The play that is known as The Miracle at the Meadowlands happened on November 19, 1978…..as the New York Giants were closing out an apparent 17-12 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Eagles…..when with 31 seconds left to play…..they had the ball on 3rd down…..and the Eagles not having any timeouts left. All the Giants had to do was snap the ball one more time….and since they had knelt with the ball on the play before….it was expected they would do it again….and the game would be over…..however, the kneel-down play wasn’t universally accepted as an honorable way to win a game at the time….and Giants’ offensive coordinator Bob Gibson ordered QB Joe Pisarcik….with whom he had been having a running feud over play-calling authority….to hand the ball off to fullback Larry Csonka for one more run up the middle to end the game…..as Csonka was reluctant to take the ball….when instead Pisarcik fumbled the hand off….thus allowing Eagles’ cornerback Herman Edwards to return it for the winning touchdown.
The Fumble….as outraged Giants’ fans still call it today….was what spurred the Eagles to the playoffs that season….and precipitated a complete overhaul of the Giants’ coaching and management staff…. which eventually resulted in reversing years of decline to the New York Giants team…..as Gibson was fired the next day…..thus in the following week was when kneeling with the ball when possible to run out the clock and preserve a victory became SOP in the NFL.
