I thought I would write a piece about the opening season game between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys. The New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys have become two of the most storied franchise in the NFL, but it wasn’t always that way.
The Cowboys joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1960, after the league approved a bid led by General Manager Tex Schramm and Head Coach Tom Landry. The two had met when Landry was defensive coordinator for the Giants in the 50s, and Schramm was a sports writer for the Austin American-Statesman. Schramm became the General Manager in 1959 of Lamar Hunt’s Dallas Texans in the AFL. He hired Landry as his Defensive Coordinator, Hank Stram was the Head Coach.
Seeking to expand its product and to capitalize on the rising popularity in the southern part of the country, the NFL awarded Dallas a franchise to compete with Hunt’s American Football team. Schramm moved over to the Cowboys, and hired Landry as his Head Coach. The Cowboys were placed in the same division as the Giants, ensuring frequent matchups between the then Eastern Conference powerhouse Giants and the upstart Cowboys. A rivalry, driven initially by Landry being a former Giant coach, ensued and endured until today. As a footnote, Hunt soon afterward moved his Dallas Texans to Kansas City to avoid competition. Head Coach Stram followed Hunt, and was the winning coach for Kansas City in Super Bowl IV.
First Opening Season Game
The two teams first ever meeting came in the opening season game of the 1961 season on September 17th at Yankee Stadium in New York. The Giants were reigning conference champions, having lost to the Packers in the previous year’s NFL title game. The Cowboys, playing in their first ever regular season game, managed to hang tough before eventually falling to the Giants by a score of 31-21. Quarterback Eddie LeBaron led the way for Dallas, passing for one touchdown, and running for another. Like any expansion team, the Cowboys struggled in their first season, finishing 0-11-1 and eventually secured the first pick in the 1962 draft, which they used to select future Hall of Fame defensive tackle Bob Lilly. The Giants meanwhile went on to finish 10-3-1 and earn another trip to the NFL Championship, once again losing to the Packers.
Opening Season Game becomes a Tradition
Over the next two decades, the opening season game between the division rivals became a regular tradition. The Cowboys defeated the Giants in 1962, while New York bounced back to defeat Dallas in the 1963 opener. Through the 1970s, the two teams regularly played each other on opening day. More recently, the Cowboys, led by Tony Romo, have tormented the Giants the last three times the teams have played.
On September 5th, 2012, the Cowboys defeated the Giants 24-17 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey as Romo threw for 307 yards and 3 touchdowns. On September 8th, 2013, the Cowboys hosted the Giants in a Sunday Night Football game, winning 36-31. Dallas wide receiver Miles Austin caught 10 passes for 72 yards and 2 touchdowns. And most recently, on September 13th, 2015, the Cowboys came away with a 27-26 victory after Giants kicker Josh Brown missed a potential game-winning field goal as time expired. Romo led Dallas with 356 passing yards and 3 touchdowns.
It has been several years since an Opening Season game between these two rivals, looking forward to the game!
Barry Schustermann
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