Top Giants

Perhaps as a follow-up to their Thursday night broadcast of the New York Giants triumph over the Washington Redskins, NFL Network dropped another one of their terrific Top-10 lists last night. The Top-10 Giants of All-Time. The talking heads at the Network have their list. I have mine. Here it is:

1.   Lawrence Taylor
2.   Mel Hein
3.   Roosevelt Brown
4.   Frank Gifford
5.   Michael Strahan
6.   Harry Carson
7.   Emlen Tunnell
8.   Ken Strong
9.   Eli Manning
10. Phil Simms

Some might say that Red Grange's introduction saved the struggling NFL in 1925. The New York Giants joining the league that same year just as important. The five-year old NFL was still made up of mostly snall-town teams playing their games in Akron, Racine, Hammond, and Kenosha. The New York Giants brought the lead a little bit of prestige and much more recognition. It didn't hurt that they were soon a success on the field. They won their first title in 1927. The Giants have been one of the NFL's flagship franchises ever since. Only the Cardinals, Bears, and Packers have a longer history. The Giants have a great tradition of on-the-field success. Eight league titles. Only the Packers (13) and Bears (9) have more. That success makes it difficult to whittle the greatest Giants to a list of only 10. Tuffy Leemans, Benny Friedman, Sam Huff, and Y.A. Tittle are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. They are tough to leave off of this list. Charley Conerly and Tiki Barber aren't in the Hall of Fame. There's a valid argument that they should be. Barber probably would be if the first part of his career was as great as the second.

Here's the Top-10 Giants list that NFL Network put together:

1.   Lawrence Taylor
2.   Roosevelt Brown
3.   Michael Strahan
4.   Frank Gifford
5.   Mel Hein
6.   Sam Huff
7.   Eli Manning
8.   Harry Carson
9.   Phil Simms
10. Tiki Barber

I made my list before viewing NFL Network's list so as not to be influenced. Only two were different. I had Emlen Tunnell and Ken Strong. NFL Network had Sam Huff and Tiki Barber. I was worried that the panelists wouldn't pay proper attention to the older players. It seems like a lot of people ignore NFL seasons that didn't include a Super Bowl. There was a lot of great football played before 1965. It was great to see Roosevelt Brown and Mel Hein in the top-5. They did miss the boat on Emlen Tunnell. He's one of the best safeties to ever play the game. It was tough for me to leave Sam Huff off of my list so it was great to see him on this one.

One former Giants player that I've always felt is very underrated is linebacker Carl Banks. He played in the shadow of Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson at the position. There really wasn't much room for him to get any attention but he deserved far more than he he received. I always thought that he was a terrific football player. One of the best linebackers of his era. It was great to see him give commentary on some of the players that made this Giants Top-10 list. It would've been nice to hear some of the people talking about him.