Long-Standing Rivalry

The rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, which will be renewed Monday night at East Rutherford, N.J., dates to the early ‘60s, when the Cowboys joined the league, and has long been one of the NFL’s most intense.

It even boiled the blood of former Cowboy coach Tom Landry, the usually refined gentleman who was a defensive back and assistant coach with the Giants in the ‘50s.

“Everybody knows how Coach Landry was his entire career,” former Cowboy defensive back Charlie Waters said. “He was very stoic, reserved and controlled, and he never lost his poise. He never gave any win-one-for-the-Gipper speeches to get you all excited--except when we played the Giants. Every time we would play New York, it energized him and brought him to a fever pitch on game day.”

Free safety Percy Ellsworth is fed up with the Giants’ feeble offense, which ranks 26th in the NFL with only 276.8 yards a game.

“I have no comment about them,” he said of his offensive--to him, at least--teammates after Sunday’s 14-3 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. “I have nothing to say to them.”