The New York Giants’ and Dallas Cowboys’ rivalry is the biggest and most heated one in all of the NFL’s history.
Ever since the Dallas Cowboys began, this rivalry has been brewing, and over 60 years later, it is still as heated as ever.
No matter what side you are on, the Super Bowl odds will be heated if these two teams ever play together.
How The Giants And Cowboys Rivalry Began
Dallas originally had a different team in the NFL, the Dallas Texans. They started in 1952 and folded in the same year. They were the worst team in NFL history and lost every game by a mile.
In 1960, Dallas tried again, this time taking the name the Dallas Cowboys (they were also the Steers and Rangers, but these options confused the fans due to other teams with similar names).
Dallas was back on the field, but no one really saw them as a threat. They were the worst team ever just 8 years beforehand, after all. The Giants definitely didn’t take notice of this new team.
The Giants were on an incredible winning streak, but that was all about to change.
When these two teams played against each other for the first time, the unbelievable happened. Dallas didn’t lose. The powerhouse team of the Giants was losing their edge.
The match ended in a 31 to 31 tie. If the Giants had scored one more point, then this rivalry would never have happened. But alas, this tie sealed the fate of the teams ever since.
The Giants Lost Face
Having lost to the worst team on the field, the Giants started to spiral out of control. This powerhouse of a group was beginning to lose game after game. And with each loss, the anger towards the Cowboys grew.
Once the most dominant team in the Eastern Conference, times were changing. Between 1964 and 1980, the New York Giants couldn’t reach the playoffs.
Although they defeated the Cowboys after that first fate-filled match, the ego-bruise never entirely faded.
The Cowboys Gain Momentum
That first game was an amazing start for the Cowboys, but they still had the rest of the teams to face.
As the years went on, the Cowboys didn’t really climb up the league that much. But that changed in the mid-1960s. After the first couple of years of getting used to their new team, they managed to overtake the other powerhouses in the league.
It wasn’t uncommon to learn that they won 17 out of 20 matches in a given year.
This continued all the way up to the 1980s – almost like the two teams swapped futures.
However, nothing stays good forever, and the 1980s is when we see another flip.
The Giants Strike Back
In the 1980s, the Giants finally found their feet and dominated the field again. Due to this battling history, the Giants aimed all of their blunt force against the Cowboys. It ended up feeling like a stage for these two teams. The NFL was just a platform to see which would win out.
The Drama Continues
You would expect that the drama between the two teams was so old that the rivalry couldn’t possibly continue, right? Wrong!
Just look at the October 2021 game. The Cowboys outmatched the Giants creating a humiliating defeat of 44 to 20.
During that game, the Giant’s quarterback Daniel Jones was badly concussed and was taken out of the game. The injury happened when he was hit in the head by Dallas rookie Jabril Cox (linebacker).
Later on, Kadarius Toney, a rookie Giant, punched Dallas’ safety Domontae Kazee, after Kazee pushed him to the ground. The retaliation was over the top, but showed just how tense the game was.
A couple of days later, Dallas safety Jayron Kearse punched Giant tight end Evan Engram – or so Engram says.
Kearse denied the altercation happened, and when the NFL asked for evidence, NFL Film employees said that the incident wasn’t captured on video.