# 1978 New York Giants season

The 1978 New York Giants season was the franchise's 54th season in the National Football League. In their first ever season that had a sixteen-game schedule, the Giants looked to improve on their 5–9 record from 1977. The season saw the Giants get off to a hot start. They beat newcomer Tampa Bay in Tampa 19–13, despite being a 1 point underdog. After a close loss to the rival Cowboys 34–24 the next week, the Giants beat the Kansas City Chiefs 26–10 and the San Francisco 49ers 27–10 to start the season 3–1, their first 3–1 start since 1969. However, the Giants then started to struggle, losing to the Atlanta Falcons 23–20 and the Cowboys again 24–3.
Following wins at home against the Buccaneers and Redskins, the Giants went on a downfall, which saw them lose their next 6 games and 7 of their last 8. In week 12, the Giants played their arch-rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles, in a crucial game that saw the Giants fumble away the game on Joe Pisarcik’s fumble and Herm Edwards fumble recovery for a touchdown that won the game for Philadelphia, 19–17. The play was dubbed the Miracle at the Meadowlands. The Giants never recovered from this game, getting pummeled on the road to the Bills, 41–17, despite having a 10 point lead in the 3rd quarter. In their final game, a rematch with Philadelphia, the Giants lost 20–3 to end the season 6–10.

## Offseason
### Draft

1978 New York Giants draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College |
| 1 | 10 | Gordon King | OT | Stanford |
| 2 | 37 | Odis McKinney | DB | Colorado |
| 4 | 90 | Billy Taylor | RB | Texas Tech |
| 5 | 120 | Terry Jackson | DB | San Diego St |
| 5 | 132 | Jim Krahl | DT | Texas Tech |
| 5 | 137 | Brian DeRoo | WR | Redlands |
| 6 | 147 | Randy Pass | OG | Georgia Tech |
| 7 | 174 | Dan Doornink | RB | Washington St |
| 8 | 201 | Jeff Grady | LB | Florida A&M |
| 9 | 232 | Bill Swiacki | TE | Amherst |
| 10 | 253 | Greg Jorgensen | OG | Nebraska |
| 11 | 286 | Dennis Helm | DT | SW Missouri St |
| 12 | 313 | Greg Lawson | RB | Western Illinois |
| Made roster † Pro Football Hall of Fame * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career ||||||

## Regular season

The Miracle at the Meadowlands is the term used by sportscasters and Philadelphia Eagles fans for a fumble recovery by cornerback Herman Edwards that he returned for a touchdown at the end of a November 19, 1978 NFL game against the New York Giants in Giants Stadium. It was seen as miraculous because it occurred at a point in the game when the Giants were easily capable of running out the game's final seconds. The Giants had the ball, and the Eagles had no timeouts left. Everyone watching expected quarterback Joe Pisarcik to take one more snap and kneel with the ball, thus running out the clock and preserving a 17–12 Giant upset. Instead, he attempted to hand it off to fullback Larry Csonka and botched it, allowing Edwards to pick up the ball and run 26 yards for the winning score.

### Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Attendance |
| 1 | September 2 | at Tampa Bay Buccaneers | W 19–13 | 1–0 | 67,456 |
| 2 | September 10 | Dallas Cowboys | L 24–34 | 1–1 | 73,265 |
| 3 | September 17 | Kansas City Chiefs | W 26–10 | 2–1 | 70,546 |
| 4 | September 24 | San Francisco 49ers | W 27–10 | 3–1 | 71,536 |
| 5 | October 1 | at Atlanta Falcons | L 20–23 | 3–2 | 47,765 |
| 6 | October 8 | at Dallas Cowboys | L 3–24 | 3–3 | 63,420 |
| 7 | October 15 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | W 17–14 | 4–3 | 68,025 |
| 8 | October 22 | Washington Redskins | W 17–6 | 5–3 | 76,192 |
| 9 | October 29 | at New Orleans Saints | L 17–28 | 5–4 | 59,807 |
| 10 | November 5 | at St. Louis Cardinals | L 10–20 | 5–5 | 48,820 |
| 11 | November 12 | at Washington Redskins | L 13–16 | 5–6 | 53,271 |
| 12 | November 19 | Philadelphia Eagles | L 17–19 | 5–7 | 70,318 |
| 13 | November 26 | at Buffalo Bills | L 17–41 | 5–8 | 28,496 |
| 14 | December 3 | Los Angeles Rams | L 17–20 | 5–9 | 62,629 |
| 15 | December 10 | St. Louis Cardinals | W 17–0 | 6–9 | 52,226 |
| 16 | December 17 | at Philadelphia Eagles | L 3–20 | 6–10 | 56,396 |
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

### Game summaries
#### Week 4

* Television Network: CBS
* Announcers: Don Criqui and Tom Matte
Joe Pisarcik threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Al Dixon early in the game and Bobby Hammond set up two other touchdowns with long runs as the Giants are so far surprising the football world with a 3-1 record with a win over winless San Francsico. New York's Larry Csonka became the sixth player in NFL history to rush for 7,000 yards and he himself scored a 1-yard touchdown run in period 1 while Willie Spencer of the Giants scored a 1-yard touchdown run in period 3 while Joe Danelo kicked two field goals of 28 and 52 yards to provide the Giants scoring that day.

