Nearly 51 years ago to the day, the New Orleans Saints traveled north to face the New York Giants for the first time in the regular season. The expansion Saints, under head coach Tom Fears, had yet to win a game while Allie Sherman‘s Giants had lost two of their first three games. And so the two teams met at Yankee Stadium during week 4 of the 1967 NFL season, on October 8.
As might be expected from a game between two struggling clubs, it was a close one. There were four lead changes before New York went ahead for good in the 4th quarter thanks to a TD pass from Fran Tarkenton to Bobby Crespino. The Giants triumphed that day at Yankee Stadium, 27-21.
Offensively, the standouts were Tarkenton (348 passing yards, 2 TDs) and Saints QB Gary Cuozzo (156 yards, 2 TDs). Special teams failures made things harder for New York than they should’ve been, as kicker Les Murdock had a blocked field goal and PAT, as well as a missed field goal.
