Greatest upset ever

jefftino · Joined: 29 Dec 2007 Posts: 1

Period

Archived from group: alt>sports>football>pro>ny-giants

Jonah Falcon · Joined: 06 Aug 2007 Posts: 1

Nah. Giants over Bills.

"jefftino" wrote in message @j20g2000hsi.googlegroups.com...
> Period

Brian K. O'Neill · Joined: 07 Aug 2007 Posts: 40

"jefftino" wrote in message @j20g2000hsi.googlegroups.com...

> Period

I tend to agree. The only other two games with larger spreads was the Jets
(and let's face it, that was about the NFC bias - the Jets were probably the
better team that year) and the Patriots against the Rams however we beat the
best coach ever whereas the Pats had the best coach ever and beat Mike Matz
who, well, was not.

headbanger11421 · Joined: 06 Aug 2007 Posts: 14

>Nah. Giants over Bills.

Sorry, most under 40 in here probably don't understand what the Jets
victory over the Colts meant back in 1969. That was the greatest upset
ever. It would be akin to seeing the current Patriot squad beaten
by.....the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

--
"Whatever you do, don't stick your head in the oven" - Keith Hernandez,
on how to end a batting slump

headbanger11421 · Joined: 06 Aug 2007 Posts: 14

>The only other two games with larger
>spreads was the Jets (and let's face it,
>that was about the NFC bias - the Jets
>were probably the better team that year)

Not if Unitas had been healthy.

--
"Whatever you do, don't stick your head in the oven" - Keith Hernandez,
on how to end a batting slump

JSoul Rocks · Joined: 28 Sep 2007 Posts: 7

On Mon, 4 Feb 2008 00:27:27 -0500, headbanger11421@webtv.net (Chris ®)
wrote:

>>Nah. Giants over Bills.
>
>Sorry, most under 40 in here probably don't understand what the Jets
>victory over the Colts meant back in 1969. That was the greatest upset
>ever. It would be akin to seeing the current Patriot squad beaten
>by.....the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

As much as I want to say no, it's difficult to say if you weren't
there as I wasn't. It's a fair point of comparison but I'll say that
in my lifetime there isn't anything close. There is nobody who guessed
the Giants could win and after the game you heard all this nonsense
about "but there were signs..." Yeah. And despite them everyone still
thought (including myself) that it was an almost impossible hill to
climb without some real Patriot mistakes. Yet, with only one fumble
caused and no interceptions, the Giants matched and beat the Patriots.
Truly an amazing and inspiring accomplishment.

DoctorElefant · Joined: 07 Aug 2007 Posts: 83

On Feb 4, 8:29 pm, JSoul Rocks
wrote:
> On Mon, 4 Feb 2008 00:27:27 -0500, headbanger11...@webtv.net (Chris ®)
> wrote:
>
> >>Nah. Giants over Bills.
>
> >Sorry, most under 40 in here probably don't understand what the Jets
> >victory over the Colts meant back in 1969. That was the greatest upset
> >ever. It would be akin to seeing the current Patriot squad beaten
> >by.....the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
>
> As much as I want to say no, it's difficult to say if you weren't
> there as I wasn't. It's a fair point of comparison but I'll say that
> in my lifetime there isn't anything close. There is nobody who guessed
> the Giants could win and after the game you heard all this nonsense
> about "but there were signs..." Yeah. And despite them everyone still
> thought (including myself) that it was an almost impossible hill to
> climb without some real Patriot mistakes. Yet, with only one fumble
> caused and no interceptions, the Giants matched and beat the Patriots.
> Truly an amazing and inspiring accomplishment.

I think beating 18-0 puts the Giants achievement in a class by itself.
I remember the Jets-Colts Super Bowl game and there was no question
that the NFL was better than the AFL, but the gap between the NFL and
the *top* AFL teams was less than people realized by 1968. Part of the
misconception was due to the Packers creaming the Chiefs and Raiders
in the first 2 Super Bowls, but it really wasn't any worse than what
the Packers did to most good NFL teams. The Raiders effort in SB 2, by
the way, wasn't as bad as the final score indicated, as it was a close
game into the 3rd quarter.

