Cowboys–Giants rivalry
National Football League rivalry / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Cowboys–Giants rivalry is a National Football League (NFL) rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants. The beginning of this rivalry is difficult to trace, but is perhaps best defined by the first game the two teams ever played back in 1960, which resulted in a 31–31 tie. In the early 1960s the New York Giants were beginning to wind down as an NFL powerhouse. After having been arguably the most dominant team in the Eastern Conference through the 1950s and early 1960s the Giants entered a period of poor play where they did not make the playoffs from 1964 to 1980. While the Giants dominated the Cowboys in the first few years of the rivalry, the Cowboys picked up steam and took control from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, winning 17 of the 20 meetings between the two teams in the 1970s. In the 1980s however the Giants struck back, and the rivalry has been relatively even handed ever since with intermittent spurts of dominance (the Giants in the late 1980s and the Cowboys in the early 1990s). The rivalry would also swing in favor of the Giants during the 2000s and early 2010s.[3][4] Recent history has swung back in favor of the Cowboys, as they have beaten the Giants eleven out of the last twelve matchups since 2017.[5] This is a unique rivalry in American sports in that no other Texas area team is in the same division as a New York area team, or has a consistent rivalry with one most likely due to the relatively far geographical distance between the two regions (though during the 1960s, the New York Jets were division rivals with the Houston Oilers in the American Football League Eastern Division; additionally, Astros/Yankees in MLB have built a rivalry in recent years).
First meeting | December 4, 1960 Giants 31, Cowboys 31 |
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Latest meeting | November 12, 2023
Cowboys 49, Giants 17 |
Next meeting | 2024 |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | 124 meetings[1] |
All-time series | Cowboys, 75–47–2[1] |
Postseason results | Giants, 1–0[1]
Giants 21, Cowboys 17 |
Largest victory | Cowboys, 52–7 (1966) Giants, 41–10 (1962) |
Current win streak | Cowboys, 6 (2021—present) |
Championship Success During Rivalry (1960–present) | |
Super Bowl Championships (9)
Super Bowl Appearances (13)[2] NFC East Divisional Championships (31)
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Another important facet of this rivalry is Hall of Fame coach Tom Landry. Landry was one of the most fateful figures in the history of both franchises. Drafted by the Giants in 1947, it would be three more years before he actually played with them. He played multiple roles – defensive back, halfback, and quarterback – and in those roles he recorded one rushing touchdown, one passing touchdown, two touchdowns off fumble recoveries, and three touchdowns off INTs. He made one Pro Bowl as a player, in 1954, the same season he joined the Giants' coaching staff. After he retired as a player at the end of the 1955 season, he became the Giants' defensive coordinator inventing the 4-3 Defense, serving in that role through 1959. In 1960, he became head coach of the first-year Cowboys and in his 29 seasons went 35–16–2 against the Giants.[6] According to The Last Cowboy: A Life of Tom Landry, by Long Island author Mark Ribowsky, Tom Landry's widow, Alicia, claims that after the way the Jones family treated her husband when they purchased the team, that the long-time coach no longer followed the team and went back to being a fan of the Giants until his death in 2000.[7]