Miracle at the Meadowlands
Herman Edwards recovers Joe Pisarcik's fumble.
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| Date | November 19, 1978 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Stadium | Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Cal Lepore | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 70,318 | ||||||||||||||||||
| TV in the United States | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | CBS | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Don Criqui and Sonny Jurgensen | ||||||||||||||||||
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 is considered miraculous because the Giants were ahead and could easily have run out the final seconds; they 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 Giants upset. Instead, he botched an attempt to hand off the football to fullback Larry Csonka. Edwards picked up the dropped ball and ran 26 yards for the winning score.
Giants fans refer to the play simply as "The Fumble", though that name is generally used outside of New York for a play in the 1987 AFC Championship Game between the Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos.
It was the first meeting between the divisional rivals that season. The Eagles were in third place in the NFC East, behind the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins; the Giants were in fourth. The teams went into the game in similar situations, but heading in different directions. They had playoff hopes, especially since this was the first 16-game NFL season, but likely would have to settle for a wild card berth due to the solid lead the powerful Dallas Cowboys had in the division. Given the similarity of their records, it was likely the outcome would have playoff implications, since the first tie-breaker for a wild card spot is the head-to-head record.
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