Miracle At The Meadowlands

[TuscanyTile2]

It's interesting because the Giants were a sad-sack franchise and then had a rock-bottom moment (the Joe Pisarcik fumble returned by our very own Herman Edwards).  This article makes the case that the play turned everything around in a good way for the Giants. It's funny to see that there have been Jet parallels over the years but they haven't (yet!) led to any major turnaround of the franchise:

-The butt-fumble

-The Jets drafting an unheralded QB (Ken O'Brien in 1983)

-The Giants and Jets picking at #2 and #3 respectively in both 1981 and 2018

Interestingly, when the Giants made the playoffs in 1981 they needed help (and got it) from the Jets in week 16.  The Giants had a long playoff drought at that point (I think around 15 years).  Currently the Jets are on around 8 years.

They say that history doesn't repeat but it does rhyme.  The current Jets situation feels like it could be history rhyming.  Let's hope we get the Giants' history that started in the mid-80's for the next 30 years.

 

https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/11/15/miracle-meadowlands-40th-anniversary-giants-eagles-joe-pisarcik-herman-edwards-harry-carson

Based on what happened in the game’s aftermath, it’s not wrong to say “The Fumble” was the best thing that could have happened to the Giants franchise.

 Here’s a chronological look at the aftereffects of The Fumble, in the days, weeks and years that followed for the Giants:

• One day later, Gibson was fired.

• After losing three of their final four games to finish 6-10, McVay and his staff, along with general manager Andy Robustelli and the rest of the front office, were fired at the end of the season.

THE THROWBACK: John Mara, future Giants owner, was the spotter for CBS’s broadcast of The Miracle at the Meadowlands

• Because feuding Giants owners Wellington Mara and his nephew, Tim Mara, could not agree on a new GM, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle stepped in and helped them settle on a candidate neither side had championed: George Young.

• Within two months on the job, Young hired Ray Perkins as head coach and used his first-ever draft pick to select an unheralded quarterback from tiny Morehead State University—Phil Simms. Says Carson: “While I hated Ray Perkins at the time because he was really hard-nosed, a hard-ass coach, in retrospect he was probably the best coach we could have had to instill a sense of discipline in the players.”

• Two years later, in 1981, the Giants drafted Lawrence Taylor. All he did was win NFL Defensive Player of the Year as a rookie. The defense improved from 24th in the league to third, and New York made the playoffs for the first time since 1963.

• After the 1982 season, Perkins replaced Bear Bryant at his alma mater, Alabama. Charged with hiring a head coach for the second time in his career, Young promoted linebackers coach Bill Parcells to the job.

• From that point, the Giants became one of the most consistently successful franchises in all of football, reaching the Super Bowl five times and winning four titles over the next 29 years.

Would any of that have happened if the Giants didn’t implode in ’78? If “The Fumble” never happened, they would have been 6-6 and riding a bit of momentum going into the final four games. If they’d finished 8-8, would they have cleared the decks the way they did?

“I’ve heard some over the years say ‘The Fumble’ turned around the fate of the franchise, and I agree with that,” says Simms. “It just made the Giants change how they run their football team, and it definitely made them better.”

[joewilly12]

Big Blue Huddle Giants message board. 

http://giantsfans.net/message_board/index.php

[TuscanyTile2]

2 minutes ago, joewilly12 said:

Big Blue Huddle Giants message board. 

http://giantsfans.net/message_board/index.php

 

[joewilly12]

[joenamathwouldn'tcry]

I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd be saying this "Tile", but, this thread has me longing for the two choice poll you posted last month.

[ljr]

Retracted

 

[TuscanyTile2]

Btw, the Giants' HC at the time (John McVay) was also the father of current Rams coach Sean McVay.

[TuscanyTile2]

9 hours ago, joenamathwouldn'tcry said:

I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd be saying this "Tile", but, this thread has me longing for the two choice poll you posted last month.

Sorry about that.  There are plenty of "rumored trade" posts on here that you can read instead.  Or if you're interested in speculating about the Jets' new uniforms, there's a pretty active thread about that.

Enjoy!

[TuscanyTile2]

7 hours ago, ljr said:

Title is false advertising / bait and switch stuff

In what way?  My post discusses the Miracle at the Meadowlands and I try to tie it to "bad franchise turns things around when things look bleak" to tie it to the Jets.

[ljr]

2 hours ago, TuscanyTile2 said:

In what way?  My post discusses the Miracle at the Meadowlands and I try to tie it to "bad franchise turns things around when things look bleak" to tie it to the Jets.

You good man ... It was very late last night ... My mind saw "Monday Night" at the beginning of your topic.  SOrry brother, removed my comment 

[Kolchak]

Pete Rozelle changed the way they do business.  Has a commissioner done anything like that for other teams?

[MaxAF]

I have to say that I’ve tried to stay positive over the last few years going into the season but always had that feeling that the seasons would eventually be a sh*t show....and they were. For the first time in a long, long time I believe the Jets are making good moves and have a QB with talent, a cool head and a desire to learn and be great. Out of the 4 QBs in last years draft I would take Darnold over the others in a heartbeat. He struggled last year for many reasons, not just because he was a rookie. I hoping this is the turning point in the franchise where I’m not saying SOJ for a change. The pieces are coming together on both sides of the ball and from a coaching perspective as well. The schedule is not an easy road this year. Should be a good test to determine if the Jets have turned the corner and going in the right direction. No more QB preseason dramas, Skrine is gone. Mac who I didn’t particularly care for seems to be making some good moves. I think Williams will dial up a nasty D. The pieces are coming together.

[TuscanyTile2]

16 minutes ago, MaxAF said:

I have to say that I’ve tried to stay positive over the last few years going into the season but always had that feeling that the seasons would eventually be a sh*t show....and they were. For the first time in a long, long time I believe the Jets are making good moves and have a QB with talent, a cool head and a desire to learn and be great. Out of the 4 QBs in last years draft I would take Darnold over the others in a heartbeat. He struggled last year for many reasons, not just because he was a rookie. I hoping this is the turning point in the franchise where I’m not saying SOJ for a change. The pieces are coming together on both sides of the ball and from a coaching perspective as well. The schedule is not an easy road this year. Should be a good test to determine if the Jets have turned the corner and going in the right direction. No more QB preseason dramas, Skrine is gone. Mac who I didn’t particularly care for seems to be making some good moves. I think Williams will dial up a nasty D. The pieces are coming together.

Agreed on L-Dubs.  I think Macc's best signing was that Ravens' LB Mosely.  Now we've got real players on all levels of the defense.  If we can get a nice trade back for our 1st rounder we can fill in some offensive pieces and get some extra picks for next year too.   This is one of the rare times where I think things have a chance to fall into place for this franchise.  Hopefully Macc/Gase are the ones to make it happen.  (Gase seems like a psycho to me but I'll judge him based on W's and L's and T's).