Playing their archrival Philadelphia Eagles, the Giants were leading 17–12 and had possession of the ball with only 30 seconds left.[3] They had only to kneel the ball to end the game, as the Eagles had no timeouts.[3] Gibson ordered Giants quarterback Joe Pisarcik to run play "Brown right, near wing, 65 slant",[4] which called for Pisarcik to hand the ball off to fullbackLarry Csonka. The handoff was botched and Eagles cornerbackHerman Edwards picked up the loose ball and ran in for the game-winning score.[3]
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' centerJim 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.
With angry Giants fans demanding someone be held responsible for the debacle, owner Wellington Mara and operations director Andy Robustelli met and decided Gibson had to go. He was fired the next morning.[1] So great was the stigma of having called the play that he never worked in football at any level again.[5] He refused to speak about the incident up until his death in 2015; when ESPN reached him by phone in 2008, he said, "I haven't talked about the game for 30 years, and I'm not about to start now."[6]
Gibson left New York and opened a bait shop and general store on Florida's Sanibel Island, where he raised cattle on his ranch. Gibson still stayed in contact with McVay and another member of the 1978 staff, Lindy Infante, but otherwise largely moved on from his time in the NFL.[1] Gibson died at age 88 on April 10, 2015.[7]
