1961 New York Giants season

1961 New York Giants season
1961 New York Giants season
Owner	Jack Mara; Wellington Mara
Head coach	Allie Sherman
Home stadium	Yankee Stadium
Results
Record	10–3–1
Division place	1st NFL Eastern
Playoffs	Lost NFL Championship; (at Packers) 0–37

The 1961 New York Giants season was the franchise's 37th season in the National Football League. After relinquishing the NFL East title the previous season, the Giants reclaimed the title with a 10–3–1 record, a half-game ahead of the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles.^[1]

New York traveled to Wisconsin for the NFL Championship Game and were shut out 37–0 by the Vince Lombardi-coached Green Bay Packers.^[2]^[3]^[4]

This was the first season that the now famous lowercase "ny" logo appeared on the helmets.

Off-season

NFL draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College
1961 New York Giants draft
2	17	Bob Gaiters	Running back	New Mexico State
2	25	Bruce Tarbox	Guard	Syracuse
Made roster

Undrafted free agents

1961 undrafted free agents of note
Player	Position	College
Bubba Marriott	Quarterback	Troy

Roster

**1961 New York Giants roster**
Quarterbacks (QB) 42 Charlie Conerly 11 Lee Grosscup 14 Y. A. Tittle Running backs (RB) 35 Bob Gaiters 24 Phil King 40 Joe Morrison SS 29 Alex Webster 28 Joel Wells Wide receivers (WR) 44 Kyle Rote 85 Del Shofner Tight ends (TE) 12 Pete Hall 80 Joe Walton		Offensive linemen (OL) 79 Rosey Brown T 62 Darrell Dess G 72 Charlie Janerette T 53 Greg Larson T 61 Zeke Smith G 66 Jack Stroud G 65 Mickey Walker G 55 Ray Wietecha C Defensive linemen (DL) 76 Rosey Grier DT 75 Jim Katcavage DE 77 Dick Modzelewski DT 81 Andy Robustelli DE		Linebackers (LB) 52 Larry Hayes OLB 70 Sam Huff MLB 89 Cliff Livingston OLB 82 Tom Scott OLB 83 Bob Simms MLB Defensive backs (DB) 49 Erich Barnes CB 41 Gene Johnson CB 22 Dick Lynch CB 20 Jimmy Patton FS 21 Allan Webb SS/RB Special teams (ST) 34 Don Chandler P 88 Pat Summerall K		Practice squad Clarence Childs RB Glen Knight WR Bubba Marriott QB Reserve 25 Dick Nolan S (IR) -- Jim Podoley RB (IR) 48 Bill Stits CB (IR) Rookies in italics

Source:

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Attendance
1	September 17	St. Louis Cardinals	L 10–21	0–1	58,059
2	September 24	at Pittsburgh Steelers	W 17–14	1–1	35,587
3	October 1	at Washington Redskins	W 24–21	2–1	36,767
4	October 8	at St. Louis Cardinals	W 24–9	3–1	23,713
5	October 15	at Dallas Cowboys	W 31–10	4–1	41,500
6	October 22	Los Angeles Rams	W 24–14	5–1	63,053
7	October 29	Dallas Cowboys	L 16–17	5–2	60,254
8	November 5	Washington Redskins	W 53–0	6–2	56,077
9	November 12	Philadelphia Eagles	W 38–21	7–2	62,800
10	November 19	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 42–21	8–2	62,592
11	November 26	at Cleveland Browns	W 37–21	9–2	80,455
12	December 3	at Green Bay Packers	L 17–20	9–3	47,012
13	December 10	at Philadelphia Eagles	W 28–24	10–3	60,671
14	December 17	Cleveland Browns	T 7–7	10–3–1	61,804

Game summaries

Week 2

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
• Giants	0	7	10	0	17
Steelers	7	0	7	0	14

Date: September 24
Location: Pitt Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Game weather: 74 °F (23 °C), wind 5 mph (8 km/h)

^[5]

Standings

NFL Eastern Conference
	W	L	T	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STK
New York Giants	10	3	1	.769	9–2–1	368	220	T1
Philadelphia Eagles	10	4	0	.714	8–4	361	297	W1
Cleveland Browns	8	5	1	.615	8–3–1	319	270	T1
St. Louis Cardinals	7	7	0	.500	7–5	279	267	W3
Pittsburgh Steelers	6	8	0	.429	5–7	295	287	L1
Dallas Cowboys	4	9	1	.308	2–9–1	236	380	L4
Washington Redskins	1	12	1	.077	1–10–1	174	392	W1

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

NFL Western Conference
	W	L	T	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Green Bay Packers	11	3	0	.786	9–3	391	223	W1
Detroit Lions	8	5	1	.615	7–4–1	270	258	L1
Chicago Bears	8	6	0	.571	7–5	326	302	W2
Baltimore Colts	8	6	0	.571	6–6	302	307	W1
San Francisco 49ers	7	6	1	.538	6–5–1	346	272	L1
Los Angeles Rams	4	10	0	.286	3–9	263	333	L1
Minnesota Vikings	3	11	0	.214	3–9	285	407	L2

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Playoffs

Round	Date	Opponent	Time	TV	Result	Game Site	Attendance	Recap
NFL Championship	December 31	at Green Bay Packers	2:00 p.m. EST	NBC	L 0–37	City Stadium	39,029	Recap

