The New York Giants have been a franchise that has primarily spent their best years leaning on strong defenses, all while above-average quarterbacks like Eli Manning and Phil Simms play steady under center. However, there have been plenty of times when the Giants' passing offense has been wretched.
Between the recent poor run of form the franchise has been through and the black hole of offensive talent that was the post-Parcells 1990s, the Giants have played host to some poor quarterback play.
Giants fans of a certain age will remember tearing their hair out watching Joe Pisarcik play quarterback. Pisarcik had the perfect bad quarterback trifecta. He was unwatchably bad, led the team to one of the worst records in the league, and has his name forever attached to one of the worst plays in NFL history.
Joe Pisarcik is the worst QB in New York Giants history
Pisarcik didn't exactly come to the Giants with a ton of fanfare. After a fairly anonymous career at New Mexico State, the skinny signal-caller got his start at the professional level in a three-season stint in Canada with the Calgary Stampeders. Pisarcik wasn't even good in Canada, throwing more interceptions (27) than touchdowns (25) up north.
In 1977, Pisarcik somehow managed to catch the eye of a Giants team that was circling the drain at the moment. Bill Arnsparger was just fired after his teams threw 20 touchdowns and 35 interceptions over the last two seasons, which made the Giants one of the worst scoring teams in the league.
Competing with 12th-round pick Jerry Golsteyn (who threw two touchdowns and 13 interceptions in his pro career), Pisarcik was named the starting quarterback. Things were so wretched under John McVay that the passing offense somehow got worse. New York threw just six touchdowns and 22 interceptions in the 1977 season, with Pisarcik contributing four touchdown passes and 14 interceptions.
Joe Pisarcik is responsible for the Miracle At The Meadowlands
Pisarcik started 12 of the Giants' 16 games in a 6-10 season in 1978, throwing just 12 touchdowns against 23 interceptions. Playing that poorly was one thing, but Pisarick's NFL career was forever doomed to infamy in the coming days was his involvement in the "Miracle At The Meadowlands."
Pisarcik's Giants were up 17-12 against the rival Philadelphia Eagles. At a time before the quarterback kneel at the end of games was regarded as commonplace, the Giants called a run for fullback Larry Csonka (which Pisarcik swears up and down was against what he wanted to do).
In the exchange, Pisarcik bobbled the snap, fumbling the ball right into the waiting arms of Eagles cornerback Herm Edwards. The future Jets coach ran the ball back for a touchdown, giving the Eagles the win and giving Pisarcik a moment that he would never live down as a quarterback.
Pisarcik lost all four of his starts in 1979, losing his starting job to Simms. In his Giants career, Pisarcik completed just 44.5% of his passes, throwing 18 touchdowns against a staggering 43 interceptions. Pisarcik would be traded to the Eagles in 1980, and he would spend the next five seasons with them as a backup.
Pisarcik was an unimpressive small-school quarterback who didn't have the accuracy or in-game awareness to dig the Giants out of the hole they were stuck in for most of the 1970s. At least he was bad enough to help them land Simms.