Quarterback
No. 9
New Mexico State
"'I'm very big in Calgary,' he says. That's where he played for almost three seasons in the Canadian League. Pisarcik was a free agent who started as the Giants' No. 5 quarterback in summer camp a year, but by the fourth regular-season game had won the starting job.
Pisarcik would prefer showing off his arm more than his coaches allow. Born in Kingsport, Pa., he went to New Mexico State 'because they had a pro-style offense, and I wanted to be a pro.' He has none of the doubts about his talent that others may have.
He lives off-season in Fort Lauderdale. 'Do you know many bikinis and belly-buttons there are down there?' he asks."
-John Jeansonne, The Complete Handbook of Pro Football (1978 Edition)
"One of the NFL's most outstanding rookies of 1977, Joe was rewarded with selection as the quarterback on the all-rookie team last season. A three-year starter for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League, he has a powerful arm. Joe worked with the Giants during the club's spring trip to Mexico City in 1977."
-1978 Topps No. 7
JOE PISARCIK: READY WHEN LUCK CAME CALLING
The Giants QB Went From Fifth-String To First Team In '77 And Looks To Stay No. 1 In '78
"The young autograph-seeker looked over his latest treasure and exclaimed, 'Joe Pisarcik! Wow!'
Just a year ago, however, the reaction would have been, 'Joe Pisarcik? Who?'
'I think back to it sometimes, how it was then,' says the Giants No. 1 quarterback. 'It reminds me I have to work just as hard if not harder this year to stay where I got last year.'
Pisarcik's meteoric rise from No. 5 to No. 1 has been chronicled many times. Certainly, the climb was partially by default as well as by Pisarcik's design. But the 26-year-old former Canadian Football League quarterback can't deny his life has changed immeasurably in the past 12 months.
'I got to play in a lot of celebrity golf tournaments in the off-season,' he says. 'People know who I am. Last year nobody knew me, and I didn't have an American Express card.'
Only three quarterbacks populated the training camp as compared to the five who clogged things a year ago. Pisarcik was the fifth man during last year's preseason, as the team prepared for its first exhibition game.
'We never really talked about cutting him, but let's just say he didn't figure in our plans,' says Bob Gibson, the offensive coordinator.
'I'd go three or four days sometimes without really getting to practice,' Pisarcik recalls. 'I'd just kind of stand around and watch the other guys. It was very frustrating because I knew what I could do if I just got the chance.'
That's where the default helped out. First Dennis Shaw failed miserably in the first exhibition game. Steve Ramsey, acquired from Denver in the Craig Morton deal, couldn't shed his excess weight. Randy Dean was green. Finally, Jerry Goldsteyn just couldn't stand up behind a porous offensive line.
'Funny thing is I never considered myself competing with any of those guys,' Pisarcik says. 'I almost considered it to be competing with myself. If you compete against another guy, you may be satisfied with performing one level higher than he is. You may never reach your potential if you're always satisfied just doing a little better than the other guy.'
Pisarcik's first big break came in that initial exhibition game when Goldsteyn was battered. Paterson Plank Joe was tossed into fourth-period action without any warmups. He completed his first pass, out of his own end zone, on a play run from the wrong formation.
The next big step came in the Buffalo exhibition game, which Pisarcik pulled out with his passing. Finally, when Goldsteyn withered under Atlanta's pressure, Pisarcik was given the starting job.
At first it appeared to be nothing more than a move to save Goldsteyn's life. Pisarcik was the buffer, the man who would take the punishment until the line was strong enough to protect the pocket-passing Goldsteyn. But as the season progressed, Paterson Plank Joe changed some coaching opinions.
'He may not have the greatest natural ability in the world, but he's tough mentally and physically,' says Gibson. 'He works hard and eventually will play as well as he can.
'He's far advanced from what he was a year ago in his knowledge and techniques. He hasn't been throwing the ball as well he did as last year, but that will come with work. Joe's not your picture quarterback, and he may never be a great one. But he'll give it everything he's got.'
Pisarcik was sometimes at odds with the coaches last year. He wanted to call his own plays. He wanted to open up the attack. This time he won't get his first wish, but he may get his second.
'We've got more formations and looks this year,' Pisarcik says of the implementation of the man-in-motion plays in Dallas. 'It will make the opposing defenses think a little more about us and not just sit back and work on the same keys every week.
'If we can score a touchdown, maybe 10 points a game in the first period, we'll make the playoffs. If we can get a lead and really let our defense go to work, we'll beat some people. Believe me, I know how good our defense can be. I work against it every day.'
This summer he worked against it every day. Last summer Pisarcik knew of the Giant defense only from what he read in the papers or saw in training-camp films.
'I can't forget about it, but I've got so much going on for me now it's almost hard for me to imagine how it was last year,' Pisarcik says. 'All I knew was the Giants needed a quarterback, and there I was. Now, here I am.' "
-Vinny Ditrani, The Bergen County Record (Football Digest, November 1978)
