CINCINNATI RALLY FALLS SHORT-SKINS PREVAIL 23-17

Cincinnati led by Andy Wienrib came into this game with a very well rounded offense. Due to that, it made the case of defending them that much harder. Washington though led by Bill Vogt had made a commitment to first stopping the pass then worry about the run. For the first three quarters that strategy paid off.

Washington (8-1-1) would win the toss and get the ball first. “To be honest I was hoping to lose the toss and get the ball first to start the second half” said Coach V. Washington would start its opening possession at its own 31 yard line. As has been the M.O. of this team all season long they went to their star RB Larry Brown (23-122 rushing and 8-73 receiving) went off tackle for a 6 yard gain. Later in the drive with the Skins at the Bengals 35 he would rumble 26 yards to the 9. Sonny Jurgensen (19-22-264-2 TD) would then go play action and find his go to receiver Jerry Smith (8-130) to put the Skins up early 7-0. “Brown is such a great running back that if you give him an inch of space he can go all the way” said LB Al Beauchamp. Then throw in the threat of Jurgensen passing it makes it even more difficult to defend these Skins” he added. Cincinnati on its opening possession would begin at its 35 and on its first play RB Essex Johnson (13-111) would rumble 17 yards to the 48 of the Skins. On the next play though, Doug Dressler would turn the ball over after a 2 yard gain setting the Skins up with great field position. “Turnovers are the one thing we couldn’t afford in this game” said QB and the games MVP Kenny Anderson (12-24-143). Cincinnati though to its credit stood tall on defense and forced the Skins to punt the ball back. Washington though would get it back 5 plays later after Cincinnati was forced to punt again. Setting up shop at its own 32, the Skins went to work behind the running of Brown and the passing game by Jurgensen. “He was dead on tonight and hardly ever missed his receivers” stated Coach Weinrib. Brown would start this drive out by gashing over the left side and racing 25 yards to the Cincinnati 43. Two plays later Jurgensen would connect with Smith for another 21 yard gain putting the Skins at the Bengals 21. Three plays after that Jurgensen would hook up with Brown who sneaked out of the backfield to get wide open and race into the endzone from 11 yards out. The quarter would end with Washington leading 14-0.

In the second quarter neither team done much until at the 6+ minute mark when Washington would put together a 10-play 64 yard drive capped off by Curt Knights 23 yard field goal with only 23 seconds left to allow the Skins to head to the locker room up 17-0. “A 17 point lead is not safe in this league” stated Jurgensen when asked if they felt comfortable with the lead.

In the 3rd quarter Washington would extend that lead to 20-0 at the 6:12 mark as Knight added his 2nd of 3 field goals on the day from 16 yards out. On the ensuing kickoff though Washington forgot how to tackle and Bernard F Jackson went 68 yards to the Skins 26 before he was finally tackled. “At that point we thought that the momentum had shifted our way” said Anderson. Two plays later Anderson connected with Chip Myers from 26 yards out and the lead was cut to 20-7. “No doubt the kickoff return gave the boys the confidents they needed” stated Coach W. With the quarter coming to a close the Skins would add another Knight field-goal from 38 yards out to give them a 3 score lead.

The 4th quarter would be a gut wrenching time for Skin fans and even the players. The Bengal fans were sensing an unbelievable comeback by them. With 9:52 left in the game, Cincinnati would start an 11 play 47 yard drive that would eat up 5:43 on the clock that ended up with a Bengal 19 yard field goal to make it a 23-10 affair. Washington knowing that the onside was coming sent in the all hands team. A perfect kick though by Cincinnati would allow them to recover the onside kick and give them great field position. “Crap, I can’t believe they recovered the ball” said Brown. It didn’t take Cincinnati long to make the Skins pay for that mistake. With 2:09 left, Washington called the correct defense along with the proper key but was burned by Anderson and Myers for a 31 yard touchdown. (They got a UP11 roll on the reception) Now down only 23-17, they once again tried the onside and this time it was Washington who came up with it. Now all Washington had to do was kill the final 2:03 on the clock with the Bengals still having all 3 timeouts left. On the first play QB Jurgensen would be called for intentional grounding moving the ball back 15 yards and putting them in a 2nd and 25 situation. On the next play Brown was stopped for a 1 yard loss making it now 3rd and an almost improbable situation of converting the first down. Sonny Jurgensen though would make the play of the game. As he dropped back to pass his intended receiver was Brown on a screen to just get some yards and have his team punt. With Brown being covered tightly Jurgensen found John Henderson open in the middle of the field and he would rumble 43 yards to the Bengals 23. “Unbelievable” Jurgensen would say afterwards. The Bengal coaches though were very animated at the breakdown by its defense. (This would in my opinion even better Green Bays defense vs. Philadelphia in a playoff game where they converted a 4th and 24 with the game on the line). “We have no one to blame but ourselves” said Beauchamp. “Jurgensen made a great play and the receiver found the open spot” he added. Had Cincinnati gotten the ball back we will never know if they could have finished off a spectacular comeback.

