A Rivalry for the Ages – At Its Peak
For the Eagles and Giants — A Rivalry that Began With a Pop Not a Whimper— Has Seen It All.
It was the Eagles’ 1960 NFL Championship Season when the Eagles vs. New York Football Giants rivalry first truly began. In November of that year in 1960 — both the Eagles and the Giants — two of the NFL’s oldest franchises would become a match of legend with one of the NFL’s most legendary plays. As Giants running back Frank Gifford caught a pass over the middle of the field at Yankee Stadium — he was pulverized by Eagles linebacker “Concrete” Chuck Bednarik.
The play would become number 44 on the NFL 100 Greatest Plays. The New York players thought that Bednarik had literally killed Gifford. While the hit wasn’t terminal —Gifford would miss a year of football and was carted off the field.
PHOTO: Philadelphia Eagles
You may have noticed this year that the Giants opened the 2024–2025 season with throwback uniforms and commemorative patches that pay homage to their inaugural season in 1925. The team is celebrating one hundred years of existence as part of a group of eight NFL teams that first joined the NFL (the Giants are the oldest franchise in the Northeast US). On Sunday, they’ll get a reminder of their top historic NFC East rivalry—complete with the All-Pro Eagles running back that they allowed to leave.
Named the New York Football Giants to distinguish themselves from the team that now plays baseball in San Francisco, Tim Mara founded the Giants with an initial investment of $500 in 1925.
New York may have thought little of the Eagles when they beat the new Philadelphia franchise in 1933 by a score of 56–0 on opening day in 1933 at the Polo Grounds — they had no idea what was in store for them after over 90 years of playing the Eagles.
The Eagles-Giants rivalry has seen it all from impossible fumbles while trying to run out the clock: two miracle punt returns, one of 84 yards by Brian Westbrook in 2003, and one during an improbable fourth-quarter comeback by DeSean Jackson in 2010. Or an Asante Samual interception return for a touchdown to send the Eagles to an NFC Championship Game in 2009 or throttling in South Philly on the way to a Super Bowl in 2023. It’s even seen a 61-yard game-winning field goal by Jake Elliott.
These two iconic NFL franchises, who have battled through almost everything over the last decade — are constantly reminded of the inner-divisional clash.
When HBO’s Hard Knocks captured the current Giants owner John Mara dejectedly walking out of the New York Executive offices and down the hallway after learning of the team who would be Saquon Barkley’s free agency destination — that team was the Philadelphia Eagles.
PHOTO: Philadelphia Eagles
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