1958 championship game nfl

Trailing at the end of the first half, Baltimore stormed back to win the game , clinching the NFL's western conference and allowing them to rest their starters for the final two games of the year.

New York started the season before going on to win 7 of their last 8 games, including a critical win over the Detroit Lions. In that game, New York fell behind late when the offense lost a fumble that was returned for a touchdown. But later on, they stopped Detroit punter Yale Lary on a fake punt attempt and drove for the go-ahead score.

Then they secured the win by blocking a Lions field goal attempt as time expired in the game. Then in their final game, they managed to defeat the Cleveland Browns with Pat Summerall 's game winning yard field goal on the final play the longest field goal made in the entire season among all NFL kickers.

The win enabled them to advance to the Eastern conference playoffs, where they played the Browns again, this time shutting them out The game got off to a rough start for both teams.

Defensive back Jimmy Patton recovered the ball at the Colts One play later, Baltimore took the ball back when linebacker Gino Marchetti forced a recovered a fumble from quarterback Don Heinrich. But all the Colts managed to do with their next drive was lose another turnover when Unitas' pass was picked off by Lindon Crow. After forcing a punt, Unitas completed a yard pass to Lenny Moore at the Giants yard line. But Baltimore's drive was halted at the 19 and Steve Myhra 's field goal attempt was blocked by Huff.

On the Giants next drive, Heinrich was replaced by Charley Conerly for the rest of the game. New York then drove to the Colts yard line, featuring a yard run by Frank Gifford. On third down, Conerly threw a pass to wide open fullback Alex Webster , but he slipped before the ball arrived and it fell incomplete. Pat Summerall then kicked a yard field goal to put New York on the board. In the second quarter, Baltimore defensive end Ray Krouse recovered a fumble from Gifford to set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Colts running back Alan Ameche.

On their next drive, New York got a big scoring opporunity when they recovered a fumbled punt from Jackie Simpson on the Colts yard line. But a few plays later, Gifford fumbled again, and Baltimore lineman Don Joyce recovered on his own The Colts subsequently drove 86 yards in 15 plays, including a yard scramble by Unitas on 3rd and 7, to score on Unitas' yard touchdown pass to Raymond Berry , giving them a halftime lead. Then early in the third quarter, Baltimore reached the New York 1-yard line.

But on third down, Ameche was stopped for no gain, and the Colts turned it over on downs after Ameche was tackled trying to go wide at the 5-yard line on a great play by linebacker Cliff Livingston , on a fourth down halfback option play. It was a huge reversal of momentum. The Giants then went yards in just four plays, scoring on Mel Triplett 's 1-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 4, with a score of 14— The drive was highlighted by an unforgettable yard pass play from deep within the Giants own territory at the closed end of the stadium: Quarterback Charlie Conerly threw to Kyle Rote downfield left-to-right across the middle where Rote then broke an arm tackle at about mid-field; then Rote fumbled when hit from behind at the Colts 25, but NY Giant running back Alex Webster , who was trailing the play, picked up the ball and ran it all the way to the 1-yard line where he was knocked out of bounds.

The Giants then went ahead early in the fourth quarter with Conerly's yard completion to tight end Bob Schnelker setting up his yard touchdown pass to Gifford. On both of Baltimore's next drives they moved the ball into scoring range, but came up empty both times.

First they drove to the Giants yard line, only to have Bert Rechichar miss a yard field goal. Then they got the ball back on the New York 42 following a fumble recovery by Joyce.

But after driving to the yard line, Unitas was sacked twice in a row once by Andy Robustelli and once by Dick Modzelewski , moving the ball back 20 yards and pushing the Colts out of field goal range. The sport generally ranked behind baseball, boxing and college football back then, with even horse racing getting as much attention. In all, 17 future Hall of Famers participated. There was even some confusion among fans and, yes, players at Yankee Stadium, plus those watching on TV, what would happen after Steve Myhra's yard field goal tied it.

No postseason game had ever been tied after regulation. Nobody had ever played it. Nobody really knew what came next. New York won the coin toss for overtime, couldn't move the ball, and Unitas guided the Colts 80 yards on 13 plays to Ameche's conclusion to the NFL's greatest game. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? Are you a Stathead, too? Subscribe to our Free Newsletter. This Month in Sports Reference Find out when we add a feature or make a change.

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