1978 Detroit Lions: 7-9-0
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 5-3-0 (186 points scored, 132 allowed) Road record: 2-6-0 (104 points scored, 168 allowed) Head Coach: Monte Clark 290 points scored (13th of 28 teams), 300 points allowed (19th) NFL Averages: 18.3 points/game (293.3 points/team) Team stats and rankings: ---------------- PASSING ---------------- ----------- RUSHING ---------- --- TOTAL --- Cmp Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Int Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Yards (Rank) Turnovers Offense: 247 429 2,302 (19) 4.84 19 18 525 2,163 (17) 4.1 12 4,465 (21) 33 Defense: 191 350 2,299 ( 6) 5.68 19 22 565 2,184 (14) 3.9 18 4,483 ( 7) 41
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 1 Benny Ricardo K 16 5'10 175 24 2 San Diego State 11 Greg Landry QB 5 6'4 205 31 11 Massachusetts 14 Joe Reed QB 1 6'1 195 30 7 Mississippi State 15 Tom Skladany P 16 6'0 180 23 1 Ohio State 16 Gary Danielson QB 16 6'2 195 27 3 Purdue 21 Walt Williams DB 15 6'0 185 24 2 New Mexico State 24 Dexter Bussey RB 16 6'1 210 26 5 Texas-Arlington 25 Horace King RB 15 5'10 210 25 4 Georgia 26 Anthony Leonard DB 3 5'11 165 25 3 Virginia Union 27 Luther Bradley DB 16 6'2 195 23 R Notre Dame 28 James Hunter DB 9 6'3 195 24 3 Grambling 29 Mike Burns DB 15 6'0 180 24 2 Southern California 30 Nat Terry DB 4 5'11 165 22 R Florida State 31 Ken Callicutt RB 13 6'0 190 23 R Clemson 31 Tony Sumler DB 1 5'10 185 22 R Wichita State 32 Rick Kane RB 15 5'11 200 23 2 San Jose State 33 Bruce Rhodes DB 15 6'0 190 26 2 San Francisco State 38 Lawrence Gaines RB 13 6'1 240 24 2 Wyoming 39 Leonard Thompson WR 16 5'10 190 26 4 Oklahoma State 40 Jimmy Allen DB 14 6'2 195 26 5 UCLA 42 Reggie Pinkney DB 13 5'11 190 23 2 East Carolina 43 Andy Bolton RB 6 6'1 205 24 3 Fisk 45 Ray Jarvis WR 2 6'1 190 29 8 Norfolk State 50 Paul Naumoff LB 15 6'1 215 33 12 Tennessee 52 Dave Washington LB 16 6'6 230 30 9 Alcorn State 53 John Sokolosky C 11 6'2 240 22 R Wayne State (MI) 53 Willie Brock C 4 6'3 246 23 R Colorado 54 Larry Tearry C 14 6'3 260 22 R Wake Forest 55 Ed O'Neil LB 16 6'3 235 26 5 Penn State 57 Dan Dickel LB 4 6'3 230 26 5 Iowa 58 Tony Daykin LB 16 6'1 215 23 2 Georgia Tech 59 Charlie Weaver LB 16 6'2 225 29 8 Southern California 60 Gary Anderson OG 1 6'3 250 23 2 Stanford 60 Al Baker DE 16 6'6 260 21 R Colorado State 61 Homer Elias OG 16 6'3 255 23 R Tennessee State 62 Lynn Boden OG 16 6'5 260 25 4 South Dakota State 63 Mike Montler C 4 6'4 250 34 10 Colorado 63 Donnie Hickman OG 7 6'2 260 23 1 Southern California 64 Dan Gray DT 14 6'6 240 22 R Rutgers 65 Amos Fowler OG 16 6'3 250 22 R Southern Mississippi 66 Karl Chandler C 11 6'5 250 26 5 Princeton 67 Donnie Green OT 7 6'7 261 30 8 Purdue 70 Bill Fifer OT 8 6'4 250 23 R West Texas State 71 Dave Gallagher DT 1 6'4 256 26 4 Michigan 72 Ernie Price DE 3 6'4 245 28 6 Texas A&I 72 Bill Cooke DT 12 6'5 250 27 4 Massachusetts 74 Brad Oates OT 16 6'6 274 25 3 Brigham Young 75 Dave Pureifory DE 8 6'1 255 29 7 Eastern Michigan 76 Karl Baldischwiler OT 16 6'5 265 22 R Oklahoma 77 John Woodcock DT 16 6'3 240 24 3 Hawaii 78 Doug English DT 14 6'5 255 25 4 Texas 81 David Hill TE 16 6'2 220 24 3 Texas A&I 82 Ken Sanders DE 7 6'5 245 28 7 Howard Payne 83 William Gay TE 16 6'5 225 23 R Southern California 84 Jesse Thompson WR 11 6'1 185 22 R California 86 Willie McGee WR 4 5'11 178 28 6 Alcorn State 87 Freddie Scott WR 16 6'2 175 26 5 Amherst 89 Luther Blue WR 16 5'11 190 24 2 Iowa State