#### Week 12

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Eagles | 0 | 6 | 0 | 13 | 19 |
| Giants | 14 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 17 |
at Giants Stadium • East Rutherford, New Jersey
* Date: November 19
* Game time: 1:00 p.m. EST
* Game weather: 49 °F (9 °C) • Wind 14 mph (23 km/h)
* Game attendance: 70,318
* Referee: Cal Lepore
* Pro-Football-Reference.com
Game information :
Eagles
Ron Jaworski 15/31, 164 Yds, 3 INT
Wilbert Montgomery 22 Rush, 88 Yds, TD
Harold Carmichael 5 Rec, 105 Yds
Giants
Joe Pisarcik 13/24, 181 Yds, 2 TD, INT
Doug Kotar 13 Rush, 36 Yds
Jim Robinson 4 Rec, 73 Yds :
Scoring summary :
| Quarter | Time | Drive | Drive | Drive | Team | Scoring information | Score | Score |
| Quarter | Time | Plays | Yards | TOP | Team | Scoring information | PHI | NYG |
| 1 | | | | | Giants | Hammond 19-yard touchdown reception from Pisarcik, Danelo kick good | 0 | 7 |
| 1 | | | | | Giants | Perkins 30-yard touchdown reception from Pisarcik, Danelo kick good | 0 | 14 |
| 2 | | | | | Eagles | Montgomery 8-yard touchdown run, kick no good | 6 | 14 |
| 3 | | | | | Giants | 37-yard field goal by Danelo | 6 | 17 |
| 4 | | | | | Eagles | Hogan 1-yard touchdown run, kick no good | 12 | 17 |
| 4 | 0:20 | | | | Eagles | Fumble recovery returned 26 yards for touchdown by Herm Edwards, Michel kick good | 19 | 17 |
| "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | 19 | 17 |

#### Week 13

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Giants | 7 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 17 |
| Bills | 7 | 0 | 7 | 27 | 41 |
at Rich Stadium, Orchard Park, New York
* Date: November 26, 1978
* Game time: 1:00 p.m. EDT
* Game weather: 23 °F (−5 °C)
* Game attendance: 28,496
* Referee: Red Cashion
* TV announcers (CBS): Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier
* Box Score
Game information :
First quarter
NYG – Al Dixon 31-yard pass from Joe Pisarcik (Joe Danelo kick). Giants 7–0.
BUF – Curtis Brown 1-yard run (Tom Dempsey kick). Tie 7–7.
Second quarter
NYG – Joe Danelo 27-yard field goal. Giants 10–7.
Third quarter
NYG – Doug Kotar 19-yard pass from Joe Pisarcik (Joe Danelo kick). Giants 17–7.
BUF – Roland Hooks 1-yard run (Tom Dempsey kick). Giants 17–14.
Fourth quarter
BUF – Curtis Brown 1-yard run (Tom Dempsey kick). Bills 21–17.
BUF – Lou Piccone 9-yard pass from Joe Ferguson (Tom Dempsey kick). Bills 28–17.
BUF – Terry Miller 39-yard run (Tom Dempsey kick). Bills 35–17.
BUF – Terry Miller 13-yard run (kick failed). Bills 41–17.
Top passers
NYG – Joe Pisarcik – 15/24, 230 yards, 2 TD, INT
BUF – Joe Ferguson – 9/15, 106 yards, TD, INT
Top rushers
NYG – Bobby Hammond – 15 rushes, 60 yards
BUF – Terry Miller – 21 rushes, 208 yards, 2 TD
Top receivers
NYG – Al Dixon – 2 receptions, 78 yards, TD
BUF – Bob Chandler – 5 receptions, 75 yards :

## Standings

NFC East :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| Dallas Cowboys$^{(2)}$ | 12 | 4 | 0 | .750 | 7–1 | 9–3 | 384 | 208 | W6 |
| Philadelphia Eagles$^{(5)}$ | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 4–4 | 6–6 | 270 | 250 | W1 |
| Washington Redskins | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 4–4 | 6–6 | 273 | 283 | L5 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 3–5 | 6–6 | 248 | 296 | W1 |
| New York Giants | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 2–6 | 5–9 | 264 | 298 | L1 |