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1978 New York Giants season

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1978 New York Giants season
OwnerWellington Mara
Head coachJohn McVay
Home fieldGiants Stadium
Results
Record6–10
Division place5th NFC East
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro BowlersLB Brad van Pelt
LB Harry Carson
P Dave Jennings

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

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Draft

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Main article: 1978 NFL draft
1978 New York Giants draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
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

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Roster

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1978 New York Giants roster
Quarterbacks (QB)

Running backs (RB)

Wide receivers (WR)

Tight ends (TE)

Offensive linemen (OL)

Defensive linemen (DL)

Linebackers (LB)

Defensive backs (DB)

Special teams

Reserve


Rookies in italics

Regular season

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See also: The Miracle at the Meadowlands

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

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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

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Week 4

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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

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Main article: Miracle at the Meadowlands
See also: 1978 Philadelphia Eagles season and Eagles–Giants rivalry
Philadelphia Eagles (6–5) at New York Giants (5–6)
Quarter 1 2 34Total
Eagles 0 6 01319
Giants 14 0 3017

at Giants Stadium • East Rutherford, New Jersey

Game information

Week 13 at Bills

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Week Thirteen: New York Giants (5–7) at Buffalo Bills (3–9)
Quarter 1 2 34Total
Giants 7 3 7017
Bills 7 0 72741

at Rich Stadium, Orchard Park, New York

Game information

Standings

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NFC East
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

See also

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References

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  1. ^ The Football Database. Retrieved 2016-Nov-01.
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