Week 2 - ‘65 NYG 21, ‘82-SF 7

PREGAME:  A classic matchup between coaches (Stu Geller & Marc Weiss) who have coached at least 40-50 games against each other since back in their CFL days.  Both teams came into the game 1-0.  San Fran gave up 17 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to the Rams and hung on for a 28-23 road win in their opener.  New York came back from a 20-0 deficit in Green Bay to barely hold on by 1, thanks to a missed chip shot FG.  Today's game would be played on the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, NY.

1st QTR:  New York's opening drive was error plagued and penalty filled, yet they somehow made it to the 49er 36 before being forced to punt.  New York survived 2 penalties and a Tucker Fredrickson fumble on the second play from scrimmage.  San Fran started on their own 20 and in 1 play wound up on the Giants 38 thanks to Joe Montana hitting Freddie Solomon for a 38 yard catch and run slant.  4 plays later the '9ers were forced to punt and the Giants again started from their own 20.  Fred Dean blindsided Earl Morrall and caused the ball to come out.  Luckily for Big Blue Bookie Bolie fell on the ball on his own 11.  New York punted 2 plays later and the '9ers stared on the Giant 46 thanks to a 13 yard return by Solomon.  New York looked to be moving, but after a neat little screen pass to Ernie Wheelwright gained 18 yards they once again had to punt.

2nd QTR:  The second quarter picked up with the '9ers just gaining a new set of downs on their 38, but once again Jim Miller had to come on to punt.  After John Harty sacked Earl Morrall on his 11 the Giants were in a deep hole.  On the following play Morrall hit Joe Morrison for 16 yards to give New York a manageable 3rd and 4.  Ernie Koy gained just 2 yards, so he dropped back to punt to Solomon.  Koy's kick bounced twice and then hit Solomon's leg.  Dick Lynch, who was one of the gunners noticed what happened and scooped up the ball on the '9er 30 yard line and walked into the end zone untouched.  New York now had a 7-0 lead after Bob Timberlake made the extra point.  The next 3 sets of downs belonged to the defense and the punters until the Giants took over with 1:56 left in the half on their own 22.  Tucker Fredrickson slashed for 5 yards and it became apparent that the Giants were content to run out the clock and go into the locker room up 7-0.  Then on the next play Frederickson found a hole behind aging future HOF'er Rosey Brown and just like that galloped 48 yards down to the '9er 25 with just under a minute to play.  New York fumbled again.  This time Steve Thurlow was the culprit.  After he gained 8 yards he got careless with the ball and thankfully for him Bolin once again pounced on the pigskin.  With 50 ticks left on the clock Morrall went to the air, but missed tight end Aaron Thomas, but a yellow hankie was thrown and the Giants had a first and 10 on the 4 thanks to pass interference.  On the following play Morrall hit Thurlow for a 4 yard TD toss to make it 14-0 after Timberlake's XP.  Montana got the ball back on his 36 with :23 to go in the half and began flinging it all over the place, but there was just not enough time left to get into scoring position.

3rd QTR:  San Fran started the second half deep in their own zone thanks to a holding penalty on the kick return.  Henry Carr sacked Montana on the first play, but Joe was easily able to overcome it with consecutive passes to Jeff Moore for 10 and 12 yards respectively.  Joe then fumbled the snap on his own 27, but an alert Keith Fahnhorst recovered it.  Two incomplete passes later Miller was once again punting.  The Giants took over on their own 44 and quickly crossed mid field when Frederickson gained 7 on a screen pass from Morrall.  A 5 yard false start penalty temporarily moved them back 5 yards, but a 19 yard inside run by Thurlow gave them a first down on the '9er 35.  Frederickson was tripped up at the line of scrimmage for no gain.  Morrall gave him the ball once again and this time he blasted through for 5 yards, but Dwaine Board knocked the ball loose and Jack Reynolds recovered it.  New York was driving, but Fredrickson's second fumble of the game really hurt them.  Apparently the turnover didn't hurt the Giant defense which stuffed Earl Cooper on successive plays and batted down a 3rd and 10 pass to Jeff Moore to force Miller to punt again.  Spider Lockhart caught the ball on his own 25 and ran backwards in an attempt to out fox the defense.  Lockhart fooled no one and lost 6 yards as he was tackled on his own 19.  Starting deep in their own zone the Giants looked to keep it on the ground, which is why the '9ers had 8 men in the box.  Morrall sensed he had San Fran at a disadvantage and looked Aaron Thomas' way.  Thomas caught the ball in stride at the Giant 40 and turned on the burners and took it 81 yards to put New York up 21-0 after Timberlake's XP was good.  Neither team would score as the quarter came to a close on a running play where Frederickson would once again fumble.  This time Pete Case was able to maintain possession for New York as their embattled fullback fumbled for the 3rd time today.

4th QTR:  By this point Morrall had himself a huge dilemma.  Try to grind it out on the ground and risk Frederickson and Thurlow fumbling or go to the air, even though he was up by 3 scores.  Morrall chose the air and on the first play of the 4th quarter was picked off by Willie Harper when a pass for Joe Morrison was grossly underthrown.  This was just the opening a clutch QB like Joe Montana needed.  Joe proceeded to drive the 49ers to paydirt on an 11 play odyssey that took just under 6 minutes of time off the clock.  Montana did nothing special in this drive other than carve up the Giant defense, which had been perfect for three quarters.  The longest play of the drive was a 9 yard run by Jeff Moore.  Montana ended the drive with a 2 yard flip to Earl Cooper to make it 21-7 after Wersching nailed the extra point.  New York would follow that up with a lame 3 and out that saw them go backward thanks to a Fred Dean sack of Morrall for 8 yards.  Montana took over on his 19 and immediately hit Moore for 17 yards, but that was all that drive would yield.  With 5:44 left to play the Jints would take over on their own 40.  Morrall looked resolved to kill the clock through the air and who could blame him with all the fumbling that went on by the "Baby Bulls" in his backfield.  Forgotten wideout Homer Jones caught one for 13 yards on the '9er 47 to start things off.  Three plays later facing a 3rd and 9 Morrall hit Jones for 28 yards to move the chains and put the ball on the 18, where the drive would eventually stall with 2:17 left to play.  Rather than risk a blocked field goal attempt Morrall handed the ball to Thurlow who wound up 7 yards short of a 1st down, but SF had to start from their own 15 with 2:07 left to play.  With very little time left and down by two scores Montana went to the two minute drill.  After Roger Lalonde sacked him on his own 13 things  looked bad.  Facing a 4th and 12 from his own 13 Montana was forced to go for it.  Needing 12 Montana found his favorite target Dwight Clark for 14 to keep his team's narrow hopes alive.  If it worked once why not try it again, which is exactly what Joe did when he hit Clark for 15 more yards.  He went to the well on the following play, but overthrew his receiver who was tied up with Dick Lynch.  The ref threw the flag and not only did the '9ers gain 33 yards, but they also got the clock to stop without having to burn a valuable time out.  That break in the action benefited the Giant defense, which had been on it's heels trying to keep up with Clark, Solomon and company.  Montana looked to go deep, but the protection broke down and Andy Stynchula dumped him on the 31 for a 7 yard loss.  On the following play (3rd and 16) Montana hit Solomon for 15 yards.  That setup a 4th and 1 from the Giant 16 with :21 seconds left to play and the '9ers down by 14.  For all intents and purposes the game was over, but competitors like Montana never quit.  Joe had no choice to go for the end zone in hopes of scoring fast and then getting the ball back.  Joe never had a chance as veteran All-Pro Jim Katcavage sacked him on the 23 to put and end to the game.