1978 New York Giants season

1978 New York Giants season
1978 New York Giants season
Owner	Wellington Mara
Head coach	John McVay
Home field	Giants Stadium
Results
Record	6–10
Division place	5th NFC East
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	LB Brad van Pelt; LB Harry Carson; P Dave Jennings
	← 1977; Giants seasons; 1979 →;

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”.^{[citation needed]} The Giants never recovered from this game, getting pummeled on the road to the 3–9 Bills, 41–17, despite having a 10 point lead in the 4th quarter. In their final game, a rematch with Philadelphia, the Giants lost 20–3 to end the season 6–10.

Offseason[]

Draft[]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College
1978 New York Giants draft
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

^[1]

Roster[]

**1978 New York Giants roster**

	Quarterbacks 15 Randy Dean 12 Jerry Golsteyn 9 Joe Pisarcik Running backs 39 Larry Csonka 35 Dan Doornink 44 Doug Kotar 38 Billy Taylor Wide receivers 86 Johnny Perkins 82 Ernie Pough 85 Jimmy Robinson 89 Tight ends 84 Al Dixon 80 Emery Moorehead 87 Gary Shirk		Offensive linemen 60 Brad Benson T 56 Jim Clack C 72 Gordon King G 62 Ron Mikolajczyk T 52 C 68 J. T. Turner G 63 Doug Van Horn G Defensive linemen 77 Troy Archer DT 81 Jack Gregory DE 70 Gary Jeter DE 75 George Martin DE 64 John Mendenhall DT		Linebackers 53 Harry Carson 59 Randy Coffield 55 Brian Kelley 54 Dan Lloyd 51 Frank Marion 57 John Skorupan 10 Brad Van Pelt Defensive backs 24 Terry Jackson CB 31 Ernie Jones 34 23 Odis McKinney SS 28 Beasley Reece SS 22 Ray Rhodes CB 25 Maurice Tyler Special teams 18 Joe Danelo K 13 Dave Jennings P		Reserve lists -- Brian DeRoo WR (IR) Practice squad Rookies in italics

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	Attendance
1	September 2, 1978	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 19–13	67,456
2	September 10, 1978	Dallas Cowboys	L 34–24	73,265
3	September 17, 1978	Kansas City Chiefs	W 26–10	70,546
4	September 24, 1978	San Francisco 49ers	W 27–10	71,536
5	October 1, 1978	at Atlanta Falcons	L 23–20	47,765
6	October 8, 1978	at Dallas Cowboys	L 24–3	63,420
7	October 15, 1978	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 17–14	68,025
8	October 22, 1978	Washington Redskins	W 17–6	76,192
9	October 29, 1978	at New Orleans Saints	L 28–17	59,807
10	November 5, 1978	at St. Louis Cardinals	L 20–10	48,820
11	November 12, 1978	at Washington Redskins	L 16–13	53,271
12	November 19, 1978	Philadelphia Eagles	L 19–17	70,318
13	November 26, 1978	at Buffalo Bills	L 41–17	28,496
14	December 3, 1978	Los Angeles Rams	L 20–17	62,629
15	December 10, 1978	St. Louis Cardinals	W 17–0	52,226
16	December 17, 1978	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 20–3	56,396

Game summaries[]

Week 12[]

Philadelphia Eagles (6–5) at New York Giants (5–6)

	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 • Wind 14
Game attendance: 70,318
Referee: Cal Lepore
Pro-Football-Reference.com

showGame information

showScoring summary

Standings[]

NFC East
view talk	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

References[]

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

[1] The Football Database. Retrieved 2016-Nov-01.

[1]

show v t New York Giants
Founded in 1925 Based and headquartered in East Rutherford, New Jersey
Franchise	Franchise Seasons Coaches Players First-round draft picks Quarterbacks
History	1925–1978 1979–1993 1994–present Financial history
Stadiums	Polo Grounds Yankee Stadium Yale Bowl Shea Stadium Giants Stadium MetLife Stadium
Culture	Cleveland Bulldogs The Duke Crunch Bunch Gatorade shower Big Blue Wrecking Crew I'm going to Disney World! Little Giants "New York Groove" "We Fly High" "The Masseuse" (Seinfeld episode) Big Fan Bob Sheppard Jim Hall Yankee Stadium Legacy License Plate Guy The Best Man Holiday
Lore	Sneakers Game The Greatest Game Ever Played The Fumble Wide Right Snowball Game 2007 game vs. New England Patriots Helmet Catch Miracle at the New Meadowlands
Rivalries	Dallas Cowboys Green Bay Packers New York Jets Philadelphia Eagles San Francisco 49ers Washington Football Team
Key personnel	Owners: John Mara & Steve Tisch General manager: Dave Gettleman Head coach: Joe Judge
Division championships (22)	1933 1934 1935 1938 1939 1941 1944 1946 1956 1958 1959 1961 1962 1963 1986 1989 1990 1997 2000 2005 2008 2011
Conference championships (11)	1956 1958 1959 1961 1962 1963 1986 1990 2000 2007 2011
League championships (8)	1927 1934 1938 1956 1986 (XXI) 1990 (XXV) 2007 (XLII) 2011 (XLVI)
Media	Broadcasters Radio network Bob Papa Carl Banks Howard Cross
Current league affiliations	League: National Football League Conference: National Football Conference Division: East Division

show v t New York Giants seasons
1920s	1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s	1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s	1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
2020s	2020 2021
Bold indicates NFL Championship (1920–69) or Super Bowl (1966–) victory Italics indicates NFL Championship (1920–69) or Super Bowl (1966–) appearance