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The New York Giants (8-5-1) and the Minnesota Vikings (11-3) face off in a key NFC battle this Saturday that has postseason implications.
The 2 sides don’t have a lot of a historical past with one another, having performed simply 29 occasions since 1961in which the Vikings maintain a 16-10 edge.
There have been three postseason conferences, by which the Giants received two, together with the 2000 NFC Championship Sport.
Maybe the commonest thread the groups have with each other is Corridor of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who was traded to the Giants from Minnesota in 1967 after which traded again in 1972.
There was one other vital commerce between the 2 groups that not often will get a lot recognition. It occurred in 1986 when the Giants traded the rights to offensive lineman Gary Zimmerman to the Vikings for 2 second-round picks in that 12 months’s NFL draft.
The Giants chosen cornerback Mark Collins and security Greg Lasker with these picks. Each gamers turned key contributors on the Giants’ Tremendous Bowl XXI championship crew.
Zimmerman had a protracted profession within the NFL, taking part in first with Minnesota after which with Denver. He was named to seven Professional Bowls and made All-Professional eight occasions. As well as, Zimmerman was named to the NFL’s All-Decade Groups of the Nineteen Eighties and Nineteen Nineties. He was inducted into the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame in 2008.
The thriller of why Zimmerman by no means performed for the Giants nonetheless stays. He was an ideal match for the George Younger/Invoice Parcells crew of the Nineteen Eighties: a flexible lineman who may each go shield and open holes for the working sport.
Right here’s the lowdown…
In 1984, the NFL held a supplemental draft for gamers who signed with different leagues, such because the USFL and the CFL, in order that there was no bidding battle as soon as these gamers turned free brokers. The NFL didn't consider the USFL would final and foresaw a glut of free brokers hitting the open market when the USFL folded, which it did in August of 1986.
The rights to Zimmerman have been chosen by the Giants within the first spherical (third total) of the 1984 Supplemental Draft of USFL and CFL gamers. The Giants selected Zimmerman over defensive finish Reggie White, whose rights have been taken by the Philadelphia Eagles with the subsequent choice.
Zimmerman, who performed three seasons with the Los Angeles Specific of the USFL, had informed the Giants he had no intention of taking part in in New York.
Over time, the Giants tried to signal Zimmerman anyway, as per The New York Instances, “providing him $1.4 million over 4 years. However he refused to play for the Giants, saying he didn't like New York Metropolis, and he unsuccessfully sued to have the N.F.L.’s draft of U.S.F.L. gamers declared void.”
So, they despatched him to Minnesota throughout the 1986 NFL draft and the remaining is historical past. The Giants went on to win the Tremendous Bowl, so few cared about Zimmerman and his profession afterward.
The Giants went in one other path with their offensive line and fared simply high-quality, successful two Tremendous Bowls. Zimmerman didn't get his Tremendous Bowl ring till his ultimate season, 1997, with the Denver Broncos.
It’s simply as nicely Zimmerman didn't play in New York. He didn't combine nicely with the media and snubbed them for many of his profession. As we all know, that doesn’t play nicely within the media capital of the world.
Nonetheless, we marvel “what if.” What if the Giants opted for Reggie White as an alternative of Zimmerman? What if Zimmerman determined to play in New York?
We’ll by no means know the reply to these questions. Chalk all of it as much as destiny.
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