The GREATEST Game Ever Played! (Colts vs. Giants, 1958 NFL Championship) 

😂

The narrator here is Chris Schenkel. I believe he was the actual tv play by play announcer for the game too. NBC Game.

Ain’t that the truth!

@@billny33 Chris Schenkel was the Giants tv pxp announcer from 1953-64. He worked the championship game with Chuck Thompson from the Colts on NBC.

Chris Schenkel, baby !!!

Trying To Pick A Good Username I agree. This is football at its purest form

That's racist

@@tylertripsanddies8768 that’s not racist

@@anthonyestrada3580 i know

@@tylertripsanddies8768 well why did you say it dumbass

@Darren Riley The LIONS were good once

And this game indirectly led to the founding of the AFL. After watching this game Lamar Hunt wanted to get into the NFL, but the NFL told him they had no interest in expansion. No one would sell him an existing team, so he created his own league. And wouldn't you know it? As soon as the AFL became a reality all of a sudden the NFL was interested in expansion in the exact same city as Hunt's team.

You know it's old when the Lions beat the Browns in the championship game lol.

@Tuberontheloose. And wouldn't you know it the NFL still felt superior after winning the first two superbowls ( then called the AFL/NFL Championship game) until Joe Namath and the Jets won game #3. But funny thing about Lamar Hunts team the Kansas City Chifs that is little known or even remembered. After losing the first Superbowl to the Bart Starr led Green Bay Packers in the LA Colusium, the chatter about how inferior the upstart league actually is was being talked about coast to coast. So in order to get more acclimation to each other the preseason games the following year were to have games against each other in each league which hadn't had a formal integrated schedule until a few years down the line. The Kansas City Chiefs in their preseason opener were slotted to play the blue blooded Chicago Bears coached by George Halas. Even for a meaningless preseason games the most unexpected outcome happened. The final score was Chiefs 66 Bears 24, and it wasn't even that close. Ya think some guys were pissed for losing the final game a year before or what? Thanks to Lamar Hunt and his desire to own an NFL franchise and subsequently was shown the exit door by existing NFL ownership, lit a fire inside him until he decided to build his own league.we wouldn't have the NFL that we have today. And we may not even have that if it weren't for this 1958 classic which lit the fire for Mr Hunt and his quest for a team of his own. This game is truly special for what it's worth and it's worth alot.

@c0rn p0p are you surprised that the Lions beat the Browns back then for their own league crown? If your a Lions fan be proud because that was a rare feat to beat the Browns back then. Many people want to anoint Tom Brady as being the greatest quarterback of all time. He has eon aeven (7) superbowls in his career. But did you ever hear of Otto Graham and the Cleveland Browns coached by Paul Brown who over a period of 10 years straight played in the championship game of the league they participated in each and every year winning 7 of 10. They were part of an upstart league first and then joined the NFL by invitation promptly winning there too. You can look up the exact dates but it's all there. Tom Brady isn't the greatest qb of all time. He is tied with Otto Graham 7 Championship games apiece. He gotta win one more to be on the best. That is if you define greatness based on Championships won

:( don't remind me

Both were signature comeback wins for QBs considered among the best of their era.

But one was a great game to watch and one is total shit

@@allonisaacr2929 Yeah. That's right. Nobody likes seeing the Patriots win.

allon isaacr292 one was a epic contest while the other was either a comeback or a collapse.

Kinda telling of the times huh

Colts were the only ones with cheerleaders at the time.

Oh deer

True!!!!

Wondering what they’ll think about our half time performances?🤣

Damn 12 completion

Worked his ass off to get to where he was. His work ethic, and refusing to fail lead to him being an all time great.

He was 12 for 178? Damn that's a terrible percentage

@@Frankincensedjb123 well not shit,that’s what he said it’s pretty impressive considering the era he played in.

@@Frankincensedjb123 Did you see the field? Players play on carpet today. That 12 for 178 was on frozen dirt and bare hands - no receiver gloves. They used to get grass in their helmet, too. No more.

Dylan Kalonji nah man it was nationally televised. If they got film of 1940’s football this 1958 game doesn’t surprise me.

TV been around since the 20s

Back then the only way to record TV was to point a movie camera at the screen.

@@quasimoto7662 They unfortunately don't have the full game of Superbowl 1 though.

