Let’s begin by stating the New York Giants-Indianapolis Colts rivalry isn’t really a thing. This Sunday will mark just the 17th regular season matchup between the two franchises since the Colts came into the NFL as the Baltimore Colts in 1953.
The two clubs met just five times in the regular season between 1953 and the NFL/AFL merger of 1970. The Baltimore Colts were one of three teams (along with the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers) to move from the NFL to the new AFC to balance out the conferences at 13 teams apiece.
The teams would meet just three times over the next 20 years. In the 1970s, Baltimore dominated the Giants, beating them 31-7 in both 1971 and 1979 and shutting them out, 21-0, in between in 1975.
The 1975 game was played on December 7 at Shea Stadium, Anyone who has ever been to a late-season game at Shea (present company included) will tell you, it wasn’t pretty. Windy, dusty, and just bitter cold, regardless of the temperature.
On this day, the 8-3 Colts came into Flushing as 10-point favorites over Bill Arnsparger’s 3-8 Giants. Giant fans were weary of traveling all over the Tri-State area to watch this mess of a franchise get embarrassed. There was light at the end of the tunnel as it was announced that Giants Stadium in New Jersey would be ready for the 1976 season. Finally, a place to call home.
The Colts were clearly the better team and they didn’t need star quarterback Bert Jones to do much more than hand off to running back Lydell Mitchell and let the defense do the rest.
All the scoring was done in the first half. Murray Chass, who covered the game for the New York Times that day, wrote this:
On the first scrimmage play of the game, (Giants running back) Doug Kotar fumbled and the Colts went on to score a touchdown. Later in the first quarter, (Colts linebacker) Stan White intercepted a (Giants quarterback Craig) Morton pass and rambled 23 yards for a touchdown. And in the second quarter, the Colts traveled 96 yards for a touchdown after (Colts defensive back) Jim Choyunski stole another Morton pass, this one thrown from Baltimore’s 10‐yard line.
The second half of the game was moot. Morton, who the Giants foolishly acquired via trade two years earlier, was booed mercilessly by a less-than-capacity crowd.
To Morton’s credit, the clueless Giants front office gave him little to work with and he just wasn’t good enough to carry a team on his back. In fact, no quarterback of that era would have succeeded in New York. The Giants were that bad.
Morton was sacked a Colts’ franchise record eight times before the Giants sent in the mercurial Carl Summerell to relieve him in the fourth quarter, who wasn’t sacked, but was just as ineffective and threw an interception of his own.
Morton had a telling quote after the game, per Chass.
“I’m getting paid to do a job and I’m not doing it,” the bewildered quarterback said. “They’re going to react accordingly. . . . I don’t know if you can blame it on the breaks. We’re just not playing well. Could be a few of us are overpaid, huh?”
The Giants somehow won their final two games that year to finish at 5-9. Morton played better but still got sacked five times in those games. The next season, the Giants did move to New Jersey but not until mid-October. They played their first four games on the road — all losses. In fact, they lost their first nine which resulted in Arnsparger’s dismissal.
The Giants finished 3-11 and Morton was traded to Denver after the season. In 1977, Morton led the Broncos to the Super Bowl and was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Year and NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