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Gary Danielson 351 199 56.7 2,294 6.54 11.5 18 5.1 17 4.8 25 237 73.5 Greg Landry 77 48 62.3 452 5.87 9.4 1 1.3 1 1.3 21 205 77.4 Tom Skladany 1 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 39.6 Horace King 0 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 1 2 0.0
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD David Hill 53 633 11.9 4 Horace King 48 396 8.2 2 Freddie Scott 37 564 15.2 2 Luther Blue 31 350 11.3 2 Dexter Bussey 31 275 8.9 1 Jesse Thompson 18 175 9.7 4 Rick Kane 16 161 10.1 0 Leonard Thompson 10 167 16.7 4 Lawrence Gaines 2 16 8.0 0 Ray Jarvis 1 9 9.0 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Dexter Bussey 225 924 4.1 5 Horace King 155 660 4.3 4 Lawrence Gaines 54 178 3.3 1 Rick Kane 44 153 3.5 2 Gary Danielson 22 93 4.2 0 Freddie Scott 4 53 13.2 0 Greg Landry 5 29 5.8 0 Ed O'Neil 1 25 25.0 0 David Hill 3 12 4.0 0 Luther Blue 5 9 1.8 0 Tony Daykin 1 8 8.0 0 Leonard Thompson 1 7 7.0 0 Jesse Thompson 2 7 3.5 0 Andy Bolton 2 5 2.5 0 Joe Reed 1 0 0.0 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Jesse Thompson 14 346 24.7 0 Leonard Thompson 8 207 25.9 0 Rick Kane 8 156 19.5 0 Luther Blue 7 170 24.3 0 Nat Terry 7 145 20.7 0 Freddie Scott 3 72 24.0 0 Ken Callicutt 2 12 6.0 0 James Hunter 1 21 21.0 0 Willie McGee 1 0 0.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Jesse Thompson 16 161 10.1 2 0 Anthony Leonard 10 114 11.4 0 0 Freddie Scott 8 55 6.9 1 0 Luther Blue 7 59 8.4 7 0 Leonard Thompson 3 19 6.3 1 0 James Hunter 2 21 10.5 0 0 Walt Williams 1 1 1.0 0 0 |
1978 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 11 DB Luther Bradley 56 Notre Dame 2 40 DE Al Baker 181 Colorado State 4 94 OT Bill Fifer 12 West Texas State 4 107 OG Homer Elias 96 Tennessee State [pick acquired from BAL] 4 109 C Larry Tearry 25 Wake Forest [pick acquired from DEN] 5 121 OG Amos Fowler 97 Southern Mississippi 5 123 DE Dan Gray 14 Rutgers [pick acquired from SD] 6 150 DB Dwight Hicks 105 Michigan 6 153 OG Tony Ardizzone 16 Northwestern [pick acquired from SD] 6 165 WR Jesse Thompson 22 California [pick acquired from DEN] 7 177 RB Bruce Gibson Pacific 8 206 K Jim Breech 197 California 10 262 LB Fred Arrington Purdue 11 289 DT Richard Murray Oklahoma 12 318 DB Mark Patterson Washington State
Traded draft picks: #3 to CLE (Larry Collins), #9 to SF (Dean Moore)
Transactions:
| 04-27-1978 | traded Detroit's #5 pick in the 1979 draft to 49ers for Dave Washington |
| 04-27-1978 | traded Detroit's #3 pick in the 1978 draft and #7 pick in the 1979 draft to Browns for the rights to Tom Skladany |
