Dec. 15, 1963 - The New York Giants today defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers, the team that had come up to challenge them for the Eastern title on the last day of the season, and they did it on a frozen Yankee Stadium field before a capacity crowd of 63,240. The score was 33-17, a margin that made victory look easy. It was not that easy. The rewards for the Giants were considerable. By winning the Eastern Conference, they qualified to play the Chicago Bears for the league championship in Chicago Dec. 29. The Eastern title also means a bonus of at least $4,000 to each Giant. If the team can beat the Bears, the bonus will amount to $5,000. The Conference championship was the Giants’ third straight under Coach Allie Sherman, their fifth in the last six seasons, and a record fourteenth in all. Y.A. Tittle, the Giants’ quarterback, threw three touchdown passes today and ended the season with 36, a league record. Joe Morrison, the often-unappreciated fullback, scored three times, twice on passes from Tittle, and the defensive unit stopped the Steelers five times when the Giant goal was threatened. Ed Brown, the Steeler quarterback, threw two touchdowns but otherwise did not have a distinguished game. His passing was often wild. Afterward, Steeler Coach Buddy Parker said, “If my quarterback had a good day, [receiver Gary] Ballman would have caught five touchdown passes.” Ballman was indeed behind the Giant defenders time and again. Giant coach Allie Sherman had this to say: “We wanted to control the ball and not let [fullback] John Henry Johnson (right) get his hands on it. And we did. Tittle made some tremendous calls out there. He kept them off balance.” Sherman also cited his offensive linemen after the game: “No one gives them enough credit — Rosey Brown, Bookie Bolin, Darrell Dess, Greg Larson. This is the highest scoring team in Giant history, and the line deserves a lot of praise.” In winning 11 of their 14 games this season, the Giants scored 448 points, a total second only to the Rams’ total of 466 in 1950. A defeat today would have sent the Giants to Miami for the Playoff Bowl game against the Packers. Jim Katcavage, defensive end, said afterwards: “Who cares about Miami? It’s only warm down there. I’ll take Chicago and the Bears any day.”
