END GAME: The Giants were angry over the Bucs’ bull-rush of their victory formation that sent Eli Manning sprawling at the end of Sunday’s game, but Herm Edwards, who took the fumble from Joe Pisarcik (above right) in the “Miracle at the Meadowlands” in 1978, says Greg Schiano’s call was OK in a close game. (AP)
END GAME: The Giants were angry over the Bucs’ bull-rush of their victory formation that sent Eli Manning sprawling at the end of Sunday’s game (above), but Herm Edwards, who took the fumble from Joe Pisarcik in the “Miracle at the Meadowlands” in 1978, says Greg Schiano’s call was OK in a close game. (Ai Wire /Landov)
END GAME: The Giants were angry over the Bucs’ bull-rush of their victory formation that sent Eli Manning sprawling at the end of Sunday’s game, but Herm Edwards, who took the fumble from Joe Pisarcik (above right) in the “Miracle at the Meadowlands” in 1978, says Greg Schiano’s call was OK in a close game. (AP)
END GAME: The Giants were angry over the Bucs’ bull-rush of their victory formation that sent Eli Manning sprawling at the end of Sunday’s game (above), but Herm Edwards, who took the fumble from Joe Pisarcik (above right) in the “Miracle at the Meadowlands” in 1978, says Greg Schiano’s call was OK in a close game. (Ai Wire/Landov (above); AP (inset))
Always play to the whistle. That was the mantra of Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano on Sunday, which led to his team bull-rushing the Giants on the game’s final play, when Big Blue was simply trying to kneel with the ball and kill the rest of the clock in its 41-34 triumph.
Giants fans of a certain age vividly remember the afternoon of Nov. 19, 1978, when “The Fumble” suddenly and immediately became one of the darkest chapters in team lore. In a game the Giants were about to win, having only to kneel on the ball to secure a victory over the Eagles, quarterback Joe Pisarcik instead attempted to hand the ball off to Larry Csonka. The ball hit Csonka’s hip and popped loose, and was picked up by Eagles defensive back and future Jets coach Herm Edwards and returned for a stunning touchdown and an equally-stunning 19-17 Philadelphia win at Giants Stadium.
What Giants fans may not remember was that the play before, the Eagles’ strategy was the same one Schiano employed on Sunday, as Edwards recalled yesterday during an interview on ESPN Radio.
“The Giants had actually kneeled down the play before that,” Edwards said, “and one of our players [All-Pro linebacker Bill Bergey] hit the center [Jim Clack] and knocked the quarterback [Pisarcik] down and a little skirmish started.”
Edwards said he remembered thinking the Giants would kneel again, but noticed stirring in the home team’s huddle.
“They went back and decided to kneel, but some of the guys got the signal from the coach [offensive coordinator Bob Gibson] they were going to hand it off, so there was some confusion.
“I actually walked up to the line of scrimmage and shook [Giants running back] Doug Kotar’s hand. He was thinking they were kneeling; half the team was kneeling, the other half wasn’t. Clack was worried about the play clock running out, so he hiked the ball a little bit before Joe was anticipating the snap, and I saw that. Kotar didn’t even block me because he thought they were going to kneel on it. They actually tried to run the play, and that’s when the fumble occurred.”
The snap hit the tip of Pisarcik’s finger, and he never really had control as he attempted, of all things in that situation, a reverse handoff, and the ball squirted loose. Pisarcik dove in a vain attempt to recover the ball, which was scooped up by Edwards. For Giants fans, the rest is infamy.
Fast forward to yesterday: Schiano defended his position, didn’t apologize, and inferred he’d do it again.
“To me, it’s a clean, hard, tough, finish-the-game play,” Schiano told the Associated Press. “Some people disagree with that. That’s certainly what makes the world go round. Everybody has opinions. I don’t have any remorse or regret. It’s clean, hard football. It was no sneak attack. We were down ready to go, and that’s how we do it all the time.”
Edwards didn’t admonish Schiano’s decision, but was careful to say every situation was different, and was concerned the same call in a blowout would cause problems.
“If you’re down one score and there are some seconds left and you think you can cause a fumble, then all bets are off,” Edwards said. “You do what you need to do … but the thing you don’t want, if you’re down two or three scores, one team’s trying to kneel and the opponent takes out the knee of an offensive lineman, then you’ve got an issue.
“We talk all the time about safety in the NFL. You have to know the situation of the game and what the score is … I think all players need to be reminded of that.”