10/01/2026
1950-10-1: On this day in Professional Football History: The New York Giants (1-0) travelled to Municipal Stadium to face the Cleveland Browns (2-0). The Browns so far had taken the NFL by storm. They had crushed the 2-time defending NFL Champions Philadelphia Eagles 35-10 then blanked former AAFC rival Baltimore Colts 31-0.
The Giants defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 18-7 in week 1. Then they played a non-league game against the Bethlehem Bulldogs of the AFL the following week, winning 42-7.
After runs by fullback Gene Roberts for 26 yards and halfback Randy Clay for 11 yards, the Giants were on the Browns 3-yard line. Rookie fullback Eddie Price scored on a 3-yard touchdown run just five minutes into the contest.
The snap on the extra point was bobbled by the quarterback Charley Conerly resulting in a bad kick by kicker Ray Poole on the extra point attempt which left the score 6-0.
The Giants defense dominated the Browns during the 1st half as they kept the Brown out of their end of the field. They frustrated Browns superstar quarterback Otto Graham by picking him off three times and held him to 0-7 passing to start the game.
The secondary for the Giants had several members of the now-defunct AAFC’s New York Yankees; left defensive halfback Tom Landry, safety Otto Schnellbacher and right halfback Harmon Rowe. They were instrumental in containing Split end Mac Speedie and breaking up several Graham passes.
Another former Yankee, Giants tackle Arnie Weinmeister said, “We never got over that licking (Last season, the Browns whipped the Yankees 31-0). “We’ve been laying for them ever since. We knew we had the defense to stop them. All our guys played their hearts out.”
The Browns finally got things in gear in the fourth quarter. Graham started with short passes to fullback Marion Motley and back Dub Jones as they worked their way down to the Giants 10-yard line.
Landry would break up Graham’s 1st down pass to End Dante Lavelli. Then Motley ran into Graham on 2nd down causing a fumble which was recovered by Giants’ linebacker Dick Woodard.
Giants fullback Gene Robert got his team out of the shadow of their end zone with a 19-yard run. The Giants would punt the ball back to Cleveland a few plays later.
Graham told possession at the Browns 25-yard line. He tossed a pass to Lavelli for 33 yards down to the Giants 42-yard line. On the next play, Graham went long to Speedie, who had beaten Schnellbacher, but the pass was off of Speedie’s fingertips and fell incomplete in the end zone.
On 2nd down, Graham dropped back to pass but his receivers were blanketed downfield. He would tuck the ball and then scrambled for a 20-yard gain down to the Giants 22-yard line.
The Browns got down to the Giants 11-yard line but found themselves facing a 4th & 10. Two minutes remained in the game. Graham looked for End Horace Gillom in the end zone, but the pass sailed high ending the Browns comeback attempt as the Giants prevailed, 6-0.
Browns’ head coach Paul Brown was obviously disappointed. It was the 1st time in the Browns history they had been shut out. “We were licked by a better team. I don’t think we were down, but I am sure they were keyed sky high. They played with a vengeance,” Brown said.
Steve Owens, Head Coach of the Giants, said of the special 6-1-2-2 defense designed for this game, “We pointed for this one, charted a special defense and worked hard. Everything turned out just as we hoped it would. Don’t fool yourself, the Browns do have a great football team, but this was just our day. I think this is the best running team they’ve had.”
