Flashback Friday: Eagles pull off another Miracle at the Meadowlands
For whatever reason, the Eagles have typically had the Giants number.
You just kind of have to throw records out of the window when rivalry games are on the schedule. The Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants are no different. Sure, the Giants have had more postseason success, hoisting the Lombardi Trophy four times in their history. The Eagles, on the other hand, have reached our great country’s biggest game, the Super Bowl, and have come up empty twice. Still, they just seem to always find a way against their rivals.
Just look back to November 19, 1978 for instance. In a game that will forever be known as the “Miracle at the Meadowlands”, the stars all aligned for Philadelphia. The scene was Giants Stadium. New York was ahead and quarterback Joe Pisarcik only needed to take the snap from center and kneel to preserve the victory as the Eagles had no timeouts. Instead, he attempted a hand off to Larry Csonka. It was botched, and Herm Edwards picked up the fumble and went 26 yards in the other direction for the game-winning touchdown. The Giants would fire their offensive coordinator the next day. Their head coach and general manager would be relieved of their command shortly thereafter.
Take a look for yourself by clicking here. Yes kids, that’s Herm Edwards from ESPN.
Lightning strikes twice.
Michael Vick‘s run with the Eagles won’t be remembered as one of the greatest runs in team history, but there were definitely some highlights. There were two games in particular. One was a six-touchdown game on Monday Night Football (seen below).
Video provided by the NFL’s official YouTube page
The other game will be etched in the minds of Eagles fans forever. On December 19, 2010, Vick led the Eagles into MetLife Stadium, and on a day where nothing went right for most of the afternoon, Philly was down 21 points with less than less than eight minutes to play. They flipped the switch and scored four touchdowns in the final seven minutes and 28 seconds, including the game-winning punt return by DeSean Jackson as time expired.
Take a look:
Video provided by the NFL’s official YouTube page
To make long stories short:
It bears repeating. Records don’t matter in rivalry games. Now, if the Eagles could just get over that final hump. They have three championships in their history. They just haven’t won a Super Bowl. At times, it appears the script calls for an Eagles victory over their rivals from New York. Then, the Giants will get so angry they’ll go win a championship. The first “miracle” launched a run where the Giants won two Super Bowls in ten years. As you know, Philly is still looking for that first Lombardi Trophy following the second “miracle”.
Next: 5 Eagles that could help win your fantasy league
Still, this will forever stand as one of the greatest games in team history, both because of what happened and, obviously, because of who they beat. By the way, life was great when there were offensive weapons all over the place, wasn’t it?