The 1982 NFL season was not a normal one. A 57-day players’ strike in September shortened the season from 16 to nine games. That forced the league to restructure how it would determine who would play in the postseason and the Super Bowl.
The solution was an easy one. The league abandoned the divisions and made each conference one division. Eight teams would qualify in each conference, and they would play three elimination rounds to decide who would represent each conference in the Super Bowl.
That year, the New York Giants, hoping to build on their first playoff game in 18 seasons, opened with two straight losses before the strike and then lost their first game upon the resumption of the schedule in November.
In Week 7, they headed to Washington after winning three straight to even their record on the season and were very much in the hunt for one of the eight playoff berths in the NFC.
On Dec. 19, they faced the 5-1 Redskins at a muddy, cold, snowy RFK Stadium. The Redskins had not qualified for the postseason since 1976 and would do so with a victory.
The game was a typical NFC East smash-mouth affair that saw the Giants leading, 14-12, late in the fourth quarter. But the Redskins, who had five turnovers in the game, including four interceptions by Joe Theismann, drove the football in the last two minutes on the back of future Hall of Famer John Riggins and with nine seconds remaining, would rely on kicker Mark Moseley to attempt the game-winning 42-yard field goal.
Moseley was one of the last straight-on kickers in NFL history, and that day he was poised to make more history with his 21st consecutive field goal.
The kick was tipped by Giants linebacker Byron Hunt but managed to get through the upright for a Redskins win. The Giants dropped to 3-4, split their final two games and missed the Super Bowl tournament, getting eliminated on tiebreakers.
The Redskins went on to win the NFC title and then defeat the Miami Dolphins, 27-17, in Super Bowl XVII in January.
Moseley was named the NFL MVP that season, the first and only pure kicker to ever win the award.
Here’s some footage from the game. It was a heartbreaker for the Giants, who were just not ready to take the next step in the standings.
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