By 1968, the better AFL teams had grabbed up many good players. The
AFL had 3 teams that were dominant compared to the rest of the league,
and we named all 3 above: Jets, Chiefs, and Raiders. Those 3 could
play with a good NFL team. The 4th best team, the Chargers, was
decent, and maybe could be included. The 6 teams that made up the rest
of the AFL was pretty sorry. The Raiders and Chiefs remained top
contenders after the 1970 NFL-AFL merger. The Jets could have, but
they were too dependant on Namath who was usually out injured by then.
The Jets were an entirely different team with a healthy Namath.

--------------------------------------------------
DocE

"The future ain't what it used to be." -Yogi Berra
--------------------------------------------------

JSoul Rocks · Joined: 28 Sep 2007 Posts: 7

On Tue, 5 Feb 2008 05:03:42 -0800 (PST), DoctorElefant
wrote:

>On Feb 4, 8:29 pm, JSoul Rocks
> wrote:
>> On Mon, 4 Feb 2008 00:27:27 -0500, headbanger11...@webtv.net (Chris ®)
>> wrote:
>>
>> >>Nah. Giants over Bills.
>>
>> >Sorry, most under 40 in here probably don't understand what the Jets
>> >victory over the Colts meant back in 1969. That was the greatest upset
>> >ever. It would be akin to seeing the current Patriot squad beaten
>> >by.....the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
>>
>> As much as I want to say no, it's difficult to say if you weren't
>> there as I wasn't. It's a fair point of comparison but I'll say that
>> in my lifetime there isn't anything close. There is nobody who guessed
>> the Giants could win and after the game you heard all this nonsense
>> about "but there were signs..." Yeah. And despite them everyone still
>> thought (including myself) that it was an almost impossible hill to
>> climb without some real Patriot mistakes. Yet, with only one fumble
>> caused and no interceptions, the Giants matched and beat the Patriots.
>> Truly an amazing and inspiring accomplishment.
>
>I think beating 18-0 puts the Giants achievement in a class by itself.
>I remember the Jets-Colts Super Bowl game and there was no question
>that the NFL was better than the AFL, but the gap between the NFL and
>the *top* AFL teams was less than people realized by 1968. Part of the
>misconception was due to the Packers creaming the Chiefs and Raiders
>in the first 2 Super Bowls, but it really wasn't any worse than what
>the Packers did to most good NFL teams. The Raiders effort in SB 2, by
>the way, wasn't as bad as the final score indicated, as it was a close
>game into the 3rd quarter.
>
>By 1968, the better AFL teams had grabbed up many good players. The
>AFL had 3 teams that were dominant compared to the rest of the league,
>and we named all 3 above: Jets, Chiefs, and Raiders. Those 3 could
>play with a good NFL team. The 4th best team, the Chargers, was
>decent, and maybe could be included. The 6 teams that made up the rest
>of the AFL was pretty sorry. The Raiders and Chiefs remained top
>contenders after the 1970 NFL-AFL merger. The Jets could have, but
>they were too dependant on Namath who was usually out injured by then.
>The Jets were an entirely different team with a healthy Namath.

Great recap. Thanks. Just a little before my time...

Mike McConnaughey · Joined: 23 Jan 2008 Posts: 8

The reason that it is the greatest upset ever is that the Giants beat an
undefeated team.

Mike McConnaughey · Joined: 23 Jan 2008 Posts: 8

PERIOD.

zxasqw12 · Joined: 07 Aug 2007 Posts: 2

> By 1968, the better AFL teams had grabbed up many good players. The
> AFL had 3 teams that were dominant compared to the rest of the league,
> and we named all 3 above: Jets, Chiefs, and Raiders. Those 3 could
> play with a good NFL team. The 4th best team, the Chargers, was
> decent, and maybe could be included. The 6 teams that made up the rest
> of the AFL was pretty sorry.

