You're probably already familiar with DeSean Jackson's heroics against the New York Giants to cap off an incredible 21 point comeback in the fourth quarter and a 38-31 victory for the Philadelphia Eagles. But do you know that this isn't the first time a Cal Bear for the Eagles has made things happen against the Giants in bizarre fashion? Tony of Alameda County let the New York Times NFL Fifth Down Blog know about the connection.
Strange and Amazing Coincidence: Both Herman Edwards and DeSean Jackson went to the University of California at Berkeley. What is it with Cal alums pulling off weird last second TD’s against bone-headed decisions on the part of Giants? As a former NFL QB and Cal football head coach said: "The Bear will not quit! The Bear will not die!"
So how did Edwards play to win the game? Let's take the hot tub time machine back to November 19, 1978, and the first Miracle of the Meadowlands.
The Giants were up 17-12 with the ball in the final seconds, and the Eagles had no more timeouts. New York had kneeled down on the previous snap, and seemed like they would kneel down again to run the clock out. But apparently Giants offensive coordinator Bob Gibson despised the kneel down play, and called for a running play to Larry Csonka for quarterback Bob Piscarak to execute to run out the clock. Csonka wanted no part of it, and told Piscarak he wouldn't run the play if he did it; Coach John McVay also didn't know about his play because his headphones were malfunctioning.
What happened next will go down in football infamy.
MMI (via dmorman)
On that day, Herm Edwards, much like Jackson, did indeed play to win the game.