The 1958 NFL Championship
The 1958 NFL championship game was played between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants. The game was played on December 28, 1958, at the Giants' home venue, Yankee Stadium. There were 64,185 people in attendence for the game.
Both teams finished the 1958 season with a record of 9-3. However, in a head to head matchup in week 7 of that year, the Giants won a very close game against the Colts by a score of 24-21.
Entering the championship game, the teams were essentialy evenly matched but the Colts may have been slight underdogs. This is because the Colts were coming out of a few weak seasons and the Giants had a few succesful seasons in a row, including a championship season in 1956.
Both team's offenses had very poor starts. Baltiomore began the game with the ball. On their very first drive they fumbled the ball and gave possesion to the Giants. The Giants were in excellent field posistion, until Frank Gifford fumbled the ball, giving possesion back to Baltimore.
New York was the first to get on the score board, thanks to a 36 yard field goal by Pat Sumerall. The Giants would later give up a fumble which would be recovered by Baltimore's Ray Krouse. Baltimore scored on the ensuing possesion with a 2 yard touch down run by Alan Ameche. The Colts now had a 7-3 lead. Later in the second quarter, the Giants had a prime scoring oppertunity when they recovered a Colts fumble on the 10 yard line. However, yet another fumble by Gifford gave possesion back to the Colts. The Colts were able to put together an 86 yard drive, ending in a 15 yard touchdown pass from Johnny Unitas to Raymond Barry. The Colts now had a 14-3 lead going into the third quarter.
In the third quarter, the Giants were able to get a quick touchdown. After a quick 95 yard drive, Mel Triplett was able to find the end zone on a 1 yard run.Their defecit had been cut to just 4. Then, the Giants were able to claim the lead with another touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Gifford made up for his two fumbles earlier in the game by receiving a 15 yard touchdown pass to take the lead. Baltimore was now trailing by a mere field goal.
After stopping the Giants' offense, the Colts forced a punt with just a little over 2 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The Colts set up for their final drive of the game on their defensive 14 yard line. They put together what would become known as the greatest drive in football history.
Facing 3rd and 10 on their own 14 yard line, Unitas was able to find his receiver Lenny Moore for an 11 yard completion and first down. After one more incomplete pass, Unitas was able to string 3 completions together for a total gain of 62 yards. Now, with only seven seconds remaining, the Colts were in position for a field goal. They called upon their kicker, Steve Myhra and he delivered. He kicked a good field goal, sending the game to the NFL playoff's first ever sudden-death overtime.
The rules of the overtime were very simple. The referee and either team's captain met and conducted a coin toss. The winner would elect who received the ball first. From there, the first team to score in any way would be declared the winner.
The Giants won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball first. After a muffed kickoff reception, the Giants set up for their overtime drive on their own 20 yard line. After being stopped on their first 3 plays, they were forced to punt the ball to the Colts. From here, the Colts put together a drive that rivals the drive they tied the game on.
Unitas was able to rely on Alan Ameche and Raymond Berry to make several big plays, bringing the Colts to their offensive 8 yard line. It was then that a man ran onto the field and caused a delay. It is beleived that he may have been a cable company employee, trying to stall the game until the cable company could resolve a technical issue.
After the game resumed, the Colts were able to push forward to the 1 yard line. They then called on Ameche. He was able to run the ball into the endzone, ending the greatest game ever and making his team the 1958 NFL champions.