Other big regular-season finale games

DO OR DIE

Is this the biggest regular-season game in Giants history? You certainly could make that case. The Giants have played in only a handful of all-or-nothing regular-season games at the end of the season, do-or-die games that could not be affected by outside events. So, take out the 1988 game against the Jets because there still was a back door for the Giants to get into the playoffs.

The only other Giants game where the stakes were so high for both teams in a regular-season finale was in 1937. The Giants were 6-2-2 coming into the last game against the Redskins, who were 7-3. The Redskins won, 49-14, and the Giants finished in second place in the Eastern Division. The Redskins, in their first season on Washington, went on to beat the Bears, 28-21, at Wrigley Field for the championship.

SOME OTHERS THAT CAME CLOSE:

1943 -- The Giants had to beat the Redskins twice in the final two weeks of the regular season to force an Eastern Division playoff game. They did, by the scores of 14-10 and 31-7, to finish in a tie for first place with the Redskins. The following week they played for a third consecutive game. This time the Redskins won, 28-0.

1958 -- The Giants had to beat the Browns, once again to force a playoff for the Eastern Division title. They won, 13-10, to force the playoff, then beat the Browns, 10-0, the following week. That win advanced them to the NFL Championship Game, which they lost to the Colts in the so-called Greatest Game Ever Played.

1970 -- The Giants needed to beat the Rams in the regular-season finale to get into the playoffs. The Giants wound up losing, 31-3, and finished in second place in the NFC East with a 9-5 record. The Lions took the NFC wild card at 10-4 and lost the following week to the Cowboys, 5-0. The Rams didn't make the playoffs either.

1993 -- This wasn't a win-and-in game, but the Giants and Cowboys met with the division title on the line even though both already had made the playoffs. Dallas won in overtime, clinched a bye and the first seed in the NFC playoffs, and went on to win Super Bowl XXVIII. The Giants were a wild-card team and lost a divisional-round game in San Francisco.

GIANTS' PLAYOFF SCENARIOS

The Giants must win or tie the Cowboys to make the playoffs.

If they do, they will host the Lions or the Falcons in the

wild-card round.

If the Giants make it, they will face the Lions unless Detroit

loses and Atlanta wins Sunday.