New York Giants

History

Mara family era (1925–1990)

On August 1, 1925, Timothy Mara and Will Gibson were granted a franchise by the NFL for their newly organized team in New York City — the New York Football Giants. The cost of the franchise was $2,500.

The Giants played their first game as an exhibition against All New Britain (which was not an NFL team) in New Britain, Connecticut, on October 4. They defeated New Britain 26–0 in front of a crowd of 10,000.

The New York Giants' first NFL game was a week later, on October 11, 1925, at the Cycledrome in Providence, Rhode Island, in a 0 to 14 loss to the Providence Steam Roller. The Giants were successful in their first season, finishing in fourth place in a 20-team league with an 8–4–0 record.

In its third season, the team finished with the best record in the league at 11–1–1 and was awarded the NFL title. After a disappointing fourth season (1928) owner Tim Mara bought the entire squad of the Detroit Wolverines, principally to acquire star quarterback Benny Friedman, and merged the two teams under the Giants name.

In 1930, there were still many who questioned the quality of the professional game, claiming the college "amateurs" played with more intensity than professionals. In December 1930, the Giants played a team of Notre Dame All Stars at the Polo Grounds to raise money for the unemployed of New York City. It was also an opportunity to establish the skill and prestige of the pro game. Knute Rockne reassembled his Four Horsemen along with the stars of his 1924 Championship squad and told them to score early, then defend. Rockne, like much of the public, thought little of pro football and expected an easy win. But from the beginning it was a one-way contest, with Friedman running for two Giant touchdowns and Hap Moran passing for another. Notre Dame failed to score. When it was all over, Coach Rockne told his team, "That was the greatest football machine I ever saw. I am glad none of you got hurt." The game raised $100,000 for the homeless, and is often credited with establishing the legitimacy of the professional game for those who were critical. It also was the last game the legendary Rockne ever coached; he was killed in an airplane crash on March 31, 1931.

In a 16-year span from 1931 to 1947, the Giants qualified to play in the NFL championship game 8 times, winning twice. During this period the Giants were led by Hall of Fame coach Steve Owen, and Hall of Fame players Mel Hein, Red Badgro, and Tuffy Leemans. In 1933 the Giants faced the Chicago Bears in the championship game and were defeated 23–21.

Mara and Tisch era (1991–present)

Following the 1990 season, Parcells resigned as head coach and was replaced by the team's offensive-line coach Ray Handley. Handley served as coach for two disappointing seasons (1991 and 1992), which saw the Giants fall from Super Bowl champions to an 8–8 record in 1991 and a 6–10 record in 1992. He was fired following the 1992 season, and replaced by former Denver Broncos' coach Dan Reeves. In the early 1990s, Simms and Taylor, two of the stars of the 1980s, played out the last seasons of their careers with steadily declining production. The Giants experienced a resurgent season with Reeves at the helm in 1993 however, and Simms and Taylor ended their careers as members of a playoff team.

The Giants initially struggled in the post Simms/Taylor era. After starting 3–7 in 1994, the Giants won their final six games to finish 9–7 but missed the playoffs. Quarterback Dave Brown received heavy criticism throughout the season. Brown performed poorly the following two seasons, and the Giants struggled to 5–11 and 6–10 records. Reeves was fired following the 1996 season.

In 1997, the Giants named Jim Fassel, who had spent the previous season as offensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals, as their 16th head coach. Fassel named Danny Kanell the team's starting quarterback. The Giants finished the 1997 season with a record of 10–5–1 and qualified for the playoffs for the first time in four years. However, they lost in the wild-card round to the Vikings at home. The following year, the Giants began the season 4–8 before rallying to finish the season 8–8. One of the notable games of that season was a win over the eventual Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos in week 15, giving the Broncos their first loss of the season after starting 13–0.

Before the 1999 season, the Giants signed ex-Carolina Panthers quarterback Kerry Collins. Collins was the first-ever draft choice of the expansion Carolina Panthers in 1995 and led the Panthers to the NFC Championship game in his second season. However, problems with alcohol, conflicts with his teammates, and questions about his character led to his release from the Panthers. The Giants finished the season with a 7–9 record, Fassel's first losing season as head coach.