PipeGuy64Bit There is, Ive seen film of it!!

Its not the greatest game played...just more NYC hype 😄

William Bagley Know your history. This has been fondly named the greatest game of all time for decades.

@@Dalonghair greatest game with so many terrible fumbles... Lmao

brandonxzombie if it wasn’t for this game, you wouldn’t be a NFL fan...it’s the greatest game ever. Period.

What constitutes greatness is necessarily subjective. Best, most.. those things can be calculated. Greatness cannot. Having said that, this was an important game for the NFL and sports fans all over North America., That this is called "Greatest Game Ever Played" bothers me as much as I am bothered by the Dallas Cowboys as "America's Team" , SF 49er Dwight Clark's "The Catch" or the millennial-turning St. Louis Rams' "Greatest Show on Turf"... which is to say, I am bothered not at all.

I saw this game on TV! I was 11 yrs old. Got me hooked on Pro Football !!

@@alfrednawrocki8061Damn you old af if you ain’t lying 😂

@@alfrednawrocki8061 you should have taped it! I kid of course

Modern football is actually boring. So much offense and too many penalties for the defense. I like a good, well-played game on offense, defense and special teams.

Why? Why does everyone talk so fondly of Summerall. Whenever I listened to him, he sounded so bored. Like Super Bowl XXXI, Favre throws a beautiful pass to Andre Rison and Summerall is just like “....Farve throws....Andre Rison....touchdown.” No excitement and joy. At least Joe Buck can offer some entertaining community when something big happens. Summerall is overrated.

@@tempest20000 madden and al Michael's were better imo

@@tempest20000 That's your opinion, dude. Not everyone needs someone yelling.

@@tempest20000 I think it was his knack for setting the scene. He is well known for his promos. At times he understated what was going on to let the play tell it's own story. But when joe buck has tried to do that, people make fun of him. Like his call in the NFC championship game with the eagles and bucs. People are conditioned to dislike him. People loved summerall. I liked when pat was pseudo retired and was calling cowboys games in 2002. Although the team was bad, it was emmitts last year with the team chasing the record and the defense was really good.

@@tempest20000 the way I understand it, one guy was the play by play delivery guy. The other guy offered color commentary. Pat was the play by play guy, John madden was the color commentary guy.

Troll much?

Curt Gowdy and Al DiRogatos.

@JIM PATS LOSE Romo and Michaels aren't even the same type of commentator. You should be comparing Nantz/Michaels/Buck and Romo/Collinsworth/Aikman.

Brock Osweiler "But big Bob can't hold on..."

Al Michael’s cris collinsworth and tony romo

Half the guys on that field are in Canton - and several of the coaches, too.

So now you can die a happy man.

@@UWalvern0810 And they're all six feet under. Good times

I grew up watching those guys. I lived in the NY area and we could only see the Giants games when they were playing on the road. Home games weren't televised in the NY area, due to the blackout rules in effect at the time. My dad and I would be glued to the radio on those Sundays, living and dying on every play.

True!!!!

Well said...what you say is absolutely true .

Don't forget the tastefully dressed cheerleaders in super cute outfits!

Don't forget Lenny Moore, who could destroy defenses with his long-bomb receptions or his broken field running . Unitas, Berry , Lenny Moore and Jim Parker from the Colts 'offense are all in the HOF . Imagine that Vince Lombardi AND Tom Landry were assistant coaches for the Giants !

@@frederickloucks4865he had 111 all purpose TDs in 143 career games…most underrated star of that generation

This game was broadcast on NBC.

@@AmEricAnL27 very interesting, Schenkel was already at CBS by this time and I always thought this game aired on CBS (partly because of a scene in their 1994 farewell montage that I always assumed was from this game, it must have been a different game). It appears this is the only broadcast Schenkel ever did for NBC, my guess would be he got the job due to having already called Giants games all season for CBS

@@TheLocalLt I think CBS broadcasted the regular season games and NBC did the championships, at least back in that time.

Chris was also the voice of the Professional Bowlers Tour for decades! Every Saturday afternoon on ABC. I never missed it!

