The New York Giants face the Washington Commanders this Sunday night in a meaningful December game. And the series is filled with memorable games.
On Monday night October 27, 1986, the Giants hosted the Washington Redskins at Giants Stadium in a key NFC East battle. The Giants entered the game with a 5-2 record and needed a win to pull even with the 6-1 Redskins.
The game had a weird vibe to it as the Mets were also playing the Boston Red Sox in Game 7 of the World Series at Shea Stadium that night. The World Series should have been over but Game 7 was rained out that Sunday and was moved to Monday.
I had tickets to both events, naturally, and chose to forego the baseball game to head to Giants Stadium that night for the biggest game of the season.
The crowd was into the football action but was also keeping an eye on the Mets via radio and portable televisions. If the Mets did something positive, the crowd reacted. I found it strange as one of those moments came during a huge completion for Washington.
The Mets finally pulled away and won, 8-5. The crowd got a little raucous in New Jersey after the baseball game ended with 3:15 remaining in the third quarter. Washington came back from a 20-3 deficit after that to tie the game at 20 in the fourth quarter.
The Giants broke the tie when running back Joe Morris scored on a 13-yard run with 1:38 left in the game and held on to win, 27-20.
The realization that the Giants were now in first place had overtaken the euphoria of the Mets’ first World Series win since 1969 and afterward, players expressed their confusion about the crowd’s inconsistent reactions to the game.
“It was weird,” said Washington linebacker Neal Olkewicz. “It was hard to understand what it was all about. We finally figured it out. The World Series.”
“I was surprised there were so many people here,” Giants quarterback Phil Simms said. “I figured they would be at home watching the World Series.”
“I can’t explain why we had second billing,” commented Giants offensive tackle Karl Nelson. “Well, I guess the seventh game of the World Series is a pretty big deal.”
It was and the city went wild the next day with an enormous parade up Broadway. But the Giants’ championship quest was just starting. They would not lose another game the rest of the season, all the way through Super Bowl XXI, knocking off Washington for a third time in the NFC Championship Game along the way.
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