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1978 Washington Redskins season

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1978 Washington Redskins season
OwnerEdward Bennett Williams
PresidentEdward Bennett Williams
General managerBobby Beathard
Head coachJack Pardee
Offensive coordinatorJoe Walton
Defensive coordinatorDoc Urich
Home fieldRFK Stadium
Results
Record8–8
Division place3rd NFC East
Playoff finishDid 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

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NFL Draft

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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

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1978 Washington Redskins roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists


Practice squad



Rookies in italics

Regular season

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Schedule

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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

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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

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Period 1 2 34Total
Cowboys (3-2) 0 0 325
Redskins (5-0) 3 3 309

at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

Standings

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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

References

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