A pair of old NFL and NFC East opponents, the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles, square off on the league’s week 7 schedule, and we’ll harken back to a game played between these 2 rivals on November 26, 1972, at Yankee Stadium. It was a clash of 2 clubs at opposite ends of the spectrum. Philly had managed only 2 wins and a tie through 10 weeks of the season, while the Giants, at 6-4, were chasing both Washington and Dallas in the NFC East race. Eagle coach Ed Khayat had taken the reins early in the 1971 season after Jerry Williams was fired and the team won 6 games to finish that year, earning Khayat the full time position for ’72. Unfortunately the success didn’t carry over and Khayat was fired after the season ended.
New York had traded quarterback Fran Tarkenton back to the Minnesota Vikings prior to the ’72 season and their current field general was former Eagle Norm Snead. Snead directed a well-balanced attack in this contest that saw the Giants rack up 503 total yards, 246 on the ground and 257 through the air, in a blowout 62-10 win that was the largest margin of victory in team history. In the first quarter Snead threw a 15 yard touchdown pass to Bob Tucker and Ron Johnson rumbled 35 yards for a score to put New York up 14-0. The Eagles could only muster a Tom Dempsey field goal, and Snead continued his aerial attack in the second stanza with scoring throws of 5 yards to Joe Orduna and 29 yards to Tucker. Pete Gogolak added a 25 yard field goal in between the touchdowns and the Giants were now comfortably in front 31-3. The Eagles struck lightning when their QB, John Reaves, found Harold Jackson for a 77 yard score. Snead countered that before the half ended with a drive ending in a 1 yard TD plunge by Johnson, putting New York ahead 38-10.
Giants’ coach Alex Webster called off the dogs somewhat in the second half when he replaced Snead with backup Randy Johnson, but it didn’t make much difference. Gogolak added a field goal and the second string signal caller fired a pair of touchdown passes, of 32 and 63 yards, to Don Hermann against the hapless Eagle defense, then wrapped up the scoring himself with a 1 yard YD run to account for the final 62-10 score. Statistically, the 2 New York quarterbacks combined for 5 touchdown passes, Tucker had 8 receptions for 100 yards and Hermann 2 catches for 95 with both scoring a pair of touchdowns. Ron Johnson carried 22 times for 123 yards and also scored twice. The lone bright spot for the Eagles was Harold Jackson with 5 catches for 152 yards and his long touchdown. The Giants fell short of making the playoffs, losing 2 of their final 3 games, while Philly never won another and finished in the NFC East basement.
Giants-Eagles highlights from 11/26/72