Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

Roller coaster thriller vs. Raiders 10.02.83

This wasn't the biggest comeback in terms of sheer points, but it may well be the biggest from the point of view of points per minute. I've never heard a half-empty stadium so loud (yes, about half of the crowd were of little faith).

In retrospect, though, it may have been better if they Skins had dropped this one. They were somewhat overconfident when they played the Raiders in the one that really counted, that Black Sunday game that's a haze to many of us. Had the Radiers held on to win this one the Redskins might not have been quite so full of themselves when they went to Tampa.

Regardless, it was a hell of a game. From the pages of The Redskins Chronicle (now on sale).

RFK Stadium 10.02.83—This game had more ups and downs, twists and turns than the newest theme park roller coasters.

The Redskins dominated the early going. Interceptions by Curtis Jordan and Mel Kaufman set up scores to give Washington a 10-0 lead. The Raiders responded with the ultimate display of the vertical offense as Jim Plunkett and Cliff Branch hooked up on a 99-yard bomb.

After that quick lapse, the Redskins moved to reassert their control. A Mark Moseley field goal and five-yard touchdown pass from Joe Theismann to Joe Washington made it 20-7 in the third quarter. It appeared that the home team had some breathing room.

The breathing turned to gasping when Plunkett found Calvin Muhammad for touchdown passes of 25 and 22 yards, giving the Raiders the lead. When Greg Pruitt took a punt back 97 yards for a touchdown that gave the Raiders a 35-20 lead with just over seven and a half minutes left in the game, it was positively suffocating.

In fact, although most of them will probably deny it, nearly half of the crowd of 54,016 headed for the exits after that punt return. What ensued was one for the history books, as Theismann would say afterwards. Or, one for the storybooks.

It all got started on the first play after the kickoff when Washington took a screen pass and rocketed 67 yards down the right sideline. Three plays later, Theismann hit Charlie Brown with an 11-yard touchdown pass to draw the Skins within eight. Then Jeff Hayes kicked off and lined a low, hard one off the foot of a Raider. Greg Williams recovered, and the Skins drew within five after a Mark Moseley field goal with 4:28 remaining.

The Raiders managed to kill some clock, but could not get a first down as Plunkett threw to Todd Christensen for nine yards on third and eleven. Washington started at its own 31 with a minute and fifty seconds left. Plenty of time. Theismann completed three straight passes to Brown for nine, 26 and 28 yards, to the Raiders' six with 43 seconds left. On second down from there, Joe Washington snuck through the line, slid to the right and snared Theismann's pass for the winning touchdown. The Redskins won 37-35. The fans in the half full stands exploded in cheers, making more than enough noise to make up for those of little faith who had already departed.

Lombardi in Carlisle 07.10.69

It was 40 years ago today that Vince Lombardi had the first practice of his only training camp with the Redskins. It ushered in an era of hope that came to a crushing end when Lombardi died of cancer before he could conduct his second training camp. He brought the team its first winning season in 25 years.

We often think that Lombardi was relatively old by the time he came here but the man accomplished a lot in a hurry. He was 57 when he dies; Jim Zorn just turned 56

You can read an account of every game of Lombardi's Redskins career in my new book The Redskins Chronicle, now on sale.

July 10, was the day that the 1969 Redskins were to start training camp at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. For months, the Redskins players looked towards that date with a mix of hope and fear. The hope was that Vince Lombardi, who had been hired as head coach in February of that year, could lift the moribund Washington franchise to glory. The fear came from what they had heard of the methods he would use to do so. As cornerback Pat Fischer said, "Lombardi was preceded by his reputation."

That reputation came from comments such as those made by Henry Jordan, a player for Lombardi in Green Bay.

"He treats us all the same," said Jordan of his coach. "Like dogs."

Especially notorious was the grass drill. The players would run in place, knees pumping up high and then, on Lombardi's command, flop onto the ground. Failure to spring back up immediately and resume the fervent churning of the legs would usually result in a public tongue-lashing by the coach. In Carlisle he ran the grass drill unmercifully, cursing at the n on-performers so loudly that Dickinson secretaries working near the field complained to the dean of the college.

"There are two ways of motivation," said Sam Huff, who had come out of retirement to become a player-coach under Lombardi. "One is through fear and the other is through group motivation. Lombardi motivated through fear."

