Tag: Roosevelt Brown

NFL’s all-time best by jersey number: 4 Giants make the cut

Touchdown Wire recently listed the best NFL players to wear a specific jersey number and 4 retired New York Giants made the cut.

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The NFL is entering its 104th season in 2023 and many great teams and great players have graced their fields and events for over a century. Over that time, every uniform number has been worn and made immortal by those players.

Which leads us to ask: which players wore each number the best?

In a recent article titled, ‘The best pro football player to wear every jersey number,’ Touchdown Wire’s Dug Farrar gives it his best shot.

For enthusiasts of the New York Giants, several members of Big Blue made the list:

  • Benny Friedman, No. 6
  • Emlen Tunnell, No. 45
  • Lawrence Taylor, No. 56
  • Roosevelt Brown, No. 79

All four are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Other Giants receiving’ honorable mentions’ include the following:

Kerry Collins (No. 5), Ray Flaherty (No. 6), Mel Hein (No. 7), Steve Owen (No. 9), Eli Manning (No. 10), Phil Simms (No. 11), Y.A. Tittle (No. 14), Frank Gifford (No. 16), Sam Madison (No. 29), Harry Carson (No. 53), Kareem McKenzie (No. 67), Sam Huff and Leonard Marshall (No. 70), Andy Robustelli (No. 81), Fred Dryer (No. 89), Jason Pierre-Paul (No. 90), Michael Strahan (No. 92) and Jesse Armstead (No. 98).

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Giants’ Lawrence Taylor, Eli Manning highlight CBS Sports’ franchise five

New York Giants LB Lawrence Taylor and QB Eli Manning highlight Big Blue’s “franchise five” by CBS Sports.

A typical offseason exercise for many NFL beat writers is to compile lists of their team’s greatest players, games, moments and eras. This year, with an extended offseason due the coronavirus pandemic lock-downs, those exercises have been stretched to the limit.

It doesn’t mean they’re any less fun. In a recent piece by CBS Sports’ Dan Schneier, he reveals his New York Giants’ “Franchise Five,” which is a similar exercise to our “Mount Rushmore” series in which we listed the top five figures in New York Giants history.

Schneier and veteran NFL reporter Pete Prisco settled on five names no one can dispute: Bill Parcells, Lawrence Taylor, Roosevelt Brown, Eli Manning and Michael Strahan. All but Manning are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and are members of the Giants’ Ring of Honor.

But give that time. Manning just retired a few months ago. He will have his name enshrined in the Ring of Honor as early as next year and if CEO John Mara keeps his word, “no Giant will ever wear No. 10 again.”

Having followed the Giants for much longer than young Mr. Schneier and at least as long as Mr. Prisco, if not longer, I agree with their choices.

The common thread among players is that they all spent their entire careers with the Giants. Manning played 16 seasons and 236 games, the most of any Giants player. Strahan played 216 games over 15 seasons. Taylor suited up for 184 games in his 13-year career, while Brown played 162 games across 13 seasons.

Parcells was the team’s greatest coach, taking the championship-starved Giants and their fans to their first two Super Bowl triumphs. His 8-3 post season record is impressive, but he has fewer total wins than Tom Coughlin, who also sports an 8-3 playoff mark with two Super Bowl wins.

My five would be Taylor, Manning, Frank Gifford, Strahan and Harry Carson. I hate to exclude Brown, who was also a Giants’ coach after his playing career, but here’s my logic. Gifford was the face of those great Giant teams of the 50s and 60s. It was him that people think of when they reminisce about that era. Brown may have been the overall better player, as were Emlen Tunnell and perhaps some others, but Gifford was the icon.

Carson played on a lot of bad football teams in the 1970s and held the fort with class and dignity before the Giants built up the team around him in the 80s. He is one of my all-time favorite Giants and many young-‘uns who never saw him play undersell him because of his genteel off-field demeanor. Let me tell you this, he was anything but genteel on the field. He was good as any middle linebacker in his era, maybe better.

Schneier writes that it was a close call between Manning and Phil Simms and I can see that. Simms was as talented as any quarterback the Giants have ever had. His early injury issues set him back. His first five seasons were marred by bizarre and debilitating injuries. Then, he was robbed at a second shot at a Super Bowl in 1990 by a late-season foot injury.

Manning never missed a game due to injury however, and did get that second Super Bowl win and MVP, so what might have been doesn’t count here.

I chose to exclude Parcells because of the way he left. Many Giant fans were angry with his departure, especially after the way the succession plan unfolded (Ray Handley was selected as head coach over Bill Belichick) and the fact that Parcells went on to coach three other teams after leaving.

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Giants’ Roosevelt Brown, Mel Hein named to NFL 100 All-Time Team

Retired New York Giants linemen Roosevelt Brown and Mel Hein have been named to the NFL 100 All-Time Team.

Already this year, two retired members of the New York Giants — linebacker Lawrence Taylor and cornerback Emlen Tunnell — have been named to the NFL 100 All-Time Team. And on Friday, the duo were joined by another pair of ex-Giants.

Offensive linemen, Pro Football Hall of Famers and Giants legends, Roosevelt Brown and Mel Hein, were also named to the exclusive one-time-only team, bringing Big Blue’s player total to four.

A little bit on Brown:

From the Giants:

Regarded as one of the best steals in draft history, Brown played for the Giants from 1953 through 1965 after joining the team as a 27th-round choice. Brown held the starting tackle spot for 13 straight seasons. During that period, he was named to the Pro Bowl nine times and was selected All-NFL eight consecutive seasons. In 1956, when the Giants won the league title, Brown was named Lineman of the Year by the Associated Press.

Brown was a big, strong blocker who had the speed to make a block downfield. He was also used along the defensive front on goal-line stands. Brown helped the Giants advance to the NFL Championship Game in 1956, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962 and 1963. After his playing career, Brown continued his Giants affiliation as a coach before being appointed as a scout.

A little bit on Hein:

From the Giants:

Hein joined the Giants in 1931 and played 15 seasons, a team record matched only by Phil Simms, Michael Strahan and, most recently, Eli Manning. He was named All-NFL eight consecutive years from 1933-40. Following a successful college career at Washington State, Hein wrote to three NFL clubs offering his services. He joined the Giants after the team submitted the highest salary bid at $150 per game. Hein, the quintessential two-way player, was a 60-minute regular for 15 years, playing in 170 games at center and linebacker. He never missed a game in high school, college or the NFL. Hein took time out only in two games and was injured only once. He was named the league’s Most Valuable Player in 1938 after anchoring a line that helped guide the Giants to the NFL Championship with a 23-17 victory over the Green Bay Packers in the Polo Grounds.

“Hein was a very interesting two-way player,” said Bill Belichick, who co-hosts the NFL 100 All-Time Team series. “He was probably the most accurate snapper certainly in his era. Defensively, he played linebacker and ran well. I think he was actually a better defensive player than an offensive player even though he is talked about as the greatest center of all time. It was all about being a two-way player.”

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