Bob Gibson (American Football) - The Miracle at The Meadowlands

The Miracle At The Meadowlands

Playing their archrival the Philadelphia Eagles, the Giants were leading 17–12 and had possession of the ball with only 30 seconds left. They had only to kneel the ball to end the game, as the Eagles had no timeouts. Gibson ordered Giants quarterback Joe Pisarcik to run play "pro 65 up", which called for Pisarcik to hand the ball off to fullback Larry Csonka. The handoff was botched and Eagles cornerback Herman Edwards picked up the loose ball and ran in for the game-winning score.

Gibson's reasoning was governed by what happened a play earlier. Pisarcik had taken a knee, only to be knocked over when the Eagles' Bill Bergey charged into Giants' center Jim Clack. This violated an unwritten rule that defensive players do not rush in a situation when the quarterback kneels down. Gibson didn't want to risk getting Pisarcik injured or expose his players to penalties or fines for fighting. However, he didn't explain this to the players, and it came across as a power trip. Head coach John McVay's headphones weren't working, and he later said that he would have overruled Gibson had he known what was happening.

With angry Giant fans demanding someone be held responsible for the debacle, owner Wellington Mara and operations director Andy Robustelli met and decided Gibson had to go. He was fired the next morning. So great was the stigma of having called the play that he never worked in football at any level again. He refuses to speak about the incident to this day; when ESPN reached him by phone in 2008, he said, "I haven't talked about the game for 30 years, and I'm not about to start now."

Gibson left New York and opened a bait shop and general store on Florida's Sanibel Island, where as of 2008 he was still raising cattle on his ranch. While he stays in contact with McVay and another member of the 1978 staff, Lindy Infante, few other members of the 1978 Giants have heard from him in over 30 years.