Cool

While this game was billed as the greatest ever played, it was far from that. What it happened to be was the most important game ever played. Not only was there the dramatic finish in the first overtime game that helped lead to the popularity that made the American Football League possible, which in turn led to the advent of the Super Bowl (Weeb Ewbank, the winning coach in this game, also happened to be the winning coach of the most important Super Bowl ever played), but one must not forget that the previous four NFL Championship Games had all been horrendous one-sided beatings, with the margin of victory for the winning team being 46, 24, 40, and 45 points in those four games. So the NFL really needed a competitive championship game in 1958 after the blowouts from 1954-'57, and they certainly got that, and more.

I read that book! Loved it! Don't forget the part where Donovan says Bobby Layne was better drunk than Dan Marino or Joe Montana completely sober. Donovan backed up his claim. In the 1957 season opener, the Lions visited the Colts. Donovan says he tackled Bobby Layne at the start of the 2nd half and he smelled like a wine factory. Layne then completed 12 consecutive passes leading the Lions to victory. Can't make that up!

I met Sam Huff once . He was a mean-spirited guy and could never understand why the Giants could not cover Raymond Berry .He thought Berry killed them in that game .

You’re right about that!!!!

Watch AAF it's going on right now and is better than nothing

Abe Christensen 😔

So do I, just as l miss a person in my life who has died, in this case with the NFL a suicide. They're gone and they're never coming back; there are only impostors pretending to be football teams we once knew and making solid asses out of themselves. Sigh. Well, here on RU-vid are home movies of the dear departed.

Get a life

ditto

yeah but back then it was the Baltimore Colts >:(

This is why i hate when teams move and they take their name, it allows the new franchise to try to steal the history of the old ones. The Colts in Baltimore was a HUGE deal to the city. We kept our marching band even when we had no team. Johnny Unitas even said he did not want any of his personal records to carry over to Indy. When Indy comes to play in Baltimore they are the "Indianapolis Professional Football Team", never the Colts. Because if you are in Baltimore the only time you say "colts" you mean the Baltimore Colts. And there are still plenty of people around who will tell the story of the Colts leaving town in the middle of the night, in the middle of a snowstorm, with a tear in their eye.

@@__Andrew yeah people dont know they were named after the horses thst run in Maryland. And I totally understand the records thing. Its gonna be the same when the raiders move lol

My f-in-law was there. Took the train from Baltimore. The game was played four years before I was born but I grew up hearing about it. I was lucky enough to see Johnny U late in his career. My f-in-law died years back but I treasure the memories of his description of that evening in Yankee Stadium. Ray Berry called it the best thing that ever happened. It was, for Baltimore. And it not only put the NFL forth as perfect for TV, it helped spark interest that led to the AFL. This was the moment pro football hit the big time.

@@grahamacscheper And in 1984 the Colts move to Indianapolis, reading about the move years later, Baltimore Deserved to Lose the Colts, and why, the city of Baltimore no longer supported the team, and the main reason why, because Baltimore was Stupid enough not to build a new stadium for the Colts, no wonder they moved to Indianapolis!!!!

Lucky man.

I agree with you 1,000%. This is when football was football.

@@kevinjohnson4599 A. I am 99.9% sure that the dude that wrote that comment was joking. B. I am sick and tired of all of you boomers bitching and complaining about how football has, “ChAnGeD”, and, “It’S nOt A gOoD gAmE aNyMoRe”, and, “MeN tHeSe DaYs aRe pUsSiEs”. Like if you just can’t get over the fact that this game has evolved over these years, then stop watching the modern day games. Simple.

@@GustavoEPerez-gj7qz what are you like 10. If you are tired of other people's opinions, then don't go to the comment section.

@@GustavoEPerez-gj7qz also, you should appreciate the baby boomer generation while they are still alive. They have so many stories to tell, and no one wants to hear anymore. We need to listen and respect them while they're still here

@@IgnoretheButter I absolutely love and respect the baby boomers. What I don’t like are people complaining about stupid and dumb things that shouldn’t need to be complained about, which was what he was doing.

MrBaddog7676 ikr

Haha! I was wondering the same thing!

Eagles

I don't know. I'd think SB25 maybe?

@Baddog Sports yes of coure 😁 Superbowl XLII for example Giants beat the undefeated Patroits

Otto Graham as well...Graham actually tutored Unitas when Graham retired.

@@happybeingmiserable4668 Automatic Otto has to be considered in that group. Graham was then, what Lamar Jackson is today!

