1978 Washington Redskins season

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.

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 stadium	RFK Stadium
Results
Record	8–8
Division place	3rd NFC East
Playoffs	Did not qualify
← 1977 Redskins seasons 1979 →

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

Personnel

Staff

1978 Washington Redskins staff

Front office Majority Owner / Vice President – Jack Kent Cooke Minority Owner / President – Edward Bennett Williams General manager – Bobby Beathard Executive assistant to the President – Bobby Mitchell Assistant general manager – Joel Margolis Assistant general manager – Dick Meyers Director of player personnel – C.A. Temerario Director of pro scouting – Kirk Mee Director of college scouting – Dick Daniels Scouts – Mike Faulkiner Head coaches Head Coach – Jack Pardee Special Assistant to Head Coach – Bob Bowser Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator – Joe Walton Running Backs – George Dickson Tight Ends / Wide Receivers – John Hilton Offensive Line – Ray Callahan

Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line – Doc Urich Linebackers – George Dickson Defensive Secondary – Richie Petitbon Special teams coaches Special Teams Coach – John Hilton

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Final roster

1978 Washington Redskins roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 17 Billy Kilmer 11 Kim McQuilken  7 Joe Theismann Running backs (RB) 30 Ike Forte 34 Tony Green 38 Clarence Harmon 25 Benny Malone 44 John Riggins 22 Mike Thomas Wide receivers (WR) 81 Terry Anderson 88 Danny Buggs 86 John McDaniel 83 Ricky Thompson Tight ends (TE) 84 Jean Fugett 89 Reggie Haynes

Offensive linemen (OL) 63 Fred Dean G 66 Ted Fritsch C 68 Jim Harlan T/G 75 Terry Hermeling T 54 Bob Kuziel C 62 Dan Nugent G 64 Ron Saul G 73 Jeff Williams T Defensive linemen (DL) 80 Coy Bacon DE 69 Perry Brooks DT 65 Dave Butz DT 76 Bob Heinz DT 82 Dallas Hickman DE 71 Karl Lorch DE 79 Ron McDole DE

Linebackers (LB) 32 Mike Curtis LB 59 Brad Dusek OLB 55 Chris Hanburger OLB 58 Don Hover MLB 53 Harold McLinton MLB 50 Pete Wysocki OLB Defensive backs (DB) 26 Don Harris SS 27 Ken Houston SS 20 Joe Lavender CB 29 Mark Murphy FS 24 Lemar Parrish CB 13 Jake Scott FS 45 Gerard Williams CB Special teams (ST)  4 Mike Bragg P  3 Mark Moseley K

Reserve 77 Bill Brundige DT (IR) 36 Eddie Moss RB (IR) -- Chuck Rodgers CB (IR) 74 George Starke T (IR) 72 Diron Talbert DT (IR) 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

Quarter	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

Standings

NFC East
view talk edit	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