Good analysis. I believe the general consensus was that the Jets were
not only an inferior team (which is debatable, as you point out) but
also that they played in an inferior league against inferior
competition. However, I've seen some commentators who genuinely believe
that the earlier '64 and '65 Buffalo AFL teams could have competed and
possibly won an interleague championship against Cleveland or (less
likely in my mind) Green Bay had one existed

That being said, I still believe SBIII remains as the greatest SB upset
in history despite the Giants' heroics

zxasqw12 · Joined: 07 Aug 2007 Posts: 2

> > Actually, once the Browns, Steelers and Colts joined the AFC, I kinda
> > lost the feeling of interleague rivalry. Some the best NFL teams became
> > AFC teams. I had trouble adjusting to that.
>
> Yeah, I know what you mean. Pittsburgh did a lot better though. The
> Colts too. They walked all over the AFC and won the Super Bowl. The
> Browns were in a rebuild, but they didn't do so bad either.

If only it was that easy. This thread reminded me of something that was
written by the late Gene Klein, former owner of the San Diego Chargers.
This excerpt comes from his book, "First Down And A Billion," a
hilarious book that's now long out of print but well-worth an effort to
track down.

According to Klein, here's how the AFC-NFC realignment went down...

---
As a group, NFL owners are about as magnanimous as three kings trying to
share one throne. When you get all twenty-eight owners in a room, and
give each of them one vote, you are going to be in that room for a very
long time.

After the NFL and the AFL agreed to merge, for example, three of the
then sixteen NFL teams had to join the ten-team AFL to equalize the
divisions. Naturally, this being for the good of professional football,
there were numerous volunteers. "I'm going to do everything possible to
stay with my NFL friends," said Minnesota Vikings owner Max Winter,
echoing the feelings of most NFL owners. "This is the biggest fight of
my career."

After two long meetings, exactly no NFL teams had volunteered to join
the American Football Conference. "When all the owners are in one room,
it leads to polarization," explained Dallas Cowboys president Tex
Schramm, "and that makes agreement almost impossible."

Commissioner Rozelle met privately with many of the owners, then
convened a third meeting. When it began, on a Wednesday morning, Rozelle
announced, "This is going to be the final meeting on realignment. We're
going to stay right here until we get it done." By "here," I assumed he
meant New York City. That was my mistake; "here" meant in the National
Football League offices at 410 Park Avenue.

Actually, Rozelle allowed everyone to return to their hotel rooms
Wednesday night. But that was it. Thursday afternoon the blankets and
pillows arrived. It was at that point I turned to Sid Gillman, my head
coach and general manager, and told him, "Sid, this is what separates
the owners from the general managers. Whatever you do is okay with me."
Then I flew back to California to run National General.

With the exception of the elderly founders of the NFL, George Halas of
the Chicago Bears and Art Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers, everybody
else stayed in the NFL offices until Saturday night. They slept on the
floor, on couches, on desks. Finally, the realization that Rozelle was
really going to keep them in his office until an agreement was reached,
plus a bonus of $3 million, was all it took to convince Art Modell of
the Cleveland Browns, Carroll Rosenbloom of the Baltimore Colts, and Art
Rooney to volunteer to join the new conference.

richardhutnik · Joined: 21 Jan 2008 Posts: 27

On Feb 4, 12:27 am, headbanger11...@webtv.net (Chris ®) wrote:
> >Nah. Giants over Bills.
>
> Sorry, most under 40 in here probably don't understand what the Jets
> victory over the Colts meant back in 1969. That was the greatest upset
> ever. It would be akin to seeing the current Patriot squad beaten
> by.....the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

As far as significance to the NFL, it is. There was a total
underestimating of the Jets in that game, and overvaluing the Colts.

The Patriots were supposed to be perfect, and unstoppable, so I would
put this down as likely the second greatest upset in Super Bowl
history.

- Rich

The greatest receiver in the history of the NFL picks the Gi On ESPN's NFL live Jerry Rice when asked to predict a winner in the Super Bowl said he had to go with the NFC team. That of course is the GIANTS.

Biggest Upset Question People have raised the question about the UM/Appy St. game, but not many alternatives have been suggested. I'm always suspicious of "what we remember best" bias, but I'm having a hard time coming up with much. Montana St. over Colorado last year was a su

Rethinking "Huge Upset" I was watching one of those "Top Sports List" shows that are all over TV now, and one of the shows was on "Biggest Upsets." Of course, the Pats win in SB36 over the Rams was on the list. I wonder, though, if we shouldn't be re-evaluating this in light of

Anderson: Giants in Upset No surprise? Bias? Or are there that many similarities between this season & 1991?

Die-hard Cowboys fan upset at loss