Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants Rivalry: The Next Chapter

Forbes has called people like me America's Most Diehard Football Fans.  I bleed green.  I have my team's fight song as the ringtone on my phone.  I am a Philadelphia Eagles fan. The Garden State of New Jersey is divided into two parts: Giants territory in the north and Eagles territory in the south.  Those of us near the middle get to witness the full force of the Eagles-Giants rivalry. 

With the next chapter of the rivalry set for this Sunday, it is timely to examine its origin and history.  Today's trash talk sounds like this:

The Eagles fans say, "We beat you six times in a row." Giants fans say, "We have won three Super Bowls, you have not won any, and that is all that counts." 

The Eagles fans say, "From 2001 through 2010, we won the NFC East six times but the Giants only won twice." 

After a while it sounds like the beer commercial with the more-taste versus less-filling arguments.

I believe that this rivalry started in earnest on November 20, 1960 with  "The Hit" at Yankee Stadium when ironman Chuck Bednarik knocked Giants star running back Frank Gifford out of the game and out of the entire next season as well.  That game propelled the Eagles to the Eastern Division title and then the NFC Championship with the victory over Vince Lombardi's star-studded Packers.  I attended that game with my father. 

The next season the Eagles were on their way for the two-peat but ran into the Giants at a critical point of the season.  The Eagles entered the game with a 9-3 record, needing only to win the remaining two games to make it to the Championship game again.  

The game was at Franklin Field in Philly, and the Eagles were behind 21-10 at the end of the third period.  But a rally capped off by a 60-yard bomb from Sonny Jurgensen to Pete Retzlaff narrowed the score to 28-24.  At a critical point in the game, the Eagles defense held, but on the punt a roughing-the-kicker penalty gave the Giants a first down and let them keep possession. 

Back then there was a lesser violation called the running-into-the-kicker penalty.  That was the proper call, was only five yards and would not have given the Giants a first down.  That blown call cost the Eagles the game, the season and a long run of futility. 

The loss sent the Eagles to the consolation Playoff Bowl against the Lions where Jurgensen seriously injured his shoulder when he was blocked after he threw an interception to Yale Lary. (For historical completeness, the Giants lost to the Packers 37-0 in the title game, proving without a doubt who really deserved to represent the Eastern Division.)  Jurgensen never seemed to recover from that injury as an Eagle and was eventually traded to the Redskins for Norm Snead.  

After that 1961 season, the Eagles suffered through 16 years with only one winning record.  And to those who bleed green, this can all be traced back to that one bad call in the Giants game.  This is why the rivalry is so intense and has been handed down from one generation of fans to the next.

Despite the many years of futility and the lack of a Super Bowl ring, there are four highlights of this rivalry that keep the juices flowing in this rivalry for Eagles fans.  For those who want to savor these, I have included some links and listed them in increasing order of the glee fans get in reliving them.

• In October 2003 Brian Westbrook returned a punt with less than two minutes left in the game to give the Eagles a 13-10 win and send them on to a 12-4 record and a playoff victory.

• In November 1978 as the clock was winding down with a Giants victory in hand, CBS began to roll the credits on the screen. But rather than take a knee to end the game, Joe Pisarcik fumbled the ball while trying to hand off to Larry Csonka.  Herm Edwards recovered and ran for a touchdown; the Eagles pulled out the victory and made the playoffs that year.

• In January 2009, the wild card Eagles traveled to Giants Stadium to play the defending Super Bowl champions in the playoffs. The Eagles defense completely baffled the Giants, and late in the game Donovan McNabb ran out of bounds to avoid a tackle and picked up the Giants headphones to rile their coaching staff upstairs. I was there singing the Eagles Fight Song as the Giant fans filed out of the stadium into the cold. The wind chill was in the low teens all day, but that 23-11 win was worth it.

• The best of these highlights occurred last December. The Eagles fell far behind early but mounted a furious comeback to tie, and the game was headed to overtime. With only 14 seconds left the Giants were set to punt, and certainly the coach had instructed the punter to kick the ball out of bounds.  That did not happen and any sports fan can tell you what happened next.  That look on Tom Coughlin's face as he ran onto the field to chew out the punter was priceless!  The Eagles shortened the Giants' season again.

What will this next chapter of the Eagles-Giants rivalry produce? Stay tuned. Fly, Eagles, Fly!