Source:^[2]^[3]^[4]

Playoff Game Officials

Playoff
Round	Opponent	Referee	Umpire	Head Linesman	Back Judge	Field Judge
NFL Championship Game	at Green Bay	(#52) George Rennix	(#17) James Beiersdorfer	(#48) John Highberger	(#22) Charles Sweeney	(#14) Frank Luzar

Playoff game summaries

1961 NFL Championship Game (Sunday, December 31, 1961): at Green Bay Packers

1961 NFL Championship Game: New York Giants at Green Bay Packers – Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Giants	0	0	0	0	0
Packers	0	24	10	3	37

at City Stadium • Green Bay, Wisconsin

Date: December 31
Game time: 2:00 p.m. EST
Game weather: 17 °F (−8 °C), relative humidity 82%, wind 10 mph (16 km/h), wind chill 6 °F (−14 °C)
Game attendance: 39,029
Referee: George Rennix
TV announcers (NBC): Lindsey Nelson and Chris Schenkel
^[6]

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
NYG	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
GB	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

Scoring summary

Quarter	Time	Drive			Team	Scoring information	Score
Quarter	Time	Plays	Yards	TOP	Team	Scoring information	NYG	GB
2					Packers	Hornung 6-yard touchdown run, Hornung kick good	0	7
2					Packers	Dowler 13-yard touchdown reception from Starr, Hornung kick good	0	14
2					Packers	Kramer 14-yard touchdown reception from Starr, Hornung kick good	0	21
2					Packers	17-yard field goal by Hornung	0	24
3					Packers	22-yard field goal by Hornung	0	27
3					Packers	Kramer 13-yard touchdown reception from Starr, Hornung kick good	0	34
4					Packers	19-yard field goal by Hornung	0	37
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football.							0	37

Point spread: Giants +3½
Time of game:

Giants	Game statistics	Packers
6	First downs	19
14–31	Rushes–yards	44–181
119	Passing yards	164
10–29–4	Passes	10–19–0
2–20	Sacked–yards	0–0
99	Net passing yards	164
130	Total yards	345
129	Return yards	58
5–39.2	Punts	5–42.0
5–1	Fumbles–lost	1–0
4–38	Penalties–yards	4–16
	Time of possession

Individual stats

Giants Passing
	C/ATT¹	Yds	TD	INT	Sk	Yds	LG³	Rate
Tittle	6/20	65	0	4	2	15	19	1.0
Conerly	4/8	54	0	0	1	5	35	71.9
Gaiters	0/1	0	0	0	0	0	0	39.6

Giants Rushing
	Car²	Yds	TD	LG³

Giants Receiving
	Rec⁴	Yds	TD	LG³

Giants Kickoff Returns
	Ret	Yds	Y/Rt	TD	Lng

Giants Punt Returns
	Ret	Yds	Y/Rt	TD	Lng

Giants Punting
	Pnt	Yds	Y/P	Lng	Blck

Starting Lineups

Position	Starting Lineups at Green Bay (1961 NFL Championship Game)
Offense
FL	#44 Kyle Rote
LT	#79 Rosey Brown
LG	#62 Darrell Dess
C	#55 Ray Wietecha
RG	#66 Jack Stroud
RT	#53 Greg Larson
TE	#80 Joe Walton
SE	#85 Del Shofner
QB	#14 Y. A. Tittle
FB	#29 Alex Webster
LH	#28 Joel Wells
Defense
LDE
LDT
RDT
RDE
LLB
MLB
RLB
LCB
RCB
SS
FS

References

↑ "Giants tie Browns, 7-7, capture title". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. December 18, 1961. p. 28.
1 2 Lea, Bud (January 1, 1962). "Packers World Champions!". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1M.
1 2 "'Soldier' Hornung leads driving Packers to 37–0 humiliation of New York Giants". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. January 1, 1962. p. 14.
1 2 Maule, Tex (January 8, 1962). "Day of devastation". Sports Illustrated. p. 12.
↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com
↑ Pro Football Reference; 1961 NFL Championship Game – New York Giants at Green Bay Packers – December 31, 1961

External links

[tibrns-1] "Giants tie Browns, 7-7, capture title". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. December 18, 1961. p. 28.

[pcwch-2] 1 2 Lea, Bud (January 1, 1962). "Packers World Champions!". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1M.

[shldpck-3] 1 2 "'Soldier' Hornung leads driving Packers to 37–0 humiliation of New York Giants". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. January 1, 1962. p. 14.

[sivdodev-4] 1 2 Maule, Tex (January 8, 1962). "Day of devastation". Sports Illustrated. p. 12.

[5] Pro-Football-Reference.com

[6] Pro Football Reference; 1961 NFL Championship Game – New York Giants at Green Bay Packers – December 31, 1961

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]


1	PIT	John Henry Johnson 1 yard run (Tom Tracy kick)	Steelers 7–0

2	NYG	Del Shofner 16 yard pass from Charlie Conerly (Pat Summerall kick)	Tie 7–7

3	NYG	Pat Summerall 19 yard field goal	Giants 10–7

3	NYG	Joe Morrison 5 yard pass from Y.A. Tittle (Pat Summerall kick)	Giants 17–7

3	PIT	Buddy Dial 4 yard pass from Bobby Layne (Tom Tracy kick)	Giants 17–14

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