It’s week 12 of the NFL season already, and the Detroit Lions take on the New York Giants in one of the week’s matchups. For our Throwback Thursday feature this week, we’ll land on December 7, 1958 for a contest between these teams. The Giants were one of the league’s powerhouse franchises in those days, and the Lions were defending champions. As for this season, however, entering this week 11 matchup the Giants were surging toward an Eastern Division title while the Lions had a bit of a championship hangover as they were 4-5-1 and completely out of the Western race.
The first score of this game would ultimately be the difference. Detroit back Gene Gedman was tackled in his own end zone by defensive end Jim Katcavage for a safety. Pat Summerall booted an 18 yard field goal to close out the opening quarter scoring, giving the Giants a slim 5-0 advantage. New York jumped out in front 12-0 in the second quarter on a 6 yard touchdown toss from quarterback Charlie Conerly to fullback Alex Webster. Detroit’s anemic offense managed a Jim Martin field goal to cut the lead to 12-3 at halftime. The Lions showed some life in the third quarter. Tobin Rote, who completed only 6 passes for 32 yards in the game, found Ken Webb with a 2 yard completion for a TD. Then linebacker Wayne Walker returned a recovered fumble 34 yards for a score that shockingly pulled Detroit into the lead at 17-12.
The Giants scored in the final quarter on a 1 yard run by Frank Gifford to nail down a 19-17 win, but it took stopping a fake punt to set up the winning drive, and also a blocked field goal as time expired to secure the victory.
Giants’ DE Jim Katcavage