A big fear that players had was for their jobs. Being cut was always a clear and present danger for those who did not do things Lombardi's way. Even being a recent first-round draft pick didn't grant any immunity. When fullback Ray McDonald showed up late for the team's first meeting in Carlisle, Lombardi stopped speaking and asked the third-year player what his name was. "Ray McDonald," the player said. Those were his last words as a Redskin as Lombardi announced to the team right then and there that McDonald had been cut. From then on, job security dictated that one keep one's watch set to Lombardi Time, which was ten minutes faster than Eastern Time.

One player whose job appeared to be safe was quarterback Sonny Jurgensen. Not only did he have Hall of Fame talent, but also he fully bought in to Lombardi's methods. The signal caller who NFL Films' John Facenda once described as possessing "a=2 0hairline going north and a belt line going south" had once blown off his head coach's suggestion that he improve his conditioning, telling Otto Graham, "I don't throw the ball with my stomach." Now, however, he was flopping on the Carlisle turf with the rest of them.

Nobody was spared the wrath of Lombardi, not even his own flesh and blood. His brother Joe had recently been hired by a sporting goods company and thought he would take advantage of his family connection to bring a couple of the company's executives out onto the practice field. Lombardi ejected all three of them, using more of that language that made the secretaries blush.

As players such as McDonald and some rookies who packed up and bolted in the middle of the night fell by the wayside, replacements had to be found. Vince Lombardi wasn't a mere raving tyrant; he had an uncanny knack for finding talent. The coach was chatting with Jurgensen after the first practice when Lombardi pointed to a rookie running back out of Kansas State. "See that [rookie] over there in the overalls?" said the coach of the eighth-round draft pick. "When the rest of these guys are gone, he'll still be here." Lombardi was pointing at Larry Brown.

As camp wore on Brown continued to impress the coach with his ability, but the back always seemed to be a half step slow getting off the ball. "Does that Brown hear," Lombardi asked one night at a coaches' meeting. They decided to find out and, sure enough, a test revealed that Brown was quite deaf in one ear.

The team fitted Brown's helmet with a hearing aid that transferred sound from the side of his head with the bad ear into the good ear and the results were immediate and impressive. A couple of days later Brown scored two touchdowns in the exhibition season opener at RFK Stadium. A few days after that, assistant coach George Dickson saw Lombardi with his arm draped around Brown's shoulders. Later on, knowing that Lombardi doesn't show such affection to just anyone, Dickson went up to Brown and said, "Son, you've got this ball club made." Brown went on to rush for 888 yards in his rookie season and 5,875 in his seven-year career.

With Brown and a fit Jurgensen in starring roles, Lombardi led the Redskins to a 7-5-2 record, their first winning record since 1955.

Forgotten Classic: Sonny Engineers Late Drive in Dallas

Since the Cowboys flashback was so popular the other day, here's another one. This one goes way back. It's the first Redskins game I remember. Actually I don't remember the whole game. I just remember Sonny standing there, with his hands on his hips watching the clock tick down. I was wondering what the neck he was doing but my dad said, just wait and see.

This Dallas team, by the way, would go on to lose to the Packers in the NFL Championship Game for the right to play in the first Super Bowl.

Played 12/11/1966, from the pages of The Redskins Chronicle, my new book that will be going on sale very soon:

Cotton Bowl—Charlie Gogolak kicked a 29-yard field goal with four seconds left to cap a wild fourth quarter and give the Redskins a stirring 34-31 win over Dallas.

The Cowboys put together a second-quarter drive to take a 7-0 lead on Don Perkins' 20-yard touchdown run, but the Redskins came right back thanks largely to Carl Kammerer. Midway through the second, the defensive end recovered a fumble, setting up a Gogolak field goal to make it 7-3. Later in the period Kammerer broke through to block Danny Villanueva's punt in the end zone and John Reger was right there to fall on the ball for the touchdown, giving the visitors the halftime lead.

After Villanueva kicked a field goal to tie the game at 10, the Cowboys drove 86 yards to reclaim the lead on Craig Morton's 23-yard touchdown pass to Bob Hayes. Washington came right back with a drive of its own. A 41-yard run by A. D. Whitfield got the Redskins down to the Dallas 11 and from there, Sonny Jurgensen threw a touchdown pass to Bobby Mitchell. The game was tied at 17 going into the fourth quarter.

The Cowboys made Washington play catch-up as Dan Reeves shook a tackle and went 67 yards for a touchdown. That's the kind of game Jurgensen likes and his 53-yard bomb to Charley Taylor led to his 11-yard scoring toss to Jerry Smith to even it up at 24.

