Throwback Thursday: Giants and Eagles have long, intertwined history
The New York Giants will face the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday afternoon to close out the 2022 regular season schedule.
It will be the 178th meeting between the two clubs since 1933. The Giants are 84-87-2 against Philadelphia in the regular season with the teams splitting their four postseason meetings.
The Giants have only faced one franchise — Washington — more times than they’ve faced the Eagles. The Giants and Eagles have been in the same division throughout their existence in the NFL but for a few seasons.
They were both in the Eastern Division from 1933-49 and then in the American Conference from 1950-52.
Throughout the NFL’s expansion and realignment before the merger with the AFL in 1970, the Giants and Eagles were joined at the hip. From 1953-69 they were both in the Eastern Conference.
In 1967, the NFL split its two eight-team conferences into four divisions. The Eastern Conference was split into two divisions — the Capitol and the Century.
The Giants were assigned to the Century along with the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, and St. Louis Cardinals. The Eagles joined the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, and New Orleans Saints in the Capitol. The Giants faced the Eagles just once that season — a 44-7 win at Yankee Stadium.
That alignment lasted a year. In 1968, the Giants and Saints switched divisions and Big Blue was placed in the Century. They faced the Eagles twice again that year, winning both games.
In 1969, the NFL’s final season before merging with the AFL, the Giants and Saints flip-flopped again. The Giants and Eagles would meet only once, this time a 23-20 Philly win in the Bronx.
The significance of this era was the staleness of the NFL and many of its staple franchises’ inability to modernize. The Giants and Eagles were two of those teams. After the merger, the former AFL teams would dominate the league, even though two of those franchises — Baltimore and Pittsburgh — came from the old NFL.
Many of the teams that remained in the NFC, outside of Dallas, fell into disrepair. The AFC had exciting teams such as the Jets with Joe Namath, Miami, and Oakland. They won the majority of the Super Bowls over the next decade.
Things have naturally balanced out over the last 50 years but there was a time when the Giants and Eagles were emblematic of what was wrong with the NFL. These two franchises have come a long way and their rivalry had endured.
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