02/07/2025
Did you know…
That the “quarterback kneel” was made popular after the Eagles beat the Giants at The Meadowlands in 1978?
The Miracle at the Meadowlands was a fumble recovery by cornerback Herman Edwards of the Eagles that he returned for a touchdown. After quarterback Joe Pisarcik botched an attempt to hand off the football, Edwards picked up the fumble and ran 26 yards for the winning touchdown. It is considered miraculous because the Giants were ahead 17–12 and could easily have run out the final seconds, since they had the ball and the Eagles had no timeouts left.
Thereafter, the “quarterback kneel” (aka taking a knee, genuflect offense, kneel-down offense, or victory formation) spread rapidly throughout football at nearly all levels, as coaches sought to adopt a procedure for downing the ball in the final seconds which would reduce the risk of turnovers to the absolute minimum possible. Within a season or so, it had become nearly universal.