It was Dallas' turn and they drove 72 yards, the last six on Perkins' second scoring run and recaptured the lead. No problem for Jurgensen, who promptly went long to Taylor again, this time for 65 yards and a touchdown with 3:11 remaining.

All the Cowboys needed was a tie to clinch the Eastern Division title, but they couldn't get it. Washington got the ball again and ex-Cowboy Whitfield busted loose for 30 yards to get his team in field goal range. Jurgensen stood next to the official, his hands on his hips, and watched the clock tick down to eight seconds before calling timeout. Gogolak trotted in and his game-winner from 29 yards was perfect.

Forgotten Classics: Redskins Beat Vikes Despite Foot Faults 11.02.86

I don't know if this was a modern era record, but the Redskins scored six touchdowns and didn't get the point after following four of them. Three of them were missed and the fourth touchdown didn't have a conversion attempt because it was the game winner in overtime.

In any case, this was a breathtaking classic, a prototypical game by a Redskins team that just never gave up.

Played 11/2/1986, from the pages of my upcoming book The Redskins Chronicle:

RFK Stadium—"It feels like we've been playing for about five hours," said Joe Gibbs after this one and the members of the Redskins secondary would have to agree. Tommy Kramer torched them for 490 yards and four touchdowns. Three of the touchdown passes were on plays of more than 65 yards.

Washington did not score the extra point following four of its six touchdowns. The last of those TD's, though, was the game-winner in overtime, so Max Zendejas didn't get an opportunity to blow this one after the Redskins won this wild affair 44-38.

Jay Schroeder managed "only" 378 yards in the air, but he led his team to the game's final three touchdowns, including the 38-yarder to Gary Clark to win it . . . but that's getting way ahead of things.

Washington bolted to a quick 10-0 lead, but the Vikings responded as Kramer heated up. A 67-yard touchdown pass to receiver Leo Lewis gave the Vikings a 14-10 lead by the time the first quarter ended.

They gave the lead right back to Washington when a shotgun snap went over Kramer's head and end Dexter Manley snared it in stride, racing unchallenged 26 yards for a touchdown. The shape of things to come was seen, however, when Zendejas' point after was low and got blocked, allowing the Vikings to claim the halftime lead at 17-16 as Chuck Nelson kicked a 39-yard field goal with about a minute left in the quarter.

The visitors quickly extended their lead in the third quarter with a 68-yard bomb from Kramer to tight end Steve Jordan. After a Zendejas field goal, George Rogers converted a fourth and one at the Minnesota 40 in grand fashion. He broke through the line, cut back and went all the way and the Redskins were up by two at 26-24 following the extra point. They enjoyed the lead for about a minute and a half as Kramer went to Lewis for 76 yards and a touchdown with six seconds left in the third quarter.

A much shorter Kramer TD toss—one yard to Darrin Nelson—followed a pass interference call in the end zone against cornerback Barry Wilburn. Minnesota was up by 12 with less than seven minutes left to play.

The home team responded swiftly, moving 65 yards in three plays, with a 30-yard catch by Clint Didier setting up a 34-yard scoring pass from Schroeder to Art Monk. It didn't seem to matter that Zendejas missed the point after as another touchdown would tie the game and surely, a professional kicker couldn't miss two PAT's in a row. Or could he?

We found out after Schroeder completed a bomb to Didier at the two, who was credited with the catch after replay reviews on the question of if he trapped it were inconclusive. After Rogers ran over from there with 1:03 left, Zendejas did the unthinkable: he missed his second extra point in a row. The roar from the RFK crowd quickly turned to grumbles of disgust as the game headed to overtime tied at 38.

The crowd did go home happy, though. The Redskins won the overtime coin toss. Four plays into the extra period, from the Minnesota 38, Schroeder threw a 15-yard pattern to Clark, who broke away from the Minnesota cornerback and raced down the left sideline for the winning score.

Flashback Friday: Skins Win in Dallas and Get In

The scenarios were simple going into the last game of the 1976 regular season. The Redskins needed a win to secure a playoff spot. The Cowboys needed a win to secure home field advantage throughout the playoffs. In a classic battle, the Redskins prevailed.

From the pages of my upcoming book The Redskins Chronicle:

Texas Stadium 12/12/1976—The Redskins moved past the Cowboys and into the NFL playoffs by scoring 14 points in a 50-second span in the fourth quarter.

