Plays I still can’t believe actually happened: Miracle at the Meadowlands

You might have already seen the Miracle at the Meadowlands involving the Giants and Eagles back in 1978, but you might not be familiar with the background. If you are, just skip down and watch the clip, it never gets old. For the uninitiated, here goes…

The 1978 edition of the New York Giants were coming off a 5-9 record the previous season. That marked the fifth consecutive season that the franchise had finished with a losing record. Nope, back then, this wasn’t the New York team you’ve come to know as one of the NFL’s most consistent winners.

For the Giants, the 1978 season actually started off pretty damn well. The team was 3-1 heading into October, but that record was achieved by feasting on Tampa Bay, Kansas City and San Francisco, three cupcakes that would end up finishing a combined 11-37 that year (this was the first season the NFL implemented a 16-game regular season schedule).

By the middle of November, the Giants were sitting at 5-6 after three straight losses but weren’t necessarily dead in the water. On November 19, the 6-5 Philadelphia Eagles came to the Meadowlands, and the winner could still achieve a Wild Card playoff spot with a strong finish to the season.

Quarterbacking the Giants that day was New Mexico State grad Joe Pisarcik, a guy who would end his career in the mid-80’s having thrown twice as many interceptions as touchdowns. His counterpart on the Eagles was Ron Jaworski, a guy who would end up being one of the most long winded football analysts ESPN has ever hired (and they’ve hired a few of those).

I kid, I think Jaws is great, but on that blustery day (with wind gusts sometimes reaching 20 mph), he actually got outplayed by Pisarcik. By the time the dust had settled, Jaworski would end up with three picks and no touchdown passes.

Pisarcik, on the other hand, found Bobby Hammond and Johnny Perkins for scoring strikes in the first quarter to stake New York to a 14-0 lead. Wilbert Montgomery countered for the Eagles with an 8-yard run in the second, but the extra point was missed. The half ended with the Giants up 14-6.

A Joe Danelo field goal extended New York’s lead to 17-6. Philly answered with a short touchdown run from Mike Hogan but again botched the extra point. Late in the fourth quarter, Giants defensive back Odis McKinney picked off Jaworski in his own territory. With the Eagles out of time outs, the outcome appeared to be inevitable: a 17-12 Giants win.

With the clock under a minute, Pisarcik knelt on the ball on second-and-2 to keep it running. But Eagles linebacker Bill Bergey bulled into Giants’ center Jim Clack in a desperate attempt to force a fumble. Things got a little testy as a result, so Giants offensive coordinator Bob Gibson (no, he and the pitcher weren’t one and the same) decided against kneeling on it again on third-and-2.

His rationale? If Bergey or another Eagle pulled the same stunt again, a fight could ensue. As a result, the Giants might incur a clock stopping penalty. Or maybe I’m giving Gibson too much credit and he was just being hard headed, who knows. Whatever the reason, in lieu of the kneel-down, he called for Pisarcik to hand it off to Larry Csonka in a play they called Pro 65 Up, which was an off-tackle run.

But that’s where it gets complicated, because nobody on the Giant offense wanted to run Pro 65 Up, most of all Csonka. As the story goes, he didn’t want to take a handoff in that situation and voiced his displeasure in the huddle. Csonka later claimed he even told Pisarcik that just after they broke the huddle and got into formation.

Being a second year quarterback in the league who wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire, Pisarcik was in a tough spot. In his mind, if he changed a play called by his offensive coordinator he could risk getting himself benched. So the guy went though with it, and here’s what happened:

I’ve looked at this damn thing like it’s the Zapruder Film, and it raises a few questions with me. At the :26 second mark, look closely at Pisarcik. He looks back at Csonka as he walks toward the line…does this confirm what Csonka said? At that moment, is Csonka telling his quarterback not to hand it off to him?

Years later, Pisarcik said that Csonka took a little bit of an awkward angle and as a result the handoff attempt bounced off the running back’s hip. But as you can see in the clip, it does appear that Pisarcik didn’t totally have control of the ball as he was turning from the center.

I also can’t tell for sure if Csonka is even making an honest attempt to take the football. In my opinion, he doesn’t look like a running back who’s prepared get a handoff. It appears to me that he’s running into the line and then looking back in startled amazement as the football bounces around on the ground.

Hmmmmm, so many questions. But here’s what we do know: The Eagles won 19-17 (they finally made an extra point), Gibson was fired the next day and the Giants ended up finishing 6-10. Philadelphia wound up 9-7 and got that Wild Card berth, subsequently falling to the Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs.

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