Remaining Wilbur Marshall putting the claps on Lorenzo White and we'll be back with the field goal attempt in a moment
Coming up at 24 yard attempt by Ian Hohfield
Before the season is 12 for 16
He hit from 24 earlier in the half
Greg Montgomery the new holder replacing Frank Mayaki who was dropped the other day
seven seconds to go
in his first half
Yes, the kick is put right through
The
Bobby Hohfield one-time kicker for the Jets and the Broncos back in the 70s
Able to connect on two out of two and Houston has taken a 6-3 lead
Gibbs yesterday remember what he told us he has lost more games before the half. You're looking at him
He knows they gave the ball up. They knows he's got he's down by three. There is not a happy man told us yesterday
Mars
When we were talking about not taking the time us they were at midfield. He said we're gonna control a ball
I want to have control of the football at the half
If it's two minutes to go, I still want to control a ball whether I score or not. It's not important
And they said what was the last week
He took some criticism and he felt
that
The criticism wasn't fair because his philosophy has been do not give the opposition that emotional swing
Do not give them the crack at getting the ball back. So normally he plays it very conservatively as it turned out here today
He's picked off by Lamar Latham
It leads to the Houston Drive and they're able to cash in and take the 6-3 lead right before halftime
final seconds
So that is the way this first half comes to a close
Houston with a 6-3 lead on Washington
We'll be back to Bob Costas after this word from the NFL and a message from your local station. This is the Domino's Pizza
NFL live halftime report brought to you by Domino's Pizza. Nobody knows like Domino's how you like pizza at home
Okay, Bob Costas with Will McDonough and Bill Parcells here in the studio in New York
We welcome those of you who watched the first half of the Patriots and the Bills and of course those of you who've watched
The Oilers and the Redskins. It's 6-3 in both games the Oilers with the lead at RFK
Let's go to the sidelines there and rejoin OJ Simpson for his thoughts on the first half juice
Well Bob, you know out here
They were saying that this is going to be the preview of this year's Super Bowl
It was more like the review in the first quarter of last year's Super Bowl
With the Redskins keeping the Oilers high-powered offense off the field
But the Oilers made a very interesting adjustment in the second quarter
What Washington was doing is playing a very deep zone. You can't even see their safeties on your TV screen
They're playing so far back
Their linebackers were active at the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped they were running way back
What they were keeping Houston from doing was completing that 20-yard pass to their wide receivers
I think Moon only threw two passes in the whole first half over 20 yards
What Houston did at that point is they started using Lorenzo White
I think he's been the most valuable player in the first half
He made some great blocks, great pickups
And what he started doing was running those little option passes out of the backfield
A couple of screen passes and that has forced Washington to bring their linebackers up now
So I expect in the second half Moon will be able to throw the ball 20 yards in, 20 yards out to his wide receivers
So it's up to Washington to make the adjustment now
Okay, thanks a lot. The second field goal for the Oilers, of course, came after the Lamar-Latham interception
Prior to that, both field goal drives were 17-play affairs
Washington held the ball for 10-36 before Lowmiller connected from 21
Then going 81 yards in 17 plays, holding it for 9-38 before Howe Field of Houston tied it at three
And then off the turnover, Houston is able to take the lead 6-3 just before halftime. Bill?
Both teams trying to get something established, Washington quite obviously with a running game
And Houston, as O.J. said, with a short pass to the backs
I agree that Houston did make that adjustment with O.J., that O.J. was talking about
But I don't think Washington is going to change too much
Don't forget, Oilers high-powered offense, now they only have six points
Washington's playing pretty just about the way they want to defensively
Willie?
All the along people have said, how good is Houston? Well, they always said, how good is the Houston defense?
And I think you've seen it here today, they're playing a high-powered team and they're playing very well
Yeah, we've heard about Richie Pettibone as the defensive coordinator for the Redskins
Jim Eddy has to be pleased with the work of his group for the Houston Oilers today
Well, they've done what they had to do in this game, is put a lot of people in the face of Mark Griffin
Alright, let's take a look at some of the other scores from around the league
Both Detroit and Chicago are 6-2, they're tied for the lead in the NFC Central
And it's the Lions with the lead in this game at halftime, 10-3, 20 mile per hour wins
Below zero windchill at Soldier Field, the Lions with the lead by a touchdown
In the game, some of you are watching, Buffalo, which has won 15 consecutive games at home
And 30 of their last 32 at Rich Stadium, leading by only a score of 6-3 over the Patriots
Now, the Bills average 40 points a game this year at home
But Joe Collier's defense for the Patriots hasn't allowed more than 24 points in the game
And the 3-5 Patriots have been competitive in almost every game they've played
And they're within a field goal at intermission in this one
San Francisco has the lead at Atlanta late in the second quarter, 7-0
Steve Young threw a 97-yard touchdown pass to John Taylor
It's the longest touchdown play from scrimmage in the league this year
He threw it from the end zone, Taylor caught it around the 50 between two defenders
One of whom was the former 49er Tim McKire
Then Deion Sanders trailing the play, couldn't catch Taylor from behind
Chris Miller has bruised ribs, he's gone out at quarterback for the Falcons
Billy Joe Tolliver is in, and the Niners lead 7-0
In the battle of Ohio, Cleveland has the lead at Cincinnati 14-10
Late in the second, Harold Green, the young running back for the Bengals, 9 carries
For 106 yards already
Green Bay and the Jets, a tie just snapped there on an O'Brien touchdown pass to Chris Burkett
So the Jets have the lead, 13-6
And Tampa Bay has a halftime lead at the Metrodome over the Vikings
On a 49-yard field goal by Steve Christie
The score there is 3-0 in favor of the Bucs
We're back to talk with Bill Parcells about football superstitions
As NFL Live halftime activities continue right after this message from your local stations
NFL Live halftime report, brought to you by Domino's Pizza, nobody knows like Domino's how you like pizza at home
Okay, with Bill Parcells, Bob Costas back at our NFL Live studios in New York
Now with Halloween still a recent memory, we thought it might be an appropriate time to discuss football and superstition
For all his meticulous attention to detail and hard work, Parcells here incorporated a fair amount of superstition into his coaching
We'll start now by hearing from Bill's former defensive coordinator, now the Browns head coach, Bill Belichick
In Bill's office, he had a lot of elephants in his office on his desk
And their trunks were all turned a certain way, towards the door, towards the window, I don't know, whatever brought him good luck
And Bill did things routinely and when those routines worked, then he would stay with them
So if we didn't practice on Saturday and then won the game, you could bank on the fact that next Saturday we wouldn't practice
Think most coaches and players are like that, they have some kind of superstition?
Oh I think so, a lot of the players never claimed to have any
But I always noticed that they used to call to my attention the fact that we were digressing from what had been the norm
Especially if things were going well, so deep down we had a few closet guys that had the same superstitions I had
The only ones that used to bother me, and you'd hear about them in football, baseball, whatever the sport
Is when a guy had a certain garment and he did well and then he wouldn't wash it
Which is bad enough in baseball where you play every day, but in football where you play week to week
The guy's going six, seven weeks, you know, with a pair of socks, I don't care, it's got to change
Well we never had those, but we did, we would wear the same stuff, but it was sent to the dry cleaner
Well that's reassuring, for more on Bill's attention for superstition, again, we go back to Bill Belichick
Who would be the first guy in the locker room or where he would sit in the locker room
Probably who he stood next to in the national anthem, I think that was a big thing
When the wrong guy stood to him, he clubbed him over the head and told him to get out of the way
Because he wasn't supposed to be standing there, you know, stuff like that
He had a lot on his mind then, during the year
Bill could keep track of a lot of things, a lot more than I could
Did you have an assistant in charge of superstitions, a guy with a clipboard, keep track of them?
No, it's just the coaches and the players got to know them, you know, you don't pick up pennies with the heads up
And that sideline thing, for a number of years I had my captain always stand next to me on the side of Harry Carson
He couldn't win a coin toss, so I knew every time I sent him out from there we were going to lose the toss
You know, we had a little advantage, we could plan ahead
Step on a crack, you know, break a witch's back
Now, we dug into our archives and found this tape of Parcells talking about yet another of his superstitions
Cats, black cats, poor cats in general
You know, if they cross in front of you, you can erase them
Do you know how to do that?
No
Well, you drive your car over where he was and then you back up and then you drive back over and then he doesn't count after that
Well, just to make you feel at home here on the set, between cats and pachyderms, there you go
Well, you have to point this trunk toward the door
The trunk has to be up and he has to be facing the door
And that brings you good luck
Well, with any luck at all, NFL Live halftime activities will continue
Please stay with us
Welcome back to Washington, D.C.
Marv Albert with Paul McGuire
Houston leading Washington at the half by the score of 6-3
Now, the Redskins have certainly handled the run-and-shoot of the Houston Oilers
Although the trailing in the game
But all year long we've seen the Redskins succeed by making the proper halftime adjustments
It's going to be the team that's going to win the game
But the Redskins succeed by making the proper halftime adjustments
It's going to be the team that wins this game
It's the one that makes that adjustment at halftime
You keep in mind here that the Redskins are giving up 12 points a game on the average
And Houston 13
Now, one has six, Houston, and the other one three
It is that adjustment that has to be made
And that's one thing that we're going to watch closely
The Redskins also have been handling the run-and-shoot by going, for the most part, with the 4-3 alignment
Most unusual
Yeah, it really is
They have a lot of personnel on defense and everybody's questioning, say, the speed in their secondary
Well, they're not showing it today
They're going in there with five defensive backs
Sometimes just three down linemen and three linebackers
But most of the time they're playing with, even in long situations, third and long with only two linebackers
And that's great
Let's take a look at the halftime stats brought to you by Keystone Light
And you can see time of possession
Washington with that long drive that went 17 plays
It took 10 and a half minutes, but Houston able to bounce back
And they had a 17-play drive that led to a field goal
We talked about some stats
And time of possession really doesn't mean anything
Unless it's what you do at the time of possession, okay?
But when we went into this game, and Marv at the top, when you talked about how close these two teams are together
In time of possession in the game, they're both averaging about 32 minutes a game
Something has to give
Because it comes out to 64
I figured you'd go with the new math to come up with that
Unless there is an overtime
Now it can work out
Good point
Ian Howfield getting set to kick off
That is the deep man, Brian Mitchell
Ricky Irvin's also back
Lowmiller, 21-yard field goal
And then Howfield hitting from 24
And 24 for a 6-3, Houston lead
A reminder at the conclusion of today's game
We'll be presenting the Avis We Try Harder Award
Which will be given to the game's most valuable player
Warren Moon, 15 for 25, 144 yards in the first half
While Washington kept it on the ground due to the success of Ernest Beiner
And Ripon throwing 10 times, 5 for 10 for 33 yards
Beiner, 11 carries, 56 yards
Bouncing back from last Sunday night against the Giants
And the second half is underway
This is Mitchell
Good coverage by the Oilers
Let's take a look at the Hertz 10-minute ticker
Detroit with a 10-3 lead on Chicago
Buffalo having a difficult time
6-3 in front of New England at the third
They felt they'd have some time with New England
New England's got a super defense
Now 14-13, Cleveland lead
And the Jets with a 13-6 advantage on Green Bay
It was a push down at the 17-yard line
Now the Redskins are a little bit different at the start of the second half
They're coming out in the first half, they played two wide receivers, two tight ends
Now they're coming out with a different package
Which Jim Eddy calls 3-1-1
Which is three wide receivers, one tight end
Which will be Middleton
And one running back, which is Biner
And Russ Grimm remaining in a right tackle for the injured Joe Dacote
Off the play action
Mark Mark
Stopped by Chris Dishman
Well, Mark Griffin over the years has been a hard hit by injury
Take a look at this profile
86 injured reserve, 87 the same, 88 the shoulder kept him out
But today his ninth consecutive start
Which is good news for the Redskins