Washington held a 10-7 halftime lead, but that evaporated less than three minutes into the second half. Roger Staubach hit Butch Johnson with a 43-yard touchdown pass to put Dallas up 14-10. That was largely the extent of Staubach's contributions to his team's effort; thanks to constant pressure by the Redskins defense, he completed just five of 22 passes on the day for 91 yards.

The visitors edged closer on Mark Moseley's 27-yard field goal about five minutes later. The Cowboys was still clinging to its 14-13 lead when they punted to Washington with 7:24 left in the game. Starting from midfield, a nine-yard reception by Mike Thomas and John Riggins' three-yard run earned a first down at the 38. After two straight incompletions, the Redskins faced third and ten. Then came what Billy Kilmer called "the play of the game."

Dallas came with an all-out blitz and safety Cliff Harris joined those rushing towards Kilmer. The quarterback barely got off a wobbly pass, but it found Thomas, who had snuck into the area over the middle that Harris had vacated, at the 10 yard line. He was tackled at the four.

A couple of penalties pushed the Redskins back to the 15 where they faced second and goal. Ex-Cowboy Calvin Hill followed Riggins around left end and swept in for the go-ahead score with 4:34 left.

Certainly, it was not yet time to celebrate, but that would come soon enough. On first down from the 21, Ron McDole sacked Staubach for a loss of twelve. On the next play, Diron Talbert swatted Staubach's pass into the air. It bounced off of Dallas center John Fitzgerald and possibly one other player before it fell into the arms of defensive end Dennis Johnson at the three. The game and the playoff spot were secured when Riggins took advantage of some brutal blocking that allowed him to score the clincher untouched.

Forgotten Classic: Williams Nails Down the Job

This game, the 1987 regular-season finale, had no significance in and of itself for Washington. The Redskins already had wrapped up the division title and their playoff seeding was set.

And, yes, even though both of the teams' records add up to 15 games it was the finale. This was a strike season and one game, the third one of the season, was cancelled. The replacement players started in week four.

Back to this game, the significance of it was the Jay Schroeder started the game and Doug Williams finished it. Based on the fact that Schroeder was ineffective in this game and that Williams rallied the team to an overtime win, Joe Gibbs gave Williams the nod to be the starter for the playoffs.

The rest, as they say, is history, such as the 35 points the Redskins racked up in the second quarter of Super Bowl XXII with Williams pulling the trigger.

You have to wonder what might have happened if Schroeder had played well, or even just OK. I don't think that the Redskins win it all with Schroeder behind center, but you never know.

From the pages of my upcoming book The Redskins Chronicle:

12/26/87	Redskins (11-4) 27, VIKINGS (8-7) 24 (OT)						59,160
Was	0	7	7	10	3	27
Min	7	0	0	17	0	24
Min	Anderson 9 run (C. Nelson kick)
Was	Wilburn 100 interception return (Haji-Shiekh kick)
Was	Sanders 46 pass from Williams (Haji-Shiekh kick)
Min	Anderson 1 run (C. Nelson kick)
Min	Wilson 1 run (C. Nelson kick)
Min	FG C. Nelson 20
Was	FG Haji-Shiekh 37
Was	Sanders 51 pass from Williams (Haji-Shiekh kick)
Was	FG Haji-Shiekh 26

The Metrodome—Doug Williams replaced an ineffective Jay Schroeder at quarterback and, along with Barry Wilburn and Ricky Sanders, sparked a 27-24 overtime win over the Vikings.

Williams entered the game midway through the third quarter with the contest tied at seven. Washington's only score had come courtesy of Wilburn. The Vikings, already leading 7-0, were driving, perched at the Redskin seven. Quarterback Wade Wilson tried to sneak a pass through double coverage, but he found the belly of Wilburn at the goal line. Wilburn headed upfield, broke through the pack and got into the clear. The final obstacle to his team-record 100-yard interception return was removed when Todd Bowles dispatched receiver Anthony Carter with a block around the Minnesota 40.

Williams had an instant impact, throwing a 46-yard touchdown pass to Sanders on his fourth play to put his team up 14-7. After that things cooled for the Redskins and heated up considerably for Minnesota. Starting with the first play of the fourth quarter, the Vikings ran off 17 points in five and a half minutes of play and the Metrodome was rocking as the home team led 24-14.

