1978 New York Giants season

The 1978 New York Giants season was the 54th season for the club in the National Football League.

Offseason[edit]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School
1

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.

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

1978 New York Giants Team Starters

Offense

9 Joe Pisarcik       QB
44 Doug Kotar        RB
39 Larry Csonka      FB
85 Jim Robinson      WR
86 Johnny Perkins    WR
84 Al Dixon          TE

71 Gordon Gravelle   LT
63 Doug Van Horn     LG
56 Jim Clack         C
68 J.T. Turner       RG
62 Ron Mikolajczyk   RT

Defense

75 George Martin     LDE
64 John Mendenhall   NT
77 Troy Archer       LDT
81 Jack Gregory      RDE

10 Brad Van Pelt     LB
53 Harry Carson      LB
55 Brian Kelley      LB

24 Terry Jackson     LCB
22 Ray Rhodes        RCB
28 Beasley Reece     SS
31 Ernie Jones       FS

Kicking Team

18 Joe Danelo       K
13 Dave Jennings    P
33 Bobby Hammond    RB/PR
82 Ernest Pough     WR/KR