Twenty points. All year.

My grandfather, John Tyleski, told me about the old Giants teams and the defense they played. That was part of how I came to know this team. Before I had my own games to remember, I had his stories.

You grow up with that, and eventually you go looking for the beginning. How far back does this thing go? How long have Giants fans been expecting the defense to get us out of whatever mess we’re in?

Well, pull up a chair. In 1927, the Giants allowed twenty points.

For the season.

Thirteen games. Ten shutouts. Twenty points. You can look at those numbers for a while. I certainly did.

A young team with something to prove.

Tim Mara had bought an NFL franchise in 1925 for $500. Keeping it alive cost considerably more. By the team’s third season, New York had a champion.

Earl Potteiger coached the 1927 Giants to an 11–1–1 record. Steve Owen, years before generations of fans would know him as the coach, was a tackle helping make that defense so difficult to move.

The league standings decided the championship. Every result went into the argument, and the Giants finished with the best record.

The season itself was the championship test. To tell this one properly, we have to follow the whole year.

A championship built one stop at a time.

Cleveland gave New York its only loss and its only tie. The Giants kept going. In late November, they beat the Chicago Bears 13–7 at the Polo Grounds, a crucial victory over another contender. They closed their league schedule with two shutouts of the New York Yankees. Football Yankees. The names take a little getting used to.

Picture that crowd at the Polo Grounds. Your eyes on the field, the people beside you arguing about the last play, and a team making the other team work for every damn thing.

That last part is easy to recognize.

I’ve screamed at the television. I’ve screamed in the stadium. Give me a third down with the game hanging there and I still think my voice ought to be able to help. The distance between 1927 and the Giants I know gets a lot shorter when I think about it that way.

This is the first title on our shelf. It belongs there in full view. The fans who came before us had something worth passing down, and twenty points over an entire season is a pretty good place to start the conversation.