CBS Sports: NFL 1986- NFC Championship- Washington Redskins @ New York Giants: Highlights

Source:New York Giants kicker Raul Alegre.

Source:Real Life Journal

“Re-live the Giants victory over the Redskins in the 1986 NFC Championship game.”

From the New York Giants

I think the Redskins-Giants rivalry was my favorite NFC East rivalry of the 1980s, because they were both Super Bowl contenders at the same time. Both big, tough, physical teams on both offense and defense, both very good on both sides of the ball. And both teams simply disliked each other, but also respected each other to the point that they always gave the other team their best effort which is all you can hope for a great rivalry. Which is what Redskins-Giants was back then and of course still is today.

As far as this game, the Redskins defense played well enough for them to win only giving up seventeen-points. But when you don’t score anything, you can’t beat anyone and the Redskins had some opportunities on offense. Like dropping some deep passes down the field that probably would’ve resulted in touchdowns. WR Gary Clark comes to mind, but the Giants simply outplayed the Redskins in this game and deserved to win it.

I think home field advantage is overrated in the NFL, but Giants Stadium was a different story when the Giants were good. Because they were a powerful team on both sides of the ball (and I’m talking about physically) and they were very good as well and size and strength plays very well in brutal cold weather. Especially when it is windy and you play on a really hard field like the Giants Stadium astroturf. And then you throw in the fact that the Giants, especially QB Phil Simms, knew how to play with the weather in that stadium.