| 05-01-1978 | traded Herb Orvis to Colts for Freddie Scott and Baltimore's #4 pick in the 1978 draft |
| 05-02-1978 | traded Jim Laslavic to Chargers for San Diego's #5 and #6 picks in the 1978 draft |
| 05-10-1978 | traded Rockne Freitas to Buccaneers for Tampa's #4 pick in the 1979 draft |
| 06-07-1978 | Eagles claimed Mitch Hoopes on waivers |
| 07-20-1978 | traded Tampa's #4 pick in the 1979 draft to Steelers for Jimmy Allen |
| 08-02-1978 | traded Detroit's #8 pick in the 1979 draft to Giants for Dave Gallagher |
| 08-02-1978 | traded Detroit's #11 pick in the 1979 draft to Giants for Marsh White |
| 08-14-1978 | traded Charlie West and Detroit's #6 pick in the 1979 draft to Broncos for William Gay and the rights to 2 of the first 5 players cut by Denver before 8/29/1978 |
| 08-14-1978 | traded Jim Mitchell to Patriots for Bob McKay |
| 08-15-1978 | traded future considerations to Bills for Stan Winfrey |
| 08-16-1978 | traded Eddie Payton to Chiefs for John Brockington |
| 08-16-1978 | traded Skip Butler to Cowboys for Dallas' #11 pick in the 1979 draft |
| 08-16-1978 | placed Dave Simonson on injured reserve |
| 08-16-1978 | placed Howard Fest on injured reserve |
| 08-16-1978 | placed Russ Bolinger on injured reserve |
| 08-17-1978 | 49ers claimed Bruce Gibson on waivers |
| 08-23-1978 | traded Detroit's #8 pick in the 1980 draft to Broncos for Mike Montler |
| 08-25-1978 | claimed Mike Burns on waivers from 49ers |
| 08-28-1978 | traded Garth Ten Napel to Falcons for $500 cash |
| 08-28-1978 | traded Detroit's #10 pick in the 1979 draft to Dolphins for Karl Baldischwiler |
| 08-29-1978 | claimed Brad Oates on waivers from Cardinals |
| 08-29-1978 | claimed Gene Washington on waivers from 49ers |
| 09-13-1978 | traded Bob McKay to Patriots for New England's #12 pick in the 1979 draft |
| 09-27-1978 | traded Ernie Price to Seahawks for Bill Cooke and Seattle's #8 pick in the 1979 draft |
| 10-11-1978 | placed Andy Bolton on injured reserve |
| 10-13-1978 | claimed Nat Terry on waivers from Steelers |
| 10-18-1978 | claimed Donnie Hickman on waivers from Redskins |
| 10-23-1978 | placed Ken Sanders on injured reserve |
| 10-26-1978 | Saints claimed Bill Fifer on waivers |
| 11-27-1978 | claimed Tony Leonard on waivers from 49ers |
1978 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/03/78 vs Green Bay Packers L 7-13 0-1-0 09/09/78 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 15-7 1-1-0 09/17/78 vs Chicago Bears L 0-19 1-2-0 09/24/78 at Seattle Seahawks L 16-28 1-3-0 10/01/78 at Green Bay Packers L 14-35 1-4-0 10/08/78 vs Washington Redskins L 19-21 1-5-0 10/15/78 at Atlanta Falcons L 0-14 1-6-0 10/22/78 vs San Diego Chargers W 31-14 2-6-0 10/29/78 at Chicago Bears W 21-17 3-6-0 11/05/78 at Minnesota Vikings L 7-17 3-7-0 11/12/78 vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 34-23 4-7-0 11/19/78 at Oakland Raiders L 17-29 4-8-0 11/23/78 vs Denver Broncos W 17-14 5-8-0 12/03/78 at St. Louis Cardinals L 14-21 5-9-0 12/09/78 vs Minnesota Vikings W 45-14 6-9-0 12/17/78 vs San Francisco 49ers W 33-14 7-9-0