I think the primary competition it has for greatest NFL game is the 1958

championship between the Giants and Colts. Before my time (well, not really....I was a year old), but it clearly put the NFL on the map to supplant baseball as the most popular sport. I guess I didn't really realize it until I read a great biography of Vince Lombardi (When Pride Still Mattered), that he was the offensive coordinator of the Giants. The defensive coordinator? Tom Landry!

In the book, a reporter for one of the NY papers was in the locker room the night before the game. He walked by Lombardi's office and Vince is sweating over the playbook. He walked by Landry's office and he's at the blackboard drawing up defensive schemes. He walk down to head coach Jim Lee Howell's office, and Howell has his feet on the desk reading the newspaper. Reporter says, "Coach Howell you seem pretty relaxed on the eve of the championship." Howell says, "Son with those two boys down the hall I don't have a thing to worry about!" (Or something to that effect.)

Great story, but I remember thinking, "The Giants lost. Maybe Howell should have been more worried!"

(In response to this post by Tuckahokie)

Posted: 07/02/2021 at 2:06PM

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