1978 Steelers 21 vs Seahawks 10

[mcmillenandwife]

> 1978 Steelers 21 vs Seahawks 10

After a scoreless opening quarter (thanks in part to a case of drop-itis by Steeler receivers), Pittsburgh opens up a 14-0 lead in the 2nd quarter on a pair of Bradshaw TD passes, a 4-yd dart to Swann and a 15-yd strike to a WIDE open Sidney Thornton.

The Steel Curtain applies steady pressure all afternoon, sacking Zorn 4 times (2 by a seemingly unstoppable L.C. Greenwood) and forcing several turnovers. John Banaszak forces a fumble at midfield (recovered by Jack Lambert) to set up Pittsburgh's first score. Lambert later adds a decisive INT while Jack Ham forces (and recovers) a fumble.

Despite being overmatched, Seattle's potent young offense -- led by Jim Zorn and Steve Largent -- keeps fighting and narrows the score to 14-10 early in the 3rd quarter. The Steelers seem a bit sluggish at times, falling victim to their own mental errors throughout the day and leaving a lot of potential points on the field with empty red zone trips.

But Pittsburgh ultimately wakes up and puts the game away with an impressive marathon 16-play, 75-yd TD drive capped by a Harris TD on 4th and goal (several minutes of this drive are missing), and the Steel Curtain closes out the win by forcing Seattle turnovers on their final two drives.

[steelerkraut]

The Video link goes to the Bills game, rather than the Seahawks game.

[mcmillenandwife]

The Video link goes to the Bills game, rather than the Seahawks game.

Thanks, Kraut! All fixed now.

I knew you'd be watching this match-up right out of the gate.

[Guest]

Just watched the first half right now. Greene played really well. So did Lambert and Banazak. Seattles secondary was good. Looks like some plays are missing. Any idea where those missing plays went Tim?

[mcmillenandwife]

Looks like some plays are missing. Any idea where those missing plays went Tim?

Well... sometimes when you pause between commercials to try to save videotape (which was very expensive in 1978), you forget to un-pause.  It happens. 

[Guest]

Doh! I fould a pdf of the game chart of this game and it looks like seattle successfully onside kicks after their td score. Ham gets a sack apparently which was rare for him.

[Guest]

Finished second half. LC was a monster. Best player on defense this day. Ham's coverage tackle and strip was amazing, what a player. Amazed at what seattle's secondary was doing out there. Close coverage on almost every play.

[mcmillenandwife]

Finished second half. LC was a monster. Best player on defense this day. Ham's coverage tackle and strip was amazing, what a player. Amazed at what seattle's secondary was doing out there. Close coverage on almost every play.

True, 'dat! L.C. (RIP) belongs in the Hall of Fame. 

[Guest]

A fascinating matchup considering the Seahawks would find their sea legs (no pun intended) after this game.

This game put them at 0-2, but finished 7-7 the rest of the season.

Seattle was a surprise that year (they only scored 11 fewer points than Pittsburgh that season) and was a tough out in the rough AFC West.

Clearly they weren't on Pittsburgh' level on this day, but young teams like Seattle usually got their teeth kicked in before they figured things out over their remaining 14 games.

Pittsburgh taught them a football lesson that day and they took that to mind as they were the surprise team of '78

[Crash]

Well... sometimes when you pause between commercials to try to save videotape (which was very expensive in 1978), you forget to un-pause.  It happens. 

Our first VCR (RCA) had a remote for pausing but it wasn't wireless.  Just had one clicker to pause and not pause.  

Tapes were expensive back then.  My Dad passed up a SB trip to XIII to buy that VCR.

[JimmyCooper49]

This was a very entertaining game. If the Seahawks were just a couple years more experienced the Steelers may have been in trouble. But as the late John Facenda once said an opposing team would have to play a nearly superhuman level of football to even have a chance of beating the Steelers

[Garrett Garlits]

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

Also, note the tone of Harry Kalas' narration. If it sounds disrespectful, don't forget that the Steelers had started 1-4 in '76 before the Steel Curtain carried them the rest of the way, and also that the '77 team had barely finished above .500 and been put away rather easily by Denver in the playoffs. This wasn't the team universally acknowledged as one of the top five in NFL history to this day, at least not yet.

[Garrett Garlits]

Just a reminder that there are highlights from This Week in Pro Football for Steelers-Bengals Week 3, plus part of an episode of NFL Game of the Week. (I believe the other part was Falcons-Browns.)