Great game and congrats to Andy on a well called game.

third time is the charm for redskins-hold off giants 20-17

This is the third time that these teams have met in the mediocre season. Every time the game did not disappoint the fan base. No blowouts and every game came down to the wire. In the first meeting back in week 5 of the season both teams entered with perfect 4-0 records. In that game the Skins held a 24-10 lead going into the final quarter. By the time the gun sounded though neither team would leave with a loss or a victory as they ended up in a 24-24 tie. In the next meeting that took place in week 8 or position week it was another down to the wire affair that seen very little defense. The Giants appeared to have the game well in hand at the half as they led 29-14 and the Skins defense was yet to stop them. The Skins offense though moved at will also but a fumble deep and an interception stopped those drives. By the time this game was over, Washington kept pounding and chipping away at the Giants to lose 43-35.

Now we go to game three and once again this would not disappoint. Both defenses seemed to come to play although in the beginning it didn’t look that way for the Giants. Washington would get the ball first and would begin its opening drive at its own 27 yard line. The very first play netted 0 yards on a run to RB Larry Brown (19-148) but on the second play they again would go to Brown who would rumble off tackle for 69 yards all the way to the Giants 4. ‘Shocked is the best way to explain it’ said Ron Hornsby. “We had him and then bam he is streaking down the sidelines.” The Giants defense though got tough but eventually gave up a 2 yard touchdown pass on 3rd and goal. Skins QB and MVP Sonny Jurgensen (13-16-215-2td) stated “We barely was able to get the ball in on the pass, they knew what was coming and had it well defended”. By the end of the 1st quarter both teams would exchange field goals and the Skins would lead 10-3.

To start the second quarter it looked as if the Giants were marching for the tying score. Facing a 3rd and 2 from the Skins 37, Norm Snead (13-25-144-1 int) would hit Bob Tucker for a 4 yard gain but he would fumble the ball away to end the drive. Washington would take advantage of that mistake and go the distance to go up 17-3 as Jurgensen would hit Walter Roberts for a 16 yard strike. On the Giants next drive Snead would throw his only interception and set up Washington in great field position. Then the bonehead call of the game took place with Washington facing a 2nd and goal from the 2 with 40 ticks left and no timeouts. Figuring I could get two plays off with one of those being a sure fire field goal (which doesn’t exist with the Skin kickers) they tried to run. They could not get another play off and as Coach V stated “Dumb move, just plain dumb and it could have come back to haunt us”. Instead of leading 20-3 at the half, it was only 17-3.

Entering the 3rd quarter, the Skins knew all to well that a 14 point lead over these Giants guided by Marc Weiss would not be safe. Eventually they knew the Giants offense would get on track and make a push. After a punt by the Giants who started the second half with the ball, the Skins went to work on the clock. Taking off almost 7 minutes on the clock they settled for a Knight 42 yard field goal to go up 20-3. “The first thing that entered my mind was that dumb move I made before the first half ended and still knew that 17 was not a big enough lead” said Coach V. In less than a 4 minute span the Giants put new worry into the Skins as they went 65 yards in 8 plays ending with Ron Johnson (14-58) 7 yard touchdown run to make the score 20-10.

In the 4th after a Washington punt the Giants would drive to the Skins 39 yard line and face a 4th and 1. The Skins defense though would be ready for the 4th down play as they went to quick hitch to Bob Tucker which was tackled for a 4 yard loss. “That play was huge for us” said Pat Fisher. With only 5:20 to play the Skins now could work on the clock with a 10 point lead with more confidence. That confidence would be shattered two plays later when Charlie Harroway would be stripped of the ball and Pat Hughes would recover to give the Giants new life. “I still don’t know where the defender came from to knock it out-it’s my fault I should have protected it better” said Harroway. Four Plays later, Morrison raced 15 yards to the end zone to give the Giants fan a whole new hope as they now trailed only 20-17 with 3:30 to play and 2 timeouts remaining.

Washington now would need a couple of first downs and it was gut check time for the offense. The last thing they wanted to do was make the defense have to come back out and defend against the tying field goal or was the winning touchdown. Washington would answer the call and run the clock out behind the running of Larry Brown and a clutch 21 yard catch by Charlie Taylor from Jurgensen. “I’m not sure I should be the MVP as I think it should go to our defense who in our last meeting with the Giants were ripped to shreds” stated Jurgensen. “This is a great Giants team and it’s too bad someone had to go home” added Jurgensen.

Washington now will face either Cincinnati or Cleveland for the Championship. Can that game match the 3 games that took place between these Giants and Skins? Only time will tell. -contributed by Bill Vogt-