1978 Washington Redskins season

1978 Washington Redskins season
Owner	Edward Bennett Williams
President	Edward Bennett Williams
General manager	Bobby Beathard
Head coach	Jack Pardee
Offensive coordinator	Joe Walton
Defensive coordinator	Doc Urich
Home field	RFK Stadium
Results
Record	8–8
Division place	3rd NFC East
Playoff finish	Did not qualify

The 1978 Washington Redskins season was the franchise's 47th season in the National Football League (NFL) and their 42nd in Washington, D.C. The team failed to improve on their 9–5 record from 1977, finishing 8-8.

This was the first of Jack Pardee's three seasons as head coach of the Redskins. This was also the first season in which the NFL expanded from a 14-game season to a 16-game schedule. The Redskins started the season 6-0 and got to 8-3, but ended the season with a five-game losing streak and missed the playoffs. The losing streak began with a loss to a Cardinals team which had started 0-8. The Cardinals would not win again at RFK Stadium until 1993, their sixth season in Arizona. Quarterback Billy Kilmer, who served as backup to Joe Theismann, retired following the season.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Main article: 1978 NFL draft

1978 Washington Redskins Draft

Round	Selection	Player	Position	College
6	159	Tony Green	RB	Florida
8	202	Walker Lee	WR	North Carolina
8	219	Don Hover	LB	Washington State
9	243	John Hurley	QB	Santa Clara[d]
10	270	Scott Hertenstein	DE	Azusa Pacific
11	297	Mike Williams	DB	Texas A&M
12	324	Steve McCabe	G	Bowdoin

Roster

1978 Washington Redskins roster

	Quarterbacks 17 Billy Kilmer 7 Joe Theismann Running backs 34 Tony Green 38 Clarence Harmon 25 Benny Malone 44 John Riggins 22 Mike Thomas Wide receivers 83 Ricky Thompson 86 John McDaniel 88 Danny Buggs Tight ends 84 Jean Fugett 89 Reggie Haynes		Offensive linemen 66 Ted Fritsch C 68 Jim Harlan T 75 Terry Hermeling T 54 Bob Kuziel C 62 Dan Nugent G 64 Ron Saul G 74 George Starke T 73 Jeff Williams T Defensive linemen 80 Coy Bacon DE 69 Perry Brooks DT 65 Dave Butz DT 82 Dallas Hickman DE 71 Karl Lorch DE 79 Ron McDole DE 72 Diron Talbert DT		Linebackers 32 Mike Curtis RLB 59 Brad Dusek LLB 55 Chris Hanburger RLB 58 Don Hover 53 Harold McLinton MLB 50 Pete Wysocki Defensive backs 27 Ken Houston SS 20 Joe Lavender 24 Lemar Parrish CB 13 Jake Scott FS 45 Gerard Williams CB Special teams 81 Terry Anderson PR 4 Mike Bragg P 3 Mark Moseley K		Reserve lists 36 Eddie Moss RB (IRTooltip Injured reserve) -- Chuck Rodgers DB (IRTooltip Injured reserve) Practice squad Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 3	at New England Patriots	W 16–14	1–0	Schaefer Stadium	55,037	Recap
2	September 10	Philadelphia Eagles	W 35–30	2–0	RFK Stadium	54,380	Recap
3	September 17	at St. Louis Cardinals	W 28–10	3–0	Busch Memorial Stadium	49,282	Recap
4	September 24	New York Jets	W 23–3	4–0	RFK Stadium	54,729	Recap
5	October 2	Dallas Cowboys	W 9–5	5–0	RFK Stadium	55,031	Recap
6	October 8	at Detroit Lions	W 21–19	6–0	Pontiac Silverdome	60,555	Recap
7	October 15	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 10–17	6–1	Veterans Stadium	65,722	Recap
8	October 22	at New York Giants	L 6–17	6–2	Giants Stadium	76,192	Recap
9	October 29	San Francisco 49ers	W 38–20	7–2	RFK Stadium	53,706	Recap
10	November 6	at Baltimore Colts	L 17–21	7–3	Memorial Stadium	57,631	Recap
11	November 12	New York Giants	W 16–13	8–3	RFK Stadium	53,271	Recap
12	November 19	St. Louis Cardinals	L 17–27	8–4	RFK Stadium	52,460	Recap
13	November 23	at Dallas Cowboys	L 10–37	8–5	Texas Stadium	64,905	Recap
14	December 3	Miami Dolphins	L 0–16	8–6	RFK Stadium	52,860	Recap
15	December 10	at Atlanta Falcons	L 17–20	8–7	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	54,178	Recap
16	December 16	Chicago Bears	L 10–14	8–8	RFK Stadium	49,774	Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Week 2

• Referee: Fred Silva
• TV Network: CBS
• Announcers: Lindsey Nelson, Paul Hornung, Roman Gabriel

It was an exciting contest, and the fireworks began early as the Eagles' Wilbert Montgomery opened the scoring with a great 34-yard touchdown run in the first period, but back came the Redskins as Joe Theismann who was to have another good game scores from the 4 to even the game. But the Eagles came back as a field goal by Nick Mike-Mayer from 32, but then it was the Redskins offensive show as the Redskins scored 21 unanswered points to take a commanding 28-10 lead. For the day Theismann passed for 226 yards and 3 touchdown passes. Then both teams traded touchdowns to make it a 35-16, the last one was a flea flicker touchdown pass from 37 yards from Joe Theismann to Jean Fugett. But back came the Eagles who in the 3rd year of the Dick Vermeil era became a competitive team. Just after the Skins scored the Eagles came back as Montgomery first scored from 8 yards and then on the next possession scored from 5 yards. The Eagles also drove deep as Montgomery scored form 5 yards but was brought back due to a holding penalty and on the next play Mike Curtis intercept a Ron Jaworski pass ending the drive and with it the Redskins come away with a win and sole possession of first place in the NFC East.

Week 5

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Cowboys (3-2)	0	0	3	2	5
Redskins (5-0)	3	3	3	0	9

at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

• Date: Monday, October 2
• Game time: 9:00 p.m.(et)
• Game weather: 68 degrees, relative humidity 58, round(wind) 13 mph
• Referee: Gene Barth
• TV announcers (ABC): Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell and Don Meredith
• [1]

Standings

NFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Dallas Cowboys(2)	12	4	0	.750	7–1	9–3	384	208	W6
Philadelphia Eagles(5)	9	7	0	.563	4–4	6–6	270	250	W1
Washington Redskins	8	8	0	.500	4–4	6–6	273	283	L5
St. Louis Cardinals	6	10	0	.375	3–5	6–6	248	296	W1
New York Giants	6	10	0	.375	2–6	5–9	264	298	L1