For those of you who watched the replay of ,

by george cronin on Dec 15, 2008 12:55 PM EST

"the Greatest Game Ever Played," (thanks for alerting us, 57), what struck you most ? For me, it was the wizardry Johnny U displayed on play action--real deception, almost putting the ball in the RBs' stomachs before pulling it back. Modern day QBs make no more than make a token extension of the ball toward the RB. The only possible exception was Steve Beurlein(SP?) Maybe it doesn't matter because the gesture of extending the ball suffices to freeze the D just enough? Why not do it U's way and freeze Ds a split second longer? Maybe coaches don't want to to risk fumbles?

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Steve DeBerg

He was actually a great play-action passer too.

by Cody K on Dec 15, 2008 1:15 PM EST reply actions

That's it,

deBerg. Thanks

by george cronin on Dec 15, 2008 3:32 PM EST up reply actions

I didn't watch the game

but Peyton is a fantastic play-action passer as well. Eli’s good, but Peyton takes it to another level. Sometimes he just goes through the motions, but other times he really sells it, which I actually think makes those times even more effective.

by cjmulrain on Dec 15, 2008 1:55 PM EST reply actions

I really wanted to see it

but, of course, no heat, no power, no nothing means i missed it. probably wish i hadn’t seen Sunday night’s game, either.

by Ed Valentine on Dec 15, 2008 2:58 PM EST reply actions

i didn't see it

But I heard they did a forensic analysis and determined Giff was something like 3 inches short

by queler on Dec 15, 2008 4:45 PM EST reply actions

Yeah, they had an expert on who

did an image analysis to show Giff didn’t make the first down that would have enabled the Giants to run out the clock.

by george cronin on Dec 15, 2008 5:57 PM EST up reply actions

one complaint

why’d they bring modern Colts on to talk about the game? wouldn’t that be like bringing in Ray Lewis to talk about “The Drive” or “The Fumble”? i thought that was insulting to the Baltimore fans, seeing as about 90% of them hate the current Colts.

by SBakerTheTouchdownMaker on Dec 15, 2008 5:05 PM EST reply actions

Good question.

I did enjoy the old timers talking to the younger guys, though, particularly Strahan and Donovan. Come to think of it, why have a young Giant talk to an old Colt? Anyway, it worked, as did Vinitaeri (SP?) and Summerall and several other mismatched (on the surface) pairs. I loved the old OG telling Diehl and other Giants’ OLs that coaches and management wouldn’t let players touch a weight lest they become “muscle bound.” I remember those days well. And, you know, it’s true, weights will f you up if you don’t know what you’re doing.

by george cronin on Dec 15, 2008 6:05 PM EST up reply actions

I just caught

the last 20 minutes of the special. Very well done…the colorization is pretty amazing. I was torn at first about the modern players, but I think it ended up working pretty well. My only regret is that Unitas isn’t still with us: how cool would it have been for Unitas to be paired with the Manning brothers?

Speaking of Unitas, he really was something. His play action was fantastic, and I don’t think I’ve seen anyone who handed off to a fullback as quickly as he did. It seems like he barely even had time to get the snap and take a step, and next thing you know Ameche’s already past the line of scrimmage with the ball. Maybe a lot of the old time QB’s were better at that, since fullbacks used to run more often, but Unitas was definitely better at it than anyone playing today.

Also thought it was funny to see that all the groundspeople were wearing Yankees jackets. Kinda shows you the status the NFL had back then, they couldn’t even afford to give the guys Giants gear. Also thought it was funny that some of the players thought the game might just end in a tie. Kinda the opposite of Donovan McNabb!

by cjmulrain on Dec 17, 2008 1:18 AM EST reply actions

i think

the Giants used the yankees NY logo.. i’m not 100 percent sure.. i may be confusing them with the knicks

It's not easy being Giants fan in Philly.. but it sure is satisfying

by Hoyadestroya85 on Dec 17, 2008 7:31 AM EST up reply actions

I actually think

the Giants original logo was similar to the baseball Giants interlocking NY (which is pretty much the same as the Mets use, just different colors.) I know the Knicks used the Yankees logo. But the jackets the guys in the video were wearing had “Yankees” written out in scriptive, kinda like these, only it was on the back, not the front: