1978-10-08 NFL Today Halftime Show
1978-10-08 NFL Today Halftime Show
Transcript
00:00You
00:30Hi, welcome back live to New York. I'm Brent Musburger. We're going to talk to Pete Rose
00:50about the World Series and why the Phillies can't seem to get into that series. But first,
00:56let me take you around the league and update all the scores. Pittsburgh and Atlanta just
00:59getting ready to start the third quarter. Steelers are dominating. Philadelphia and
01:04New England, of course, you're watching this game and the Patriots lead. Harold Carmichael
01:07kept that streak going, though, with a big touchdown. Detroit dominated early. Then it
01:11was a blocked punt by the Redskins and they're back in the game, just about ready to start
01:16the third quarter. The New York Jets have amazed today. Without Richard Todd, they have
01:20destroyed Buffalo, 35 to 7. Chicago and Green Bay, a comedy of errors so far, I'm told.
01:27Both teams too tight, playing for the NFC Central leadership. Tampa Bay and Kansas City.
01:32John McKay passed up a shot at the field goal to tie it, so Kansas City continues to lead
01:36by three. Bud Wilkinson, desperate for his first victory, has fallen behind Baltimore's
01:417-3. The Cleveland Browns, under their new coach, showing a lot of improvement this year.
01:47They lead New Orleans 7-0 in the first period. And, Irv, let's take everybody back to Monday
01:52night. The Dallas Cowboys, first and goal, down on the Redskins two-yard line. I still
01:56can't believe Tom Landry's play calling down there. Well, he only had four shots because
02:00he ran the ball three, finally kicked the field goal, and everybody knows he lost the
02:04game 9-5, but when you're running a goal line defense, where the Redskins do, the defensive
02:08tackles and defensive ends pinch to the inside. There's a first play run. Then, after that,
02:13Staubach came back to the right side of his offensive line using Tony Dorsett. No play
02:18action, didn't try to freeze the outside or anything, Irv. Well, the key man here is the
02:22middle linebacker. The tackle pinches down, the end pitches down, McClinton comes in,
02:25makes the playoff tackle the way he should, but the thing that puzzled me, Brent, though,
02:29is why the Cowboys didn't go outside. So, they stack them up here, and the Cowboys had
02:37to settle for a field goal, and it was a big, big moment in that football game, perhaps,
02:42Jane, the biggest of all. I don't understand why Theismann would take such a risk, Brent,
02:46in handling the ball the way he did that last play in the end zone. That was the most entertaining.
02:50Why would he do that? It was indeed a risk. Do you remember the moment? Three seconds
02:56left in that football game. All he had to do was go down on the ball, and Tom Landry
03:00would have no time left at all, and instead, Irv Crossy pulls out and runs into the end
03:05zone. If he'd have fumbled and the Cowboys would have recovered, they could have won
03:07the game. Brent is absolutely right. People, you must keep this in mind. Once the ball
03:12is snapped, play is not dead until the play ends. In this case, either having Theismann
03:16be tackled or run out of the end zone, but he runs around down here. If he drops that
03:20ball in the end zone, the Cowboys recover, they get a touchdown. Irv, the rematch is
03:24coming up Thanksgiving down in Dallas. We'll be down there for that game. Will the Cowboys
03:27remember what Theismann did to them on that last play? There's no question about that.
03:31The Cowboys have a great deal of pride in defending world champions, and there's bad
03:34blood between these two ball clubs. All right, let's come back and talk to Pete Rose about
03:37the Phillies in the upcoming World Series.
03:50So it's the Dodgers and the Yankees again in the World Series starting Tuesday night.
03:54The Phillies have failed, and Pete Rose, the question in Philadelphia is why? Well, the
03:59Phillies have a lot of tremendous players. They've got Bowe, they've got Luzinski, they've
04:01got Schmidt, they've got Maddux, but they have no one, I think, that leads them. They
04:05have no one with World Series experience that starts every day. They have no one with championship
04:10series experience, winning championship series experience that plays every day, and they
04:14just go their own way, and they just don't play with the same intensity or the same desire
04:18that they do during the season. They come out, they open up the playoffs at home where
04:22they were a very successful ball club in 1978, and lost the first two games to the Dodgers.
04:26They just didn't take it to the Dodgers. They just sat around and waited for something to
04:30happen, and you can't do that with the Dodgers because they won't make it happen. Pete, the
04:34Dodgers are very emotional right now, and I'm going to show everyone one of the key
04:38reasons why. Jim Gilliam remains unconscious in a Los Angeles hospital. He was stricken
04:43back on September 15th. Number 19, now their first base coach, was a top-flight infielder.
04:49Sandy Koufax, 65 World Series. Rollins bid for a base hit, robbed by Junior Gilliam,
04:55who saved the World Series, and the Dodgers have vowed to win this championship for their
04:59stricken coach. I think the spirit we're playing in is in his spirit. You can only
05:05dedicate after you win, and that's what I really feel will happen. He's there spiritually
05:11every single minute of the day. It's very important for us to not only win it for ourselves,
05:16but to win it for him. I know that he has dedicated a lot of his time to a lot of players
05:21on our club, and I think it's just the only way we can do some things that maybe we should
05:26have done in the past, and that is to say thank you. Pete, will this be a factor? Can
05:31this help motivate a baseball team? I think the way all the Dodger players feel toward
05:34Junior Gilliam, I think it definitely will, because every day before the national anthem,
05:38they have a moment of silence at Dodger Stadium for Junior and his family, and this makes
05:42the players well aware of what the situation is, and they all love him so much, and he
05:46talks a lot to all the visiting players also. I've had a lot of discussions with him, because
05:50he's a switch hitter, and I'm a switch hitter, and we talk about hitting, and they just all
05:54dearly love Junior Gilliam. All right. You know, when Pete Rose said the Phillies need
05:58a leader, immediately came to my mind, they need Pete Rose. Well, we're going to talk
06:02about Rose's future a little bit later today, doubleheader of the Dallas-New York Giants
06:06game. Let me show you some highlights. These plays have just occurred earlier today. We've
06:11got a lot of action going on, like Atlanta and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers,
06:15of course, off to their best start in history, and here is Bradshaw looking for Cunningham
06:20on the 19-yard line. Cunningham was knocked out of the game on that play, set up a field
06:24goal. Now, watch Lin Swan, as Pete Rose pointed out, how wide open he gets underneath that
06:31zone, down to the Atlanta 43, and here is Rocky Blyer getting in for the touchdown,
06:36cutting to the outside where the defense wasn't. It was 10 to nothing, and then it was Terry
06:40Bradshaw coming back from that knee injury, great fake on the play, rolls out and gets
06:46in for that score. Now, Philadelphia and New England, of course, this is the contest
06:50you've been watching. Beware of the Eagles when they're a seven-point underdog, but it
06:55was the Patriots early who dominated. Montgomery on the carry, fumbled for the second time.
07:01Patriots take over. They've got a great chance, and it was Calhoun, off tackle. Patriots get
07:06up on the scoreboard. Grogan now coming up, play action, fine running quarterback, but
07:11he comes up passing this time, looking for Morgan. 32-yard gain. That set up a Patriot
07:16field goal. New England 10, Philadelphia nothing. Horace Ivory now on the carry as the Patriots
07:22still dominate, but remember, it's early. 21 yards to the Eagle now, one-half yard line,
07:28and then Cunningham bammed in. It was 17-nothing, but Jaworski quickly to Carmichael, keeps
07:33the streak alive, and the Eagles are very much in this football game, and let's send
07:38you back right now to Gary Bender.