The New York Giants have only met the Tennessee Titans 12 times since the NFL and AFL merged in 1970. The first meeting occurred on September 16, 1973, when the Titans were the Houston Oilers. It would be the only meeting between the clubs until they met again in 1982.
The 1973 meeting was the season opener and took place at Yankee Stadium. It would be the Giants’ next-to-last home game at The House That Ruth Built in the Bronx. They moved to the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut the next week.
The move was not being received well by Giant fans as the game drew just under 58,000 fans — the lowest attendance in five years and the first non-sellout since 1960.
The Giants took a 27-0 halftime lead on two Pete Gogolak field goals, two one-yard rushing touchdowns from running back Ron Johnson and a 14-yard pass play from Norm Snead to Don Herrmann.
The Oilers turned a pair of interceptions into touchdowns in the third quarter to narrow the score to 27-14. The Giants closed out the scoring with a one-yard plunge from running back Joe Orduna to ice the game, 34-14.
The win would be only one of two the Giants would record on the season. They finished the year at 2-11-1. The Oilers didn’t fare that well, either, going 1-13 on the season.
As a result, the Oilers would earn the top pick in the 1974 NFL draft but could don’t capitalize on it as they had dealt it earlier in the year to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for defensive end Tody Smith and wide receiver Billy Parks.
Dallas ended up drafting Tennessee State defensive end Ed “Too Tall” Jones with that No. 1 pick and then used the other selection they got in the deal — a 1975 third rounder — to take quarterback/punter Danny White. Ouch.
The Giants held the third overall pick in 1974 and selected Ohio State guard John Hicks.
