Bob Gibson (football coach)

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Bob Gibson is a former American football coach who coached for the New York Giants in the National Football League (NFL). Gibson was the offensive coordinator who called the play that resulted in "The Miracle at the Meadowlands" in 1978. Playing their arch rival the Philadelphia Eagles the Giants were leading 17–12 and had possession of the ball with only 30 seconds left.^[1] They had only to kneel the ball to end the game, as the Eagles had no time outs.^[1] 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.^[1]

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.

Gibson was fired the next morning due to the furor over the call and never worked in football again.