The Redskins responded quickly, driving to a field goal by Ali Haji-Shiekh to cut the lead to seven. Then, with 2:21 to play, they regained possession at their own 40. On third and one at the 49, Sanders ran a hitch-and-go and was wide open to catch Williams' pass for 51 yards, tying the game at 24. Haji-Shiekh missed a potential game-winning 33-yard field goal attempt in the final minute and the game went into overtime.

The Vikings never saw the ball in the OT. Washington won the toss and Sanders returned the kickoff 36 yards. Sanders then caught two passes for 32 yards to key a foray down inside the Minnesota 10. Joe Gibbs immediately called for Haji-Shiekh, who displayed the kicker's best friend—a short memory—as he ended it by drilling it through from 26 yards.

Forgotten Classic: A Sonny Day

The Sonny Jurgensen era was coming to the end in 1974. In fact, he "retired" at the end of that season (actually, George Allen did not offer him a contract for 1975). But he did have his last hurrah in this game against the two-time defending champion Dolphins at RFK Stadium.

Although it's impossible to say for sure, this game serves as fuel for the argument that the Redskins would have beaten the Dolphins in Super Bowl VII.

From the pages of my upcoming book The Redskins Chronicle.

10/13/74	REDSKINS (3-2) 20, Dolphins (3-2) 17					54,395
Mia	7	0	3	7		17
Was	0	0	3	17		20
Mia	Ginn 6 run (Yepremian kick)
Mia	FG Yepremian 32
Was	FG Moseley 40
Was	Jefferson 33 pass from Jurgensen (Moseley kick)
Was	FG Moseley 41
Mia	Twilley 13 pass from Griese (Yepremian kick)
Was	L. Smith 6 pass from Jurgensen

RFK Stadium—It was a Sonny day.

The 40-year old quarterback led a fourth quarter rally that was the stuff that Hall of Famers are made of. This was the first meeting between the Washington and Miami since the Fins defeated the Skins in Super Bowl VII. There are many, both Redskins rooters and others, who believe that the outcome in that game at the LA Coliseum would have been different had No. 9 been taking the snaps that day. The reality is, though, that Jurgensen was out with an Achilles tendon injury and Miami completed its perfect 17-0 season with a 14-7 win

The stakes weren't nearly as high for this early-season game, with both teams just jockeying for playoff position rather than gunning for the Lombardi Trophy. Still, it was a chance to see how Jurgensen could do against the Dolphins, at this point the two-time defending NFL champs.

In the first half, the answer was "not very well". The Dolphins took the opening kickoff and drove in for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. After that, Jurgensen threw three interceptions, and the final one killed a promising drive near halftime.

Miami got a field goal in the middle of the third quarter to extend its lead to 10-0. Larry Jones returned the ensuing kickoff 57yards to set up a Mark Moseley field goal. The special teams pitched in again when Dennis Johnson forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and Brad Dusek recovered it on the Miami 33. Jurgensen converted immediately, throwing a perfect pass to Roy Jefferson on the next play to knot the score at 10 early in the fourth quarter.

On the next drive, the Redskins took the lead after a 19-yard connection from Jurgensen to Jefferson set up a 41-yard Moseley field goal. Washington had a chance to extend its lead with five minutes left, but Moseley missed from 45 yards and opened the door for Miami. Bob Griese converted a third and 10 with a 48-yard completion to Nat Moore that put the Dolphins in business at the Washington 24. Soon after that, Miami faced third and 11 at the 13. Cornerback Mike Bass blitzed, Griese just got his pass off into the area vacated by Bass and Howard Twilley caught it for the touchdown to make it 17-13.

To call to ensuing drive great just doesn't do it justice. Nor do other adjectives such as heroic or clutch. Here's what happened, and you can come up with your own superlative:

Starting with 1:54 left from the Washington 40 following Herb Mul-Key's 32-yard kickoff return:

Jurgensen to Moses Denson for six yards.

Jurgensen to Jerry Smith for 10.

Jurgensen to Charley Taylor for four

Jurgensen to Taylor for 18

Jurgensen to Jefferson for 16

From the Miami six, Jurgensen pass intended for Larry Smith incomplete

Jurgensen to L. Smith for six yards and a touchdown with 16 seconds left on the clock.

Wow.

Larry Smith was tackled by linebacker Doug Swift, a clear infraction that went unflagged, on the incompletion prior to the touchdown. Jurgensen called for the same pattern, a slant, and this time Smith caught the ball over the middle and battled his way through linebackers Swift and Nick Buoniconti to inch the ball over the goal