1978 AFC Championship Steelers 34 vs Oilers 5

[mcmillenandwife]

> 1978 AFC Championship Steelers 34 vs Oilers 5 - w/Gowdy & Brodie
> 1978 AFC Championship Steelers 34 vs Oilers 5 - w/Nelson & Kelly

The Steelers absolutely DESTROY the shell-shocked Oilers in TERRIBLE weather at Three Rivers Stadium in one of my favorite games ever.

Pittsburgh acclimates to the cold, steady rain right from the start, driving for TDs twice in the first quarter with Harris and Bleier scoring the points. The score is 14-3 as halftime approaches when suddenly, within the last 48 seconds of the first half, the Steelers explode for 17 points in a stunning display of power.

First, Bradshaw hits Swann in double coverage with a perfect 29-yard rainbow for a TD to run the score to 21-3. The Oilers fumble away the ensuing kickoff, and Bradshaw immediately fires a laser to Stallworth on a crossing route for another score. After the kickoff, Houston fumbles again on the first play from scrimmage and the Steelers add a Gerela FG before halftime for an insurmountable 31-3 lead.

Bradshaw (11 of 19, 200 yds, 2 TD), Swann (4 catches, 98 yds, 1 TD) & Ham (1 INT, 1 sack, 2 fumble recoveries) are spectacular, but the incredible play of Pittsburgh's offensive line is the key to the game. While Bradshaw has all day in the pocket (0 sacks), the Steel Curtain absolutely swarms Pastorini, sacking him 4 times and intercepting him 5 times while completely neutralizing the great Earl Campbell (62 yds and 3 fumbles on 22 carries). By game's end, the teams combine for 12 fumbles and 14 turnovers in the icy soup as the Steelers slip 'n slide their way to their 3rd Super Bowl.

Lots of pregame and postgame footage including previews of title games, a feature on Lance Alworth, a story about Joe Greene and Lynn Swann giving the Oilers briefcases for beating the Bengals, updates on John Madden's retirement from coaching and Bill Walsh's impending hire by the 49ers. At halftime, an excellent piece on the Immaculate Reception plus scores and highlights. After the game, lots of player interviews and more highlights from NBC and WTAE-TV.

Note: There are two different versions of this game, both have outstanding video quality. The first is the complete NBC broadcast (including pregame, halftime show and postgame) with Curt Gowdy and John Brodie calling the game. The second is the NBC TV broadcast of the game with the CBS radio call from Lindsey Nelson and Jim Kelly dubbed in.

[Guest]

The Bradshaw hydroplane action at 63:20! 11 yard run + 8 yard slide. Awesome sauce!

[Guest]

What a great game in rough conditions.  Bradshaw didn't let the weather bother him though and was great as usual.  Thanks for putting these games up.  It is great to hear Curt Gowdy call the Steel Curtain games!

S.

[Crash]

Best part about these old games is that they are local Pittsburgh channels and you sometimes get some of the local news after with it.

Thanks Tim!

[mcmillenandwife]

Best part about these old games is that they are local Pittsburgh channels and you sometimes get some of the local news after with it.

Thanks Tim!

You're welcome, Crash! Yes, a few of the games have some really great "bonus" coverage. Love that extra stuff!

[mcmillenandwife]

What a great game in rough conditions.  Bradshaw didn't let the weather bother him though and was great as usual.  Thanks for putting these games up.  It is great to hear Curt Gowdy call the Steel Curtain games!

S.

Glad you're enjoying the games, my friend. Agreed, Bradshaw was simply fantastic in bad weather as his career progressed. Crazy good! That pass to Swann just before the half (at the 94:09 mark)... it's so flippin' perfect. Perfect spiral, perfect touch, right on the money, off his back foot, over double coverage. How is it possible to throw the ball like that in the best of conditions, let alone in that freezing mess they were sliding around in???

[Guest]

This is prolly my favorite classic Steelers 70's game. Love it

[mcmillenandwife]

This is prolly my favorite classic Steelers 70's game.  Love it

It's in my top 3 as well. Absolutely love this game.    I just remember the absolute JOY I felt as a 10-year old kid at the end of that crazy first half, knowing we were going back to the Super Bowl. Just running around, whooping and hollering and jumping up and down. Great memories.

[Guest]

I think the Steelers' memory of the '75 AFC Championship against the Raiders really prepared them for this game. I mean, the Oilers were a fine team, but they were not the Raiders. Pittsburgh almost seemed to take a sadistic pleasure in this match, showing the Oilers that they had no experience in such a big game played in such tough conditions. No problem -- I'm from Pittsburgh, so it doesn't bother me. But my sympathies do go out to Houston just a tiny little bit. They just had no idea of what they were walking into.

