IS THIS THE WORST GIANTS TEAM EVER?
THIS already has been every Giants fan’s worst nightmare: a team that pleads the fifth when it comes to scoring and defending and playing like Giants, instead of chasing that fifth Lombardi Trophy.
A worst-case scenario hovers as a dark cloud over the franchise. The possibility that the 2017 Giants could be remembered as … drum roll, please:
THE WORST TEAM IN GIANTS HISTORY.
John Mara turned 12 years old four days after the 1966 Giants, quarterbacked by rookie Tom Kennedy, were humiliated 72-41 by the Redskins on Nov. 27 at District of Columbia Stadium. Sam Huff, bitter over being traded by Giants coach Allie Sherman, screamed at him from the Redskins’ sideline and implored Washington coach Otto Graham to run up the score. Which he did by summoning Charlie Gogolak for a 29-yard field goal with seven seconds left.
“In a crazy game like this,” Graham said, “What’s another three points?”
A 49-40 road loss to the Browns, a 47-28 home loss to the Steelers and a 17-7 Yankee Stadium loss to the Tom Landry Cowboys completed 1-12-1. The defense set a 14-game record by allowing 501 points. Not exactly a Mara Christmas. The “Goodbye Allie” chants still ring in his ears.
Those were dark days when his father, the late, great Wellington Mara, drove his sixthgrader to school, only two blocks from their Rye home.
“The kids would wait outside and sing, ‘ Goodbye Allie,’ when John came in,’’ Wellington Mara once said. “So he’s grown up the hard way, and as I like to say, he’s formed a lot of scar tissue.’’
This year’s 1-8 Giants are 10-point underdogs Sunday to the Chiefs, and will not be favored in any of the remaining games on the schedule.
That’s terrific news if you’re desperate for a young franchise quarterback, your next Eli Manning, not so terrific if your scar tissue isn’t up to the challenge.
Jerry Hillebrand, the Giants’ first-round pick out of Colorado in 1962, was a linebacker on The Worst Team In Giants History (TWTIGH). I asked him whether there were playoff expectations when that 1966 season began.
“With the different personnel that we had, we were just ready to go one game at a time and win as many as we can,” Hillebrand told The Post. “You’re not even thinking of playoffs or anything like that. You’re just trying to get the team together and mold into a good defensive unit or offensive unit, and then win as many games as you can.”
Cornell’s 5-foot-11 Gary Wood was the quarterback, Earl Morrall the backup. Wood threw six touchdown passes and 13 interceptions.
“I think he was what, 5-9 or 5-10, 190 pounds or so,” Hillebrand said. “He’s a good athlete, you know, but I don’t think he was a pro quarterback.”
Sherman had traded Huff and defensive tackle Dick Modzelewski two years earlier. Defensive end Andy Robustelli retired in 1964. Quarterback Y.A. Tittle was 38 when he retired in 1964. Defensive back Erich Barnes was traded after the 1964 season.
“When they traded Huff, I went into the middle,” Hillebrand said. “Heck, I had new defensive tackles practically every game it seemed like. So that was going from a steady defense that you had that Robustelli ran to losing everybody and then trying to put it all together again.”
TWTIGH opened the season with a 34-34 tie with the Steelers, and edged the Redskins 13-10 in Week 6 for their lone victory. Sonny
Jurgensen was intercepted by Henry Carr and Larry Vargo. TWTIGH overcame a 10-0 deficit and won on a 29-yard fourth-quarter TD pass from Morrall to Aaron Thomas. It was their last — and only hurrah. “When you start losing like that, and everything you try sort of crumbles in front of you,” Hillebrand said. “It was really tough.”
He remembers Giants fans fondly. “When I was there, people would leave their season tickets in their will, they were so strong,” Hillebrand said. “The fans were always behind us. That’s too bad they’re not doing that now. It’s a changing of the guard, I’ll tell ya. Fans are fickle. They’ll jump in a hurry anymore.”
The 1966 season was Hillebrand’s fourth and final as a Giant. He played one year with the Cardinals and three with the Steelers. He follows the Giants from his Davenport, Iowa, home and roots for them.
What message would he give to these 2017 Giants to try to avoid becoming The Worst Team In Giants History?
“Just do the best you can. Try hard. That’s the only thing I can tell ’em,” Hillebrand said.
Hillebrand was asked if any part of him wants them to be The Worst Team In Giants History so he is no longer part of TWTIGH. He paused and said with a laugh: “I hope we keep our record.”