In 2000, the Giants were looking to make the playoffs for the first time in three seasons. The Giants started the season 7–2, but suffered back-to-back home losses to St. Louis and Detroit to make their record 7–4 and call their playoff prospects into question. At a press conference following the Giants' loss to Detroit, Fassel guaranteed that "this team is going to the playoffs". The Giants responded, winning the rest of their regular season games to finish the season 12–4 and clinch the top seed in the NFC. In the divisional round, the Giants beat the Philadelphia Eagles 20–10 at home to qualify for the NFC Championship Game, in which they defeated the Minnesota Vikings 41–0. They advanced to play the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV. Though the Giants went into halftime down only 10–0, the Ravens dominated the second half. Their defense harassed Kerry Collins all game long, resulting in Collins completing only 15 of 39 passes for 112 yards and 4 interceptions. The Ravens won the game 34–7.

Championships

The Giants have won a total of eight league championships: 1927, 1934, 1938, 1956, 1986, 1990, 2007 and 2011. The first four of those championships came in the pre-Super Bowl era. New York's eight championships put them third among all active and defunct NFL teams, trailing only the Green Bay Packers (13) and the Chicago Bears (9).

NFL championships (pre-Super Bowl era)

Before the Super Bowl was instituted, the Giants won four officially recognized NFL championships.

Super Bowl championships

The Giants have won four Super Bowls, tied with Green Bay and Kansas City for the fifth most behind Dallas, San Francisco (both with 5), and New England and Pittsburgh (6 each).

NFC championships

The Giants have won five NFC Championship Games, including two in overtime in 2007 and 2011.

Logos and uniforms

With over 100 years of team history, the Giants have used numerous uniforms and logos, while maintaining a consistent identity. The Giants' logos include several incarnations of a giant quarterback preparing to throw a football, a lowercase "ny", and stylized versions of the team nickname.

Giants' jerseys are traditionally blue or red (or white with blue or red accents), and their pants alternate between white and gray. Currently, the Giants wear home jerseys that are solid blue with white block numbering, white pants with five thin blue/gray/red/gray/blue stripes on the pant legs, and solid blue socks. For this they gained their most renowned nickname, "Big Blue". For road uniforms, they wear a white jersey with red block numbering and red "Northwestern" stripes on the sleeves, white pants with red "Northwestern" stripes on the pant legs, and solid red socks. The Giants' current helmet is metallic blue with white block numbers, which are frontally mounted and base mounted on either side of a red stripe running down the center or frontally mounted and base mounted on the red center stripe itself. The Giants, along with the Pittsburgh Steelers, are one of only two teams in the NFL to have the players' uniform numbers on both the front and back of the helmets. The helmet is adorned on both sides with the stylized white lower case "ny" logo and features a gray facemask. The home uniforms are generally similar to the design used from 1966 to 1974, but with some slight elements from the 1956–1961 uniforms. The road uniforms are essentially a modernization of the design used from 1956 to 1961. Additionally, the Giants had a third jersey until the 2009 season, which recalled the Giants' solid red home jerseys from the early 1950s: a solid red alternate with white block numbers. These jerseys were used a total of four times, but have since been retired. They were used once in 2004 against the Philadelphia Eagles and in three consecutive years – 2005, 2006, and 2007 – against the Dallas Cowboys.

Ownerships, financial history and fan base

The Giants have had a long and, at times, turbulent financial history. The team was founded by Tim Mara with an investment of US$500 in 1925 and became one of the first teams in the then five-year-old NFL. To differentiate themselves from the baseball team of the same name, they took the name "New York Football Giants", which they still use as their legal corporate name.

Although the Giants were successful on the field in their initial seasons, their financial status was a different story. Overshadowed by baseball, boxing, and college football, professional football was not a popular sport in 1925. The Giants were in dire financial straits until the 11th game of the season when Red Grange and the Chicago Bears came to town, attracting over 73,000 fans. This gave the Giants a much needed influx of revenue, and perhaps altered the history of the franchise. The following year, Grange and his agent formed a rival league and stationed a competing team, led by Grange, in New York. Though the Giants lost $50,000 that season, the rival league folded and was subsumed into the NFL. Following the 1930 season, Mara transferred ownership of the team over to his two sons to insulate the team from creditors, and by 1946, he had given over complete control of the team to them. Jack, the older son, controlled the business aspects, while Wellington controlled the on-field operations. After their initial struggles the Giants financial status stabilized, and they led the league in attendance several times in the 1930s and 1940s. Tim Mara died in 1959.

