Sept. 25, 1964 - “If I didn’t get into that end zone,” said little Gary Wood (pictured #19), “I’d have got up and kept right on running — maybe right out of the stadium.”
It was Wood’s touchdown run on a fourth-and-goal play from the one with 39 seconds remaining in tonight’s game between the Giants and Redskins at Yankee Stadium that gave the Giants their first NFL victory of the season, 13-10.
It’s doubtful if any of the 62,996 who alternately booed and cheered the defending Eastern Division champs in a game that paired teams with 0-2 records had the slightest inkling that Wood’s game-winning play was no play at all. All they knew was that the return of Jack Stroud to offensive right tackle, Alex Webster to fullback, and Y.A. Tittle to quarterback for the second half had lifted the team out of its doldrums.
The “play” was supposed to be a handoff to Webster for a slant off left end. It never came off, but Wood did the next best thing. He followed Big Red into the end zone and took the football with him.
“Gary had trouble handling the snap,” Webster said. “That happens sometimes. It happened on Tittle’s bootleg [midway in the final period from the Washington one that resulted in a seven-yard loss and nary a point because two plays later Don Chandler blew a 16-yard field goal try). That play was supposed to be mind, too, but I never got it.
“What do you do? When you’re expecting that ball, you know you’re gonna hit [run his play without the ball]. And I mean hit. So, if you don’t get the ball, you hit anyway. I did. I didn’t know Gary was behind me, but I’m sure glad he was. It’s just one hell of a feeling to feel you’re doing something for the team again.”
Wood wanted no special credit. He, like coach Allie Sherman, passed it out for the three old pros — Stroud, Webster, and Tittle.
“As far as individual performance, I was a disappointment,” Wood said. “I didn’t complete a pass [he was 0-for-6 playing the entire first half]. That’ll make college guys happy; they always said I couldn’t pass. I was just lucky I got another chance and the chance to score. That’s what’s good about being with this team. You get another chance.”
After Chandler’s miss with 7:07 remaining in the game, the game appeared over and Washington, up 10-6, seemed sure of ending a 12-game losing streak to New York in regular-season play.
But with less than two minutes remaining, rookie Charley Taylor, brilliant throughout the evening, fumbled on a Giant gang tackle, and Bill Winter recovered on the Washington 17. Tittle flipped to Joe Morrison for two yards and to Webster for two more. “I thought I was in,” Alex said.
Tittle was shaken up on an incomplete third-down pass. Enter Wood. Enter the missed handoff. Enter the end zone.
Tittle’s ribs, injured in Pittsburgh last Sunday, are hurting again. But Y.A. was not sent to the hospital this time. He may be alive again for the next game, in Detroit eight days hence.
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