Back in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, the New York Giants had probably the best defense in the NFL.
Just ask the players from those Browns teams from that era, who battled the Giants year in and year out for supremacy in the Eastern Conference. For every season but one from 1950, when the Browns entered the NFL from the All-America Football Conference, through 1965, a span of 16 years, either Cleveland or New York won the conference title. It was one of the greatest rivalries in pro football history.
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The Football Giants, as they became known so as to not be confused with the New York Baseball Giants, even long after the latter club relocated to San Francisco, had some of the biggest names in the game on that side of the ball then. They included the likes of:
*Middle linebacker Sam Huff, whose battles with Browns running back Jim Brown were arguably the best individual rivalry ever in the league’s history.
*Defensive tackle Dick Modzelewski, who was later traded to the Browns when ownership began breaking up the Giants after the 1963 season and was a key component in helping Cleveland win the 1964 NFL title.
*Defensive end Andy Robustelli.
*Defensive tackle Rosey Grier, who went on to the Los Angeles Rams and, with Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen and Lamar Lundy, comprised “The Fearsome Foursome,” the greatest defensive front the game has ever seen.
*Strong safety Jimmy Patton and cornerbacks Jim Lynch and Linden Crow, who combined to be thorns in the Browns’ side.
But as good as the defense was, and as good as the Giants were overall, their offense was not very good at all. In fact, it was downright bad in some cases.
With that, then, the joke was that as the defense was leaving the field and the offense was entering it during a change of possession, the defensive players would tell their counterparts, “Just hold ‘em and we’ll play for a tie.”
All these years, even decides, later, the Browns unfortunately find themselves in pretty much the same position, with the bad offense canceling out the fine efforts of the defense. The only problem is that, unlike those long-ago Giants, these Browns aren’t going to compete for championships until the offense gets markedly better.
Steve King
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