[mcmillenandwife]

I think the Steelers' memory of the '75 AFC Championship against the Raiders really prepared them for this game. I mean, the Oilers were a fine team, but they were not the Raiders. Pittsburgh almost seemed to take a sadistic pleasure in this match, showing the Oilers that they had no experience in such a big game played in such tough conditions. No problem -- I'm from Pittsburgh, so it doesn't bother me. But my sympathies do go out to Houston just a tiny little bit. They just had no idea of what they were walking into.

  LOL. Kick their @$$, pat them on the head and send them home. "Nice try, small fry." 


The Oilers of the '70s were my second favorite team and Earl Campbell remains my favorite RB ever, which made these games even more awesome for me. I grew to hate the Oilers once Bum and Earl were gone and jerks like Pardee, Moon and especially Jerry Glanville came to town. The downfall started when Stabler (hated), Casper (hated) and Tatum (REALLY HATED) came from Oakland in 1980. Didn't make them better and screwed up the team chemistry. 

Anyway, I'm with you on feeling a little sorry for Houston. They were a Super Bowl caliber team by 1979. Tough, physical, played well together as a team. If not for the Steelers, I'm confident they would've won a Lombardi.

[Crash]

I remember this game as if it were yesterday. Where I was, who we were with, etc. I was 8.

When it comes to Pittsburgh sports in general? My brother nick named me "Rain Man".

[Guest]

do you have the entire network broadcasts of superbowls x andxiii the two great cowboys steeler superbowls ,im sure other fans would love to see them also.

[mcmillenandwife]

do you have the entire network broadcasts of superbowls x andxiii the two great cowboys steeler superbowls ,im sure other fans would love to see them also.

Yes, search through the game menu and you can see what games we have. 

Here are direct links to the Super Bowls you asked about:

Super Bowl X Steelers 21 vs Cowboys 17

Super Bowl XIII Steelers 35 vs Cowboys 31

Enjoy!

[Guest]

17 points in 48 seconds!

[Garrett Garlits]

There are a ton of features and interviews in this one:

Pregame- Previews of both the AFC and NFC title games, a feature on Lance Alworth's induction into the Hall of Fame (he was the first AFL player to be inducted), and Mike Adamle looking like a frozen drowned rat on the field at Three Rivers. The story about Joe Greene and Lynn Swann giving the Oilers briefcases for beating the Bengals the year before and giving the Steelers the AFC Central is priceless (and probably against NFL rules today). Also, updates on John Madden's retirement from coaching and Bill Walsh's impending hire by the 49ers.

Halftime- An excellent piece on the Immaculate Reception, plus scores and highlights.

Postgame- Mike Adamle in the Steelers locker room, and Merlin Olsen briefly interviewing Dan Pastorini, who correctly predicts that the Steelers will win Super Bowl XIII. More highlights from both NBC and WTAE-TV, and we close with a Myron Cope commentary on why Oilers tight end Mike Barber should have kept his mouth shut about being hit by Mike Wagner.

How young Bill Hillgrove looks here, and he's about to celebrate his twenty-fourth year as the voice of the Steelers.

[mcmillenandwife]

Thanks, Garrett! 

[Garrett Garlits]

Don't forget, there are bonus highlights from This Week in Pro Football on the left side of the game description!

[Vaughn_Doofus]

This is one of my favorite games. Thanks for the first high-quality video I've seen of this game.

[mcmillenandwife]

This is one of my favorite games.  Thanks for the first high-quality video I've seen of this game.

You're very welcome! It's one of my absolute favs as well. That team was absolutely PEAKING. The '78 post-season games on this site were recorded from the original BETA masters. Top notch.

BTW, we just got a pretty decent upgrade of the '78 blizzard game vs. the Colts. Not as crisp as these '78 post-season games, but definitely the best version I've seen of that amazing blizzard game.

[kraftsus@rocketmail.com]

How do I watch these games?  I keep seeing a message that says "Sorry  This video does not exist."

[mcmillenandwife]

How do I watch these games?  I keep seeing a message that says "Sorry  This video does not exist."

Problem solved, my friend. We're gradually getting our games back up online.

[Steelhead70's]

IMO, aside from Earl Campbell, who would have started on any team ever in history, there were only four players in the '70's that might have looked good in black and gold, three of them Oilers; Elvin Bethea, Curly Culp and mostly Robert Brazile, who would have filled the hole nicely left by Russell. Dave Casper would have looked good at tight end, but Cunningham and Grossman satisfied me enough, plus I hated Casper. They had more trouble covering him than any receiver they played against.
I'm not saying Culp or Bethea would have started.

