Today, the New York Giants played the Las Vegas Raiders in the “Tank Bowl”. All the Giants had to do was lose the game and they would be awarded the first overall pick of the 2026 NFL Draft. Which to most Giants fans that they would likely win the game. And they did win by the convincing score of 34-10. Why did winning mean losing?
In the last 60 years, the Giants have had only 22 winning seasons and most of those came between 1981 and 2011. But ironically, the Giants have had only one top draft choice during that time.
I became a New York Football Giants fan in 1963 at the age of 8 while living in Cincinatti.
Y.A. Tittle was the quarterback and Allie Sherman was the head coach.
The Giants lost to the Chicago Bears 14-10 in the NFL Championship game at Wrigley Field.
It was a frigid and windy day at Wrigley Field and Tittle injured his leg early in the game. But he continued to pass the ball frequently and threw five interceptions. At halftime with the Giants winning 10-7, linebacker Sam Huff reportedly urged Coach Sherman to only run the ball and abstain from the pass. But Tittle’s passing was the reason the Giants reached the championship game and Allie wasn’t going to change that in the second half.
After the game, I was sullen for several days (or decades). But then I realized that if the Giants almost won the 1963 championship game, Tittle and the team certainly would have a chance at winning the championship in 1964. Oh, the naivete of youth! From 1964 until 1980, the Giants had 2 winning seasons and no playoff games. Tittle was battered during the 1964 season and retired. On a personal note, I met YA at an autograph signing in Westchester in 2007. I told him I still upset over the 1963 game. YA replied, “How do you think I feel; I was the Quarterback who lost the game”. He had me there. He never won a championship.,
The 1964 Giants had the worst record in the NFL at 2-10-2 and were awarded the first pick in the 1965 NFL draft. With that pick, Wellington Mara and the Giants chose Tucker Frederickson, a running back from Auburn. He had a reasonably good rookie season and made the Pro Bowl. Yet the Giants passed on selecting Gail Sayers (and also Dick Butkus). In the late 1990s, I ran into Allie Sherman in midtown Manhattan and asked why he preferred Frederickson over Sayers. He said “we [the Giants] had no good film on him” I was incredulous. Wellington Mara was a pioneer in the NFL of using film to assess talent. Most likely, Wellington probably didn’t make a trip to the University of Kansas to see Sayers play or work out.
The 1966 Giants had the worst record in the NFL but traded away the first pick of the 1967 draft and the first pick of the 1968 draft as part of the trade for Fran Tarkenton
By the late 1970’s the Mara brothers (Wellington and Tim) couldn’t agree on anything including a general manager. The NFL pushed for George Young to be the Director of Football Operations. Under Young, the Giants markedly improved and won two Super Bowls (1987 and 1991). And under Young’s successors (Ernie Accorsi and Jerry Reese) the Giants won the 2008 and 2011 Super Bowls. Then things went rotten. John Mara started running the Giants like the pre-George Young Giants making poor choices in hiring General Managers and Coaches.
They’ve had only two winning seasons since 2012 and during that time, many double-digit losing seasons. But still no overall Number One pick in the NFL (as I write this). Losing must be an artform!