The Washington Redkins

My memory of the Washington Redskins date back to around the 1986 period when I lived in the Washington DC metropolitan area. You can not stay in this general location without hearing about the skins as they are affectionately called by their fans. There are shows all the time highlighting the achievements of this proud franchise. They used to play their homes games at RFK stadium which rightly gave them their name of Washington Redskins. Legends of the franchise that you get to hear about include names like the famous coach George Allen. I believe he took them to an NFC championship in his days. Sunny Jorgenson(a quarter back famous for his flamboyant lifestyle and good play making while being completely out of sharp).Sports announcer George Michael did his best to give you the latest news coming out of Redskins camp.

The team that I followed though was the one put together by the late owner Jack Kent Cooke.He too had a not to quite life.Married to a hot headed Argentina wife ,rumored at at one point to have attempted to run him over with a car after a heated argument. Mr Cooke did do one great think though; he hired the legendary coach Joe Gibbs. Not a popular choice at the time of this hire because he was a relatively unknown.He would lead them to three super bowl victories before taking a crack at retirement. The first super bowl under Joe Gibbs came I believe in the 1982 season . It is the game in which John Riggins had that famous 44 yard gutsy 4th and 2 call run into the end zone to seal victory for the skins. If you watch any highlight reel of the Washington Red kins you would see the famous run, together with the head bow to the crowd after the touchdown run.

Gibbs would get two more super bowl victories, the first one with a one time Tampa Bay Buccaneer quarterback named Doug Williams. Doug Williams only got into the games after the designated starting Jay Schroeder was injured in the first quarter I believe. Down 10-0 to Denver's led John Elway team, Williams rallied the skins for 44 unanswered points to cap a brilliant MVP performance. Doug Williams was out of the skins organization by the next season and the last I heard of him was as coach of Grambling University. African-American institution known for having supplied a few players to the NFL. There was another individual though that had a great game in this demolition of the Denver Broncos. The name I believe is Timmy Smith. He rushed for four touchdowns during this super bowl game and the next season he could not even secure a place in the redskins backfield.

That is when the mystery of the running game began to unfold. The hogs is the name given to those monsters offensive linemen that Joe Gibbs and his coaching staff help built. Russ Grimm; Joe Jacoby, Jim Lachey(he came in from the Los Angeles Raiders organization)I cannot remember the names of the other linemen but if you mention the hogs in the Washington DC area everybody knows what you are talking about .After Timmy Smith had his famous super bowl touchdowns, one Washington post writer correctly pointed out that the hogs were responsible for creating the holes through which Timmy Smith galloped through for his touchdown runs.

The third super bowl victory saw a different quarterback at the helm. Mark Ripkens was is name. No prior significant achievements before joining the Redskins but he would get MVP performances during this third super bowl victory over the Buffalo Bills. In the regular season the skins set a then NFL record for most points per game. They were just blowing oppnents away.Gary Clark and Art Monk provided the core of the receiving yards ad touchdowns.In the defense you had people like Charles Mann,Wilbur Marshall, Monte Coleman that I remember but the person that defined how the linebacker position should be played was sack master Dexter Manley. Noted for his on and off the field problems he was the mouthpiece of the defense and played the game with reckless abandon. Rumor had it that he was the only player to have taking a pay cut to play for the NFL. I guess he did get some serious cash at his alma mata in Oklahoma State.

Darrell Green, you have to mention anytime you talk about defense in the Gibbs era. He is the sure hall of fame corner. At only 5-8 he is the one you would see in the highlight reel returning a punt return for a touch against the Chicago Bears with separately shoulders and all. You look at his size and you wonder weather current wide receivers would not eat him alive in the current league. The only person that gave Mr Green problems was Dallas Cowboys wide-out Michael Irvin.

So what is going on since Mr Cooke died and sold the franchise to current owner Dan Snyder. They are looking for that magical winning formula that only comes to professional franchises once in ages. The Red kins have gone through a lot of coaches including bringing back the legendary Joe Gibbs. Rich tie Pettibone(former defensive coordinator under Gibbs)got a brief run at the job. So did coach Marthe; Steve Spurrier(from the college rank). The organization has also thrown a lot of money at free agents.They built a brand new stadium in landover and called it their new home. Landover is in Maryland but the Washington Redskins name still stood. Financially the skins are a huge success. I do not think that you can go buy tickets to their home games, you have to get in line and wait for ages for you name to finally show up. On the field of play thought they are still looking for the winning past formula. Sean Taylors death was real tragic, I remember the skins passing over Kellen Winslow coming out of the University of Miami to get Taylor instead. Winslow was real disappointed and ended up in Cleveland. He was rumored to be the one with the off the field problems. I think Taylor's death would stay with the organization for some time. It is not ever day that you get a playermaker like him and it is just sad that somebody like that gets murdered out of football.

When is the turn around going to come for the Redskins.It Is very hard to say. The NFL is a very competitive league and going into each season the 32 two or so teams are all vying to win the super bowl. If I where a Redkins fan I would just look at those past super bowl trophies and say "you know what?we have a great professional football organization here in Washington DC.