At the start of the season, the New York Giants and their fans were hopeful that they would be playing this conference championship weekend with a chance to go on to Super Bowl 52. It was not to be, so here are a few nostalgic facts.
As we all know, the New York Giants didn’t come close to sniffing the playoffs as they finished 3-13 in what was the most disappointing season in the history of the franchise.The only thing we can do now is look back on more sun shining championship Sunday days—days that have seen the Giants go an incredible 5-0 in total with three coming on the road.
Here are three interesting conference championship game facts about the Giants:
1. Haven’t allowed a point in their two home conference championship games.
The saying defense wins championships holds true in the Giants case perhaps more than any NFL franchise. Two of the Giants five conference championship wins came at home at Giants Stadium
In the 1986 championship game, the Giants shutout the Washington Redskins, 17-0, amidst swirling winds at the old stadium.
Giants 41, Vikings 0. ?
The #NYGiants advanced to Super Bowl XXXV 17 years ago today! pic.twitter.com/q1WjZO4ih1
— New York Giants (@Giants) January 14, 2018
Fast-forward 14 years later, the Giants would once again host the championship game. This time they shutout the high-powered Minnesota Viking offense 41-0.
Outscoring two teams 58-0 in two conference championship games only added to the mystique that was Giants Stadium.
2. Every time they play the late conference championship game, they win the Super Bowl.
Call it a weird coincidence, but every time the Giants played the late game on conference championship Sunday, they’ve gone on to win the Super Bowl. The lone time they played the early conference championship game, which was back in 2000 against the Vikings, they lost the Ravens in Super Bowl 35.
The next time Big Blue makes it back to the conference championship game, they’ll hope that they’ll play in the late game in hopes of continuing this strange trend.
3. Eli Manning has zero turnovers in his two conference championship game appearances.
The one knock throughout Eli Manning’s career is his tendency to turn the ball over. He’s lead the league in interceptions three times and has thrown 228 interceptions in his career.
But in his two conference championship game appearances, he has not turned the ball over once.
In 2007 in subzero conditions, he out-dueled Brett Favre completing 21 out of 40 passes for 251 yards as the Giants won in overtime, 23-20.
In the 2011 championship game, Manning put on the gutsiest performance of his career. Against the tough San Francisco 49ers defense and downpour of rain that left the field a quagmire he completed 32 out of 58 passes for 316 yards and two touchdowns as the Giants won another conference championship game in overtime 20-17.
What made his performance so clutch was the fact that he was sacked six times and pressured throughout the entire game.
His performances in these two games are why he’s considered one of the best postseason quarterbacks of his era.