That's it! No Dolphin, no Cowboy, no other OL, no one else. No one for Rocky, his heart and soul were indispensable and irreplaceable. No player was ever any greater sum of their parts (skills) than the Rock!

Just my $0.02 worth.

Oh yeah, shades of the Maulers opening home game, Earl takes a snowball to the back, pregame after Donnie Shell walks way(NFLGOTW)!

[mcmillenandwife]

IMO, aside from Earl Campbell, who would have started on any team ever in history, there were only four players in the '70's that might have looked good in black and gold, three of them Oilers; Elvin Bethea, Curly Culp and mostly Robert Brazile, who would have filled the hole nicely left by Russell. Dave Casper would have looked good at tight end, but Cunningham and Grossman satisfied me enough, plus I hated Casper.  They had more trouble covering him than any receiver they played against.
I'm not saying Culp or Bethea would have started.

That's it!  No Dolphin, no Cowboy, no other OL, no one else. No one for Rocky, his heart and soul were indispensable and  irreplaceable. No player was ever any greater sum of their parts (skills) than the Rock!

Just my $0.02 worth.

Oh yeah, shades of the Maulers opening home game, Earl takes a snowball to the back, pregame after Donnie Shell walks way(NFLGOTW)!

Earl remains my favorite RB of all time.  Best "big back" ever IMO. 

Hard to argue with Bethea, Culp and and Brazile. I enjoyed Ken Burrough, Mike Barber (although he hated Mike Wagner) and Rob Carpenter, too. I loved the Oilers of '78-'79. Second favorite team at that time, only to the Steelers. A distant second, make no mistake. But I enjoyed everything about those teams. (FWIW, Seattle was one of my favorites as well, almost as much as Houston). 

As for Casper... #%&$ him.  Dude will always be a #%&$-ing Raider as far as I'm concerned. 

The Oilers were ruined for me in 1980 when they swapped Pastorini for flippin' STABLER, for crying out loud!!!   And then to add Casper and f-ing Jack Tatum???   No thanks. Buh-bye, Oilers. I now hate you. 

[Rollers]

Man I hated the Oilers. This was the one of the best games ever in my opinion

[Rollers]

rocky bleir was a pretty good running back

[mcmillenandwife]

rocky bleir was a pretty good running back

 
He sure was. So underrated outside Pittsburgh. 

Good runner... amazing blocker. Great at picking up blitzes. Final S.B. X TD pass to Swann never happens if not for Bleier wiping out Cliff Harris on a blitz. 


Go to the 2:26 mark---> Rocky Wipes Out Cliff Harris in Super Bowl X

[mcmillenandwife]

> 1978 AFC Championship Steelers 34 vs Oilers 5 - w/Nelson & Kelly

I was finally able to painstakingly dub the recording of the NBC TV broadcast of the 1978 AFC Championship (Steelers vs Oilers) with the radio call of legendary CBS broadcaster Lindsey Nelson with Jim Kelly.

Curt Gowdy and John Brodie did an outstanding job calling this game, but I always appreciate radio broadcasters for the different approach they take to describing the action.

This game has been impossible to post on YouTube. It immediately gets blocked worldwide every time. I was hoping changing the audio might defeat their algorithm, but no such luck. ? Oh, well. At least we can still share it here. Enjoy!

[Garrett Garlits]

Can't wait to dive into the radio merge for this game. I heard the first minute or so. and Lindsey's nickname of "Five Rivers Stadium" fit beautifully that day!

Did we get anything else from Doug in the way of radio broadcasts from Doug that may turn into merges in the coming days, or just plain radio broadcasts, for that matter?

[mcmillenandwife]

Can't wait to dive into the radio merge for this game. I heard the first minute or so. and Lindsey's nickname of "Five Rivers Stadium" fit beautifully that day!

Did we get anything else from Doug in the way of radio broadcasts from Doug that may turn into merges in the coming days, or just plain radio broadcasts, for that matter?

Doug has indeed provided some other radio broadcasts (you'll see them under "coming soon" on the MP4 page), some of which I can merge with video.

I'm doing all the merges. This game literally took 5+ hours over the course of several days to get synced up, although I'm getting better at it. It's totally manual and I have to make dozens and dozens of adjustments because tape speeds shift, video or audio portions are missing (or need cut out). It's a pain... but worth it, I think.

I'll be adding Cope and Hillgrove to SB IX, the '74 and '75 AFCC games. But again... it takes time.

[Garrett Garlits]

Thanks a lot, Tim. Take all the time you need and do the best you can. I love what I've seen of your dubs so far (the Colts playoff game from '76 and the first quarter of Super Bowl X).

I'm sure you mean Cope and Fleming (although Hillgrove was around back then, as we see on the Gowdy/Brodie/Olsen version of the AFC Championship from '78).