NFL Championship Game 1958

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The 1958 NFL Championship Game was the 26th edition of the American football final of the National Football League (NFL). The game took place on December 28, 1958 in front of 64,185 spectators at Yankee Stadium in New York City . The master of the Western Conference , the Baltimore Colts , defeated the master of the Eastern Conference , the New York Giants , with 23:17 in overtime .

Due to the dramatic ending (" Two Minute Drill " of the Colts), as the first overtime game in NFL final history and because of the large number of later members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame , the game may be canceled . a. Named "The Greatest Game Ever Played" by the Pro Football Hall of Fame .

prehistory

Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas (1964)

Head Coach Weeb Ewbank's Baltimore Colts won nine of their twelve games of the season and won the Eastern Conference by one victory over the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Rams (eight wins each). In the last game of the season against the San Francisco 49ers , which they had to win, they had converted a 7:27 deficit into a 35:27 win. The Maryland team's best player was quarterback Johnny Unitas , who threw 19 touchdowns and 2,007 yards of space and formed a dangerous offensive trio with running back Lenny Moore and wide receiver Raymond Berry . With 381 points, the Colts were the strongest attacking team in the league. The Colts were also strong defensively: They only allowed 203 points, second in the league. Unitas, Moore and Berry were elected to the All-Pro team.

Head Coach Jim Lee Howell's New York Giants also won nine of their twelve season games, as many as the Cleveland Browns . In an elimination game, the Browns were defeated 10-0. The New Yorkers were a rather average offensive team (246 points, ninth place in the league ), but the defense around the four all-pro defenders Jimmy Patton ( safety ), Rosey Brown , Sam Huff ( linebacker ) and Andy Robustelli ( defensive end ) allowed the opponents only 183 points, which they led the NFL. Howell's assistant coaches included a. future Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches Vince Lombardi (offense) and Tom Landry (defense).

Since there were no play-offs in 1958 , the West and East Masters competed against each other in the NFL Championship Game .

game

Both teams lost the ball in the first quarter and a field goal attempt by Colts kicker Steve Myhra was blocked by Sam Huff. In return, the Giants kicker, Pat Summerall , kicked a field goal that put New York 3-0 ahead. In the second quarter, the Giants running back Frank Gifford lost the ball shortly before their own end zone . This loss of the ball was used shortly afterwards by the Colts running back Alan Ameche for a touchdown. After a successful point-after-touchdown (PAT) from Myhra, it was 7: 3 for Baltimore. Unitas then led a long drive that was converted to a touchdown by Raymond Berry. After Myhra's successful PAT, it was 14: 3 for the Colts.

After half-time, Unitas led the Colts to a yard from the Giants' end zone. Instead of trying a relatively safe field goal after the third down, it was decided that Ameche should try to run into the end zone. When that failed, New York got the football back. The Giants landed a big play on the next move when the Colts missed several tackles and New York came within a yard of the end zone. Giant Mel Triplett completed the touchdown, and after Summerall's successful PAT it was only 14:10 for the Colts. Early in the fourth quarter, Giants quarterback Charlie Conerly threw a touchdown on Frank Gifford (PAT Summerall, Giants 17:14). Shortly before the end of the game, Gifford was tackled in the third down directly on Gino Marchetti's own 40-yard line . Marchetti broke his leg and had to retire. The referee controversially ruled fourth down, so New York punted the football . Unitas was now faced with the task of leading his team from 86 yards to a field goal with only two minutes of playing time.

Unitas performed one of the most famous attack series in NFL history, the so-called "Two Minute Drill" (two-minute series). Instead of taking his teammates before each move aside and in the huddle to say the next attack, he saved time by immediately ordered them to their positions, and at the last moment shouted the name of each turn. After five quick throws, the Colts had won 73 yards. With seven seconds to go, kicker Myhra shot a 20-yard field goal, so that the final whistle was 17:17. Thus, the final became the first regular NFL game to go into overtime. According to the overtime rule, the team that scored first would win. In overtime, the Giants had after an unsuccessful series of attacks to punt , so Unitas led the Colts to two successful litters of a long third down out to a yard in front of the end zone. After a touchdown from Ameche, the Colts had won 23:17.

After the game, Unitas turned down TV appearances for the then high sum of 750 US dollars so that he could fly back to Baltimore with his team on time.

meaning

Lenny Moore (photo from 2011) caught the first litter of the famous "Two Minute Drill" by Johnny Unitas .

The 1958 NFL Championship Game is widely recognized as one of the best NFL games of all time. The Pro Football Hall of Fame describes the game as "despite sloppy play by both teams ... as the game that made the NFL popular" and "as a dramatic back and forth with an epically exciting ending" with the famous "Two Minute Drill" by Unitas. Unitas ("We played badly until two minutes before the end") and his teammates themselves said that they would have played better at 35:27 on the last day of the regular season against the San Francisco 49ers .

Unitas' famous Two Minute Drill included the following moves:

  • Throw at Lenny Moore (11 yards), first down at your own 25-yard mark
  • Miss
  • Throw at Raymond Berry (25 yards), first down in the middle of the field
  • Throw at Raymond Berry (15 yards), first down at New York's 35 yard mark
  • Throw at Raymond Berry (22 yards), first down at New York's 13-yard mark
  • Steve Myhra's field goal from 20 yards

17 players who are now members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame took part in the final :

  • Baltimore Colts : Raymond Berry, Art Donovan, Gino Marchetti, Lenny Moore, Jim Parker, Johnny Unitas (players); Weeb Ewbank (Coach)
  • New York Giants : Rosey Brown, Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, Don Maynard, Andy Robustelli, Emlen Tunnell (players); Vince Lombardi, Tom Landry (coaches); Tim Mara and Wellington Mara (officials)

Running back Frank Gifford, who became a successful sports journalist himself, wrote the book How the 1958 NFL Championship Changed Football Forever about this in 2009 . A computer analysis several decades later showed that Gifford actually got "nine inches short" for a first down in his controversial run against Marchetti .

literature

  • Mark Bowden: The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-87113-988-7 .
  • Frank Gifford , Peter Richmond: The Glory Game: How the 1958 NFL Championship Changed Football Forever. Harper Collins e-books, 2009, ISBN 978-0-06-171659-1 .
  • Robert S. Lyons: On Any Given Sunday, A Life of Bert Bell. Temple University Press, Philadelphia 2010, ISBN 978-1-59213-731-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Greatest game ever played , profootballhof.com
  2. ↑ a b c d e The 'Greatest Game' in Collective Memory , New York Times
  3. ↑ a b c d Title game wasn't that great for '58 Colts , ESPN.com
  4. ↑ a b c d e Unitas led Colts to win in NFL's greatest game . ESPN.com
  5. ↑ 1958 Baltimore Colts , pro-football-reference.com
  6. ^ 1958 New York Giants , pro-football-reference.com

Web links