Loading ...Historical New York Giants clips is a weekly Giants 101 feature that takes a look back at vintage video of Big Blue, both in color and black and white, over the course of their illustrious history. Whether it's a win or a loss, the purpose of this feature is to help educate newer generations of Giants fans and to bring older generations of Giants fans back in time. Enjoy.
Coming off a tough overtime loss to the Washington Redskins in week 11 of the 1978 season, the New York Giants desperately needed a win over the Philadelphia Eagles to get back to .500 and to keep them in the playoff hunt. And after an interception late in the fourth quarter courtesy of Odis McKinney, all Big Blue had to do was kneel on the ball to preserve a 17-12 upset win. But that didn't happen…
As fans headed for the exits thinking the game was well in hand with less than 30 seconds to go, quarterback Joe Pisarcik took the snap on 3rd and 2, but rather than kneeling down to run out the clock, attempted to hand the ball off to fullback Larry Csonka. It was fumbled behind the line of scrimmage, picked up by cornerback Herman Edwards and returned for the game-winning touchdown. The play and the game became infamously known as "Miracle at the Meadowlands."
Thinking that the game was over prior to the fumble, CBS commentator Don Criqui had already begun to run/read the credits. Here was his call:
"It's Giants football now, third and two. We thank our producer Bob Rowe, our director Jim Silman, and our CBS crew, spotter and statistician John Mara and Tom McHugh here at Giants Stadium. As the clock winds down on the Philadelphia Eagles, a game they thought would project them into a possible wildcard position, it would bring them 7-5 had they won, but a late interception by the Giants will preserve a Giant victory, an upset win as the Giants lead 17-12, we’re inside 30 seconds, the Eagles have no timeouts … Wait a minute… here's a free football, I don't believe it! The Eagles pick it up and Herman Edwards runs it in for a touchdown! An incredible development!"
The Giants would go on to lose three of their remaining four games, finishing the season at 6-10, but that was the smallest of the stories that surrounded the team in the final month of the season. Fans would turn on management, demonstrating outside of the stadium in week 14 demanding change. Then, during the final home game of the year, the protest would grow despite a 17-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. A Newark furniture dealer named Morris Spielberg arranged for a plane to fly over the stadium with a banner that read: "15 Years of Lousy Football — We've Had Enough." As it passed, fans changed "We've had enough!" and the game had to be temporarily stopped as a result.
Following the season, head coach John McVay's contract would expire and not be renewed – he never coached in the NFL again. Csonka's contract was also up, and he would return to Miami. Meanwhile, the team would eventually hire General Manager George Young after offseason mediation, and he made an immediate impact, drafting quarterback Phil Simms to replace Pisarcik.
Ray Perkins would coach the team for the next four years, and with the exception of the 1981 season, the results were more of the same. However, it was his hire of then defensive coordinator Bill Parcells that would eventually lead the New York Football Giants back to prominence.
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No, you did not run that. This must just be a bad dream. Either that or you have revealed yourself as a sadist.
I almost ran it last week, but decided another 7 days was an appropriate amount of time to wait.
Next week will be Vick and Desean assraping us 2 years ago…
I think that’s a tad too recent for this particular piece. Maybe the Feely/Seattle mess.
Too soon…..I broke a lamp with my hat that day after Feely missed his 9482nd field goal. Got grounded….no fun.
Benton , Im REALLY disappointed that you ran that clip . And no , I did not watch it , every second is engraved on my brain , I did not have to watch it .
If you thought that it was far enough back in peoples memories to gloss over , you are entirely mistaken .
This play to me was the nadir of an era of incompetence inconsistency and bumblingness ( I dont think there is such a word but I think it fits perfectly ) .
This was the play the forced EVERY coach to have a player behind the QB on a kneel down “just in case ” somebody did something as dumb as hand the ball off . So , for 31 other teams in the league who said thank you for pointing out the stupidity and effects of a simple play , we say OY
Benton , can we banish you for the day for rubbing salt into open wounds ?
Open wounds? The Giants are Super Bowl champions. The Eagles haven’t won a damn thing. What wounds?
The purpose of this weekly article is to go over historical events related to the Giants on the field – and that includes losses. Even ones as painful and miserable as this one.
Let’s give Dan a break. It’s not like HE fumbled the ball. Only when you’ve wallowed in the deepest valley can you appreciate the view from the highest mountain.
Adrian Tracy ready to show his versatility….
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/giants/post/_/id/14875/adrian-tracy-ready-to-show-versatility
Here is a question, why not just make Kiwi a pure DE and leave Tracy at LB ? Or at least use Tracy more as a LB and Kiwi more as a DE ?
Other question, what about Sintim ? Wny not just convert him to DE or at least consider using him as a hybrid to see what you can get out of him ?
Dan
This is the most disgusting memory that any Giant fan has spanning the last 50 years. I can deal with it, but realize that many projectile vomit at it’s mention.
Take the losses to the “crap birds” when Mitchel returned the punt, and the punt to Jackson that should have never happened. Then do the math.
Multiply by a million, the rotten feeling produced by those events, and you still have not caught up with “The Miracle”. It was and still remains the “abyssal benthic” of Giant football.