​@@michaelwoolsey3886gtfoh, Automatic Otto, you had to be tough to play then, house collar tackles, piling on, spearing, blocking below the waste

Edge goes to Unitas

Should check out the CFL

I was born in 1973, one year before they mercifully moved the goalposts out of the field of play. Also mercifully, I never had to watch live footage of NFL games with those visually-threatening and life-threatening goal-line obstructions. Let's just be thankful that the Germans didn't use those on Omaha Beach.

@@gregchavez1534 Why does everyone in historic sport comments have to state when they were born. It's not about you. No one cares.

@@Frankincensedjb123 they're just being Nostalgic because they grew up watching these games

I got a chunk of the 59 post from my father!

Agreed!!!!

Peter Sun I would like seeing this style of play,but being a chiefs fan,I love some Mahomes Deep Balls

The move soooo slowwww.... although I think some of that effect has to do with film technology and technique. I agree with you in spirit.

@@gregchavez1534 they weren't as fast back then as they are today, but they're still faster and stronger and more athletic than today's average joes

True!!!

he was the best....made up the plays and called them himself.....had no rule protecting him from late hits.. his receivers were bare-handed and no sticky gloves

no toughness in '1958???? there were no rules against late hits etc back then....the players had no "sticky gloves" to hold the ball back then....the padding and helmets were far less protection back then

@@essessessesq you misunderstood what he said. He said that even though we have the best athletes in this generation, the players of this generation aren't as tough as the players from that era (1958) And I agree with him. Players aren't as tough today like they were back then, especially the quarterbacks. So you misunderstood him

@@Johnmhatheist thanks, John, for clarifying that!

because receivers were bare-handed then and wore no sticky gloves

Bazinga Gaming I didn’t even see one? Lol

@@talesfromthecrypta he means the field goal post I think

@@talesfromthecrypta 5:48

You're right! That was incredible. Great hard-nosed defense.

Underrated

True!!!!

It really is! Amazing how some of these games and videos on anything from this era (worldly history)still stand today.

What the Helsinki event in 1905 in the sport of dodgeball didn't capture your heart as the greatest event ever? What about Sodom vs. Gomorrah in the run for your lives event . Heard alot of people turned to salt back then. What about the duel between Hamilton and Burr? I got one here what about Ditka? What if there was a football game between Ditka and Jesus Christ who would win? Whoa man that's a real hard one. You know Jesus Christ is the son of God he turned water into wine you know he is gonna score for sure.... Ditka. 56 Jesus Christ. 7 A true classic....

You’re right about that, except they moved to Indianapolis in 1984!!!

I'm pretty sure that was a dirt field

Pain in the ass to maintain a grass field

Wait... there’s a colorized version?

@@ShawnMcClurg About a decade ago, ESPN reran this entire game (with original commentary) colorized, as someone had found a way to colorize the film of the game. A couple of years prior to that, the same thing was done with the CBS broadcast of the final round of the 1960 Masters prior to it being re-aired around 2005 or '06 in color. And actually, one wonders why the films of the 1958 and '59 NFL Championship Games were done in black and white because the films of the previous six NFL Championship Games, going back to 1952, were filmed in color by the same production company, Tel-Ra Productions.

Right?! Yet sometimes I watch a highlight from 1997 and am squinting my eyes out.

@@Mindsetsandreps Thats cause it was on videotape and while video is film. Film is way better than videotape especially if taken care of

The most important team in NFL history is probably the Green Bay Packers

I did indeed. Weeb Ewbank (the Colts HC) is also in the HOF.

@@UWalvern0810 Weeb would get his revenge on the Colts in Super Bowl 3..

Yes, now that you mentioned it!!!

If Tom Brady was playing in the AFC North, he would have retired 6-7 years ago......

@@michaelwoolsey3886 True!!!!

Even though we lost! 1958 was such a thrilling season, regardless! Giants had to beat the Browns 3 times just to get to this game, two of them on successive Sundays. First was Summerall's FG in the snow at Yankee Stadium, which necessitated a playoff game the following Sunday also at Yankee Stadium which the Giants won 10-0.

@@frdjr2527 yeah that part is unfortunate, but its still a cool game!

@@austin0172 This game led directly to the formation of the AFL. Pro football as we know it was born with the 1958 NFL Championship Game.

Agreed!!!!