By the early 1960s, the Giants had firmly established themselves as one of the league's biggest attractions. However, rather than continuing to receive their higher share of the league television revenue, the Mara sons pushed for equal sharing of revenue for the benefit of the entire league. Revenue sharing is still practiced in the NFL today, and is credited with strengthening the league. After their struggles in the latter half of the 1960s and the entire 1970s, the Giants hired an outsider, George Young, to run the football operations for the first time in franchise history. The Giants' on-field product and business aspects improved rapidly following the move.

In 1991, Tim Mara, grandson of the founder, was struggling with cancer and sold his half of the team to Bob Tisch for a reported $80 million. This marked the first time in franchise history the team had not been solely owned by the Mara family. In 2005, Wellington Mara, who had been with the team since its inception in 1925 when he worked as a ball boy, died at the age of 89. His death was followed two weeks later by the death of Tisch. In 2015, Wellington's widow and Giants co-owner Ann died due to complications from a head injury suffered in a fall. She was 85 years old.

Rivalries

Divisional

The rivalry between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles is one of the oldest in the NFL, dating back to 1933. The two teams have frequently fought for playoff contention, NFC East titles, and respect. While the Giants had the edge this rivalry early on in its history, the series began to even after the 1980s, with the Eagles going 22–21 against New York through the 1990s and 2000s. Philadelphia then dominated New York in the 2010s with a 16–4 record to claim their first lead in the series. Two key games or moments to look at are the "Miracle of the Meadowlands", and "The Hit". These two games helped create the intense rivalry still to this day even though these moments happened over 50 years ago. The Eagles lead the all-time series 94–89–2 as of the 2023 season. The two teams have met five times in the postseason, with the Giants winning two games to the Eagles three. Three of those four playoff meetings were held in the 2000s decade. New York City and Philadelphia have a strong geographic rivalry, as seen in other professional sports such as the Mets–Phillies rivalry in Major League Baseball, and the Flyers–Rangers, Flyers–Islanders and Devils–Flyers rivalries in the National Hockey League.

The Giants have an old and storied rivalry with the Washington Commanders, dating back to 1932. While this rivalry is typically given less significance than the rivalries with the Eagles and Cowboys, there have been periods of great competition between the two. In the 1980s the Giants and Redskins, as they were then known, clashed as both struggled against each other for division titles and even Super Bowl Championships. Most notable among these is the 1986 NFC Championship game in which the Giants defeated the Redskins 17–0 to earn their first ever trip to the Super Bowl. Wellington Mara always felt the Redskins were the Giants' oldest and truest rival, and after dying in 2005, the Giants honored their longtime owner by defeating the Redskins 36–0 at home. The Giants lead this series 107–74–5 as of the 2025 season.

The Giants have maintained a fierce divisional rivalry with the Dallas Cowboys since the Cowboys first began play in 1960. The two teams have a combined nine Super Bowl victories between them, and have played many games in which the NFC East title was at stake. The rivalry is unique among professional sports as it is the only divisional rivalry between sports teams from New York City and Dallas, partially due to the large distance between the two cities. The Cowboys lead the regular season series 75–47–2, while the Giants hold the lone playoff victory between the two teams, held at the conclusion of the 2007 season.

Conference

Despite never being in the same division, the Giants and San Francisco 49ers have developed a heated rivalry over the years. The two teams have met eight times in the playoffs (including two NFC Championship Games, both won by New York) since 1982, which is the most of any two teams in that span. In the overall series the 49ers lead 22–21, while the postseason series are also tied 4–4. Five of the eight times the Giants and 49ers have played in the postseason, the winner of their game has gone on to win the Super Bowl.

Interconference

The Giants and New York Jets for many years had the only intracity rivalry in the NFL, made even more unusual by sharing a stadium. They have met annually in the preseason since 1969. Since 2011, this meeting has been known as the "MetLife Bowl", after the naming sponsor of the teams' stadium. Regular season matchups between the teams occur once every four years, as they follow the NFL scheduling formula for interconference games. Since the two teams play each other so infrequently in the regular season, some, including players on both teams, have questioned whether the Giants and Jets have a real rivalry. A memorable regular season game was in 1988, when the Giants faced off against the Jets in the last game of the season, needing a victory to make the playoffs. The Jets played spoiler, however, beating the Giants 27–21 and ruining the latter's playoff hopes. A different scenario unfolded during the penultimate regular season game of 2011 as the "visiting" Giants defeated the Jets 29–14. The victory simultaneously helped eliminate the Jets from playoff contention and propel the Giants to their own playoff run and eventual win in Super Bowl XLVI. The Giants lead the overall regular season series 8–7.

