Redskins Rewind: Redskins vs. Eagles

SmootSmack

Redskins vs. Eagles

First off, I’d like to apologize for not being able to publish a Redskins Rewind column last week. Things were kind of hectic last week. Moving on now, this week we look at hated NFC East rivals-the Philadelphia Eagles. Once again, we’ll just focus on the Gibbs 1.0 era as it would be too long to go through the entire history of Redskins vs. Eagles. After getting owned, or “pwned”, this past weekend against the Giants it may be a bit encouraging to know that the Eagles historically have not had much success playing at the Redskins with Joe Gibbs at the helm. But let’s start at the beginning.

Picture it, RFK Stadium, December 6, 1981. The Eagles, led by future ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski, rolled over the Redskins’ D to the tune of 415 yards (to the Redskins’ 175 yards), but games are not determined by yards gained. This game came down to kicking, or the lack thereof. With just under a minute left the Eagles, down 15-13, lined up for what was seemingly a 20-something yard chip shot. The Eagles kicker never got a chance to even try as the holder botched the snap and the Redskins walked away with a nail-biter of a victory; one that should have never come down to that field goal had Mark Moseley not missed two extra points.

In 1982, the Redskins played their home opener against the Eagles….Thanksgiving weekend. The Redskins jumped to a 10-0 halftime lead thanks to Moseley field goal and a 65 yard TD pass from Theismann to Charlie Brown. The third quarter was a different story as Ron Jaworksi hit Harold Carmichael on a 40 yard TD to pass to pull the Eagles within one. Luck was on the Redskins’ side as the Eagles missed the extra point and the Redskins ultimately walked away with yet another nail-biter victory over Philadelphia.

After yet another narrow 28-24 victory over the Eagles in 1983, the Redskins decided they’d finally had enough. When the Eagles came to RFK in September of 1984 the Redskins were not very gracious hosts. After a scoreless first quarter, Joe Gibbs dug into his bag of tricks early in the second quarter. John Riggins took the hand off for his standard up the middle run…but then he stopped and flipped the ball back to Joey T. With the Eagles’ defense running up to the line to stop Riggo, no one bothered with Art Monk. Theismann hit Monk for a 51-yard TD and a 7-0 lead. Theismann also ran for 57 yards, including a 25-yarder in the third quarter that led to the Redskins second touchdown of the game. Meanwhile the Eagles’ offense was no match for the Redskin defense as Washington shut Philadelphia out 20-0.

Bitter from their shut-out at RFK the year before, the Eagles came to RFK in 1985 ready for revenge. Washington was favored by over two touchdowns, yet for the first time since 1982 they failed to score a single touchdown. The Eagles, helped in part by rookie QB Randall Cunningham, left town with a 19-6 win.

The Redskins welcomed the Eagles to RFK to kick off the 1986 season. It was not a warm welcome. Kelvin Bryant scored two touchdowns, Steve Cox hit a team-record 55-yard field goal, and the defense recorded six sacks as the Redskins cruised to a 41-14 win. The Redskins won the season opener at RFK again in 1987, 34-24, with Doug Williams filling in for an injured Jay Schroeder.

One of the strangest games of the 1989 season took place in week two. The Redskins wasted no time jumping to an early lead. On the first play from scrimmage, Mark Rypien connected with Gary Clark on an 80-yard TD pass. The next time the Redskins got the ball Gerald Riggs cruised 41 yards for the Redskins’ second TD. A few minutes later Rypien hit Earnest Byner for yet another TD. At halftime the Redskins were up with a solid 30-14 lead. By the fourth it was 30-28.

Up 37-35 things then got strange for the Redskins. Gerald Riggs, trying to kill the clock late in the game, fumbled when offensive guard Raleigh McKenzie bumped into him. Philly linebacker Al Harris picked up the fumble and was immediately tackled by Jim Lachey. But before he went down Harris flipped the ball to safety Wes Hopkins. The Immaculate Lateral as it were because the Redskins insisted it was a forward pass making the play dead. Thinking the play was dead the Redskins hesitated giving Hopkins just enough time to coast to the Redskins’ 4 yard line to set up the game winner. In spite of Riggs’ 221 yards rushing and Rypien’s 4 TD passes the Eagles left the Redskins humiliated with a 42-37 win.

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Redskins_P

As always, nice work T....