1956 to 1959 Frank Gifford had this number of rushing attempts those years: 159, 136,115, 106 with over 500 yards in three of those seasons and 840 yards on the ground in the championship season. Receiving those four years “Faultless Frank’s” number of catches was 51, 41, 29, 42 and #16 earned 603 yards hauling in passes in ’56, 588 in ’57, and 768 in ’59, as well as four yards shy of 800 in 1962 with 796. Gifford won the NFL MVP in 1956 with those doughty numbers as he also led the league in total yards from scrimmage consummating 1,422 and reeled in four passes for 131 yards in the romp over the Bears in the title game.

Also, everyone thought Gifford was dead when Chuck Bednarik “Concrete Charlie” of the Eagles pummeled Gifford to the ground as if he was hit by a freight train on an afternoon at Yankee Stadium in 1960.

Another beloved Giant, Kyle Rote who suited up in Giants blue for 11 seasons really was part two of the dynamic duo of himself and Frank Gifford. Rote had 300 career catches for 4,797 yards, 48 receiving touchdowns as well as 231 career rushes for 871 yards in 121 games all as a Giant.

Alex Webster was another fan favorite who became a coach years later. Webster had over 100 rushing attempts in his first four seasons and over 600 yards in his first two. Alex carried the ball 196 times for 928 yards in his Pro Bowl season in 1961 and 207 carries the following year. In his first five seasons Webster had over 20 receptions and 47 in 1962 and had five catches for 75 yards in the 1956 NFL title game.

Bob Schnelker was another reliable Giants receiver spending seven years of service while reeling in 183 passes for 3,232 yards to go along with 33 trips to the end zone in the air and 17.4 yards per reception on average.

Del Shofner in my opinion is another Hall of Fame snub who should have gotten the call to Canton about 50 years ago. Delbert Martin Shofner who came over in a trade from the Rams in 1961 had three straight seasons of over 1,000 receiving yards and totaling 4,315 in his NY career and snagged 239 passes with 18.1 yards per reception as a Giant and 35 passes culminating in the end zone wearing red and blue.

To go along with those playmakers during that era some of the burly offensive lineman consisted of Hall of Famer Rosey Brown, Ray Beck, Jack Stroud, Ray Wietecha, Buzz Guy, Al Barry, Darrell Dess, and Greg Larson.

Jim Lee Howell was the coach up until 1960, then the torch was passed to Allie Sherman. Jim Lee Howell led the team to the World Championship in 1956 and to back-to-back trips to the title game losing “The Greatest Game Ever Played in 1958” to Johnny U and the mighty Colts at Yankee Stadium in the NFL’s first ever overtime contest then again to the Colts coached by the great Weeb Ewbank at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

When Allie Sherman took over in 1961, he took the Giants to three straight trips to the NFL title game but fell to the Packers in ’61 and ’62 and to the Bears in ’63. Allie Sherman was named Coach of the Year in consecutive seasons in his first two years as a Giants coach and a Quarterback that everyone remembers was MVP of the league in 1963. Yelberton Abraham Tittle Jr. (YA) was NFL MVP in his third season as a Giant, and the prior year was named United Press International MVP in ’62. YA Tittle had a fantastic NFL career but unfortunately was never a champion and goes down as one of the best QBs of all time to never win a title.

Of all those great names I spoke of and all those wonderful autumns at Yankee Stadium in a time that was known as “The Golden Age of Baseball” I like the football history to be remembered with some of those Giants Among Men who put millions of smiles on faces during the years when Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy were in office. A beautiful and fruitful time in America and blessed era on East 161st Street and River Avenue which was the home of champions.

Maybe Brian Daboll can find old playbooks buried in the concrete of the parking lot which is believed to be where Jimmy Hoffa was buried. Likely not but regardless being the Giants looked like a Community College football team on Sunday and what a humiliation to the Mara and Tisch family the way this offensive unit abysmally performed vs. Minnesota on Sunday we might as well live in the past because you gotta always remember the good times. Players come and go but legends never die.