The Giants and New England Patriots rarely played each other given they were on opposite conferences, but the rivalry gained notoriety in the late 2000s thanks to some close contests and memorable moments between Tom Brady and Eli Manning. In the 2007 season, the Patriots defeated the Giants 38–35 to clinch a perfect 16–0 regular season, but could not finish a perfect 19–0 season in Super Bowl XLII following a 17–14 defeat. That game featured the now-iconic Helmet Catch from David Tyree. The Giants also defeated the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI, a 21–17 victory. As of the 2023 season, the all-time series is tied 7–7.

Historic

The Giants and Chicago Bears squared off in six NFL championship games, more than any common matchup in either the NFL championship game or Super Bowl. Though the Bears won four of the six championship games, one of the Giants' two championship victories included the Sneakers Game that took place in the 1934 NFL Championship Game. The two teams also met in the 1985 and 1990 playoffs, splitting each meeting en route to a Super Bowl championship (Bears in Super Bowl XX, Giants in Super Bowl XXV). The Bears lead the all-time series 36–24–2, including a 5–3 postseason record.

The Giants–Packers rivalry is a National Football League (NFL) rivalry between the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers. The two teams have played since 1970 in the National Football Conference, and they play each other in the regular season either every three years or depending on its NFC division placement, and in the postseason, The Packers lead the all-time series 34–28–2 and postseason series 5–3.

Players

Retired numbers

Notes:

1 Retired in 1935, this was the first number to be retired in professional football. The number was unretired in 2024 for Malik Nabers after he received permission to wear it from the Flaherty family.

2 The Giants retired the #3 in honor of tackle and team captain Len Grant, who was killed by a lightning strike while golfing just before training camp opened in 1938. His number was returned to service in 1966 at the request of Pete Gogolak and has remained in use.

3 Posthumous honor.

4 The number 14 was retired in honor of Ward Cuff in 1946. Y. A. Tittle requested 14 after the Giants traded for him in 1961, and it was retired a second time in 1964 at the conclusion of Tittle's playing career. The number is now retired in honor of both players.

Pro Football Hall of Famers

In the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Giants boast the second-most enshrined members with 29. Tim Mara, Mel Hein, Pete Henry, Cal Hubbard and Jim Thorpe were a part of the original class of inductees in 1963, while defensive end Michael Strahan, the most recent Giant inducted, was a part of the Class of 2014. Numerous members, including Larry Csonka, Ray Flaherty, Joe Guyon, Pete Henry, Arnie Herber, Cal Hubbard, Tom Landry, Don Maynard, Hugh McElhenny, Jim Thorpe, and Kurt Warner were at one time associated with the New York Giants, but they were inducted largely based on their careers with other teams.

Ring of Honor

The New York Giants unveiled their own Ring of Honor on October 3, 2010, during halftime of their Sunday Night Football matchup with the Chicago Bears. John Mara had long wished to create a Giants Ring of Honor and Hall of Fame to honor Giants who helped the franchise achieve each of their championships, and the building of MetLife Stadium resulted in the realization of that ambition. The organization had an inaugural induction class of 30 including players, coaches, owners and executives that have had a great impact on the organization. While the entire list of inductees was not revealed until the actual induction, the organization did confirm about a week before the ceremony that Phil Simms, Bill Parcells, Michael Strahan, Tiki Barber, Frank Gifford and Pete Gogolak would all be inducted.

Top 100 greatest Giants of all-time

In celebration of the Giants 100th season, the team announced the top 100 players in franchise history.

NFL MVP award winners

The Giants have had six players win NFL MVP in franchise history.

Super Bowl MVP award winners

The Giants have had three players win Super Bowl MVP in franchise history.

First-round draft picks

The Giants have had the number one overall pick in the NFL draft two times in their history.

Coaches

The Giants have had 22 head coaches serve in the capacity.

Stat leaders

Bold denotes still active with team

Italics denote still active but not with team

These lists are accurate through the 2024 regular season.

Media, radio and television

As of 2010, the Giants' flagship radio station is WFAN, with games simulcast on WFAN-FM as of November 2012. Since WFAN also has the rights to carry baseball, as they currently are the flagship station for the New York Yankees and previously served the same role for the New York Mets, early season Giants games come into conflict; since 2019, WFAN has split the coverage across both of its dial positions, with the Giants carried on 660 AM and the Yankees on 101.9 FM. Prior to that, the Giants' games would air on one of WFAN's designated overflow stations.

Bob Papa on play-by-play and Carl Banks on color commentary are the Giants' radio broadcast team, with Howard Cross as the sideline reporter. When Papa is unavailable to call games Chris Carrino, WFAN's lead broadcaster for the Brooklyn Nets, substitutes for him. Games are carried over the New York Giants Radio Network over various stations in New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut.

Preseason telecasts not seen nationally air in the area on WNBC, with WWOR-TV serving as an overflow station for when WNBC is airing other programming such as the Summer Olympic Games. Papa and Banks call these games on television, with studio host Paul Dottino as Papa's substitute.

WPIX-TV or WABC-TV will also air any Giants broadcast that is carried exclusively by ESPN, as per the local carriage rules (WABC-TV's corporate parent, The Walt Disney Company, holds an 80% majority ownership stake in ESPN, and has a right of first refusal for these telecasts). Thursday Night Football broadcasts, which are streamed on Amazon Prime Video, are simulcast on WNYW.

The Giants' public address announcer at MetLife Stadium is Gordon Deal. Deal replaced Jim Hall, who for years was Bob Sheppard's substitute at Yankee Stadium due to their very similar voices. Hall took over the Giants PA job after Sheppard elected to leave the position in 2005 to focus solely on his Yankee Stadium duties.

Past

WFAN has produced the Giants' radio broadcasts since 1995, but has not always aired them on the station. For 1995, then-Giants flagship WOR continued to carry the games as they had for the previous two seasons. In 1996 the games were simulcast on WFAN and WOR, which caused some conflict as at the time, WFAN was the radio flagship of the New York Jets as well. To remedy the situation, beginning the next year WFAN moved the Giants' radio broadcasts to the FM dial and sister station WNEW-FM, where they remained until the end of the 1999 season. In 2000 WFAN lost the Jets' radio contract to WABC and the Giants moved back to WFAN where they have been ever since.

The Giants' longtime radio home was WNEW, where games aired from the mid-1950s until 1993 when the station was bought by Bloomberg L.P. and changed its format. Marty Glickman teamed with Al DeRogatis for a long stretch beginning in the early 1960s on WNEW. Chip Cipolla and later Sam Huff joined Glickman after DeRogatis left to join Curt Gowdy on NBC. After the WNEW split, games began airing on WOR. Glickman moved to the crosstown Jets in 1973 and was succeeded by Marv Albert. Jim Gordon succeeded Albert in 1977, beginning an 18-year tenure as the Giants' play-by-play voice. Meanwhile, Dick Lynch took over as color analyst in 1976 and continued in that role through 2007, with his last game being Super Bowl XLII, and retired following the season due to his advancing leukemia, which took his life in September 2008.

Eventually Gordon and Lynch were joined by Karl Nelson, a former lineman for the Giants. Gordon and Nelson were fired after the 1994 season, after which Papa took over the play-by-play (after being studio host) and led a two-man booth with Lynch. Dave Jennings joined the broadcast team in 2002 following his firing by the Jets, with whom he had worked since his 1987 retirement from the NFL. Jennings was moved to the pregame show after the 2006 season and was replaced by Carl Banks, leaving broadcasting altogether in 2008 due to his ongoing battle with Parkinson's disease that he lost in 2013.

After WFAN began airing games Richard Neer served as pregame and postgame host. He was replaced by Sid Rosenberg, who was in turn fired by the station due to troubles and replaced by Chris Carlin. Carlin left in 2008 to focus full-time on his duties as SNY studio host and Rutgers athletics radio voice and was replaced by WWOR sports reporter and former WFAN host Russ Salzberg, who cohosted with Roman Oben after Jennings left. WEPN Giants beat reporter Paul Dottino was hired by WFAN to host the pregame show for 2009 and continues to be a part of the program. As of the 2020 season, Lance Medow is the host for the pregame show as well as halftime and postgame, with former Giants punter Jeff Feagles as analyst.