chff.com: Hail To The 1991 Washington Redskins: Best Team Of The Super Bowl Era?

[Audible_Red40]

Oh the memories.  Great read!  Click on the link for the full article.

 

http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/content/hail-to-the-1991-washington-redskins-best-team-the-super-bowl-era/23533/

 

 

Joe Gibbs had a marvelous coaching career with the Washington Redskins. He led the team to its most successful stretch in the modern era, fielding four Super Bowl participants and three champions from 1982 through 1991.
 

The early Gibbs teams are fondly remembered for their colorful cast of characters – renowned partier John Riggins and the Hogs chief among them. 

 

Those teams, however, won their championships during strike seasons (1982, 1987), casting a slight shadow on their legacy.

The 1991 team, though, thoroughly dominated the league in a “normal” regular season, with a 14-2 record followed by three dominating postseason victories. 

Mark Rypien became the third quarterback of the Gibbs era to win a ring while the defense and the offense were both dominant.

 

Unfortunately, this outrageously good team is frequently overlooked in casual discussions of the best teams ever.

The Cold, Hard Football Facts are sick and tired of the disrespect. 

The 1991 Washington Redskins have a statistical case as the best team of the Super Bowl era.

Prepare to have your mind bludgeoned by the awesomeness of this team, much like it bludgeoned its opponents on its rampage through the NFL.

 

A One-Season Wonder

In 1990, Washington gave little indication that it was coalescing into such a juggernaut. 

Granted, the team’s 10-6 record was nothing to be ashamed of. But three different quarterbacks started games, they were middling defensively (13th of 28 in points allowed) and they lost all three regular season meetings with the defending (San Francisco) and pending (New York Giants) champions.

The offense in 1990 was very good, posting 381 points scored (4th), but the team’s scoring differential of +80 was far from special, and their Passer Rating Differential was only +1.0. Washington's sack differential was a very good +23, but in every other category the Redskins looked like they would continue to be about a 10-win team in 1991.

When 1991 rolled around, Washington had jettisoned Stan Humphries and turned the reins of the offense over to Mark Rypien. 

Rypien rewarded the move by leading the NFL in game-winning drives (5) and 25-yard+ touchdown passes (14). He was second in touchdown passes (28), passer rating (98.0) and yards per attempt (8.5), and finishing in the top 10 in various other passing categories.

Rypien tossed the pigskin to a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in Hall of Famer Art Monk (1,049) and near-miss Gary Clark (1,340). Six different receivers caught passes of at least 25 yards.

The rushing attack was paced by Earnest Byner (1,048 yards) and Gerald Riggs (11 TDs). The team’s 21 rushing scores led the league.

 

 

[skinsmarydu]

That was a magical season.  I worked at Bennigan's at the time, and everyone who worked there was a sports freak.  (Seriously, the most fun I've had in all these years, even tho the job itself absolutely sucked!)  We had 4 UNC graduates, (two couples, oddly enough), so the hoops rivalry between us was alive & well. But all 4 of them were Skins fans.  We all watched that SB at the bar at work...one of the best days of my life!  I couldn't be with my family, but then again, I was. 

 

(I've had a really crappy start to my day...thanks for brightening it up!)

 

Hail!

[martytheman]

It was a truly dominant team.. I still maintain they would have repeated in 1992 if Rypien had not held out the entire offseason.

They were one Brian Mitchell fumble away from going to the NFC championship game where I'm positive they would have beaten Dallasss.

 

 

*funny story about that team, I had a buddy at the time who was a Cardinals fan, and he was arguing about how Rypien wasn't a "real" qb because all he did was throw bombs LOL

[Henry]

That 92 team was very banged up. The offensive line got old and couldn't stay healthy. We really had no business winning more than about 4 games that season, but Gibbs can squeeze blood out of a stone and got us to 9 wins on sheer force of will. In my opinion '92 was the greatest coaching job of his career. I don't really blame Rypien for that season. He was an ok QB but he wasn't a franchise-type player and his performance wasn't going to make or break our season. 

 

Our window was closing in 92. We just didn't know it.

[Audible_Red40]

It's just remarkable how that team is perceived as an offensive juggernaugt.  But that defense was sensational and doesn't get as much credit as the offense does. which it certainly deserves.

[martytheman]

That 92 team was very banged up. The offensive line got old and couldn't stay healthy. We really had no business winning more than about 4 games that season, but Gibbs can squeeze blood out of a stone and got us to 9 wins on sheer force of will. In my opinion '92 was the greatest coaching job of his career. I don't really blame Rypien for that season. He was an ok QB but he wasn't a franchise-type player and his performance wasn't going to make or break our season. 

 

Our window was closing in 92. We just didn't know it.

 

Yes the OL was showing it's age and was starting to get banged up, but with Ryp missing basically the entire offseason, the offense was just out of sync from day 1 of his return, and it continued all season. We're talking about a team that went from scoring 480 points in '91 to just 300 in 92..

Rypien was a big part of the reason why.

He went from throwing 28 td's with 11 int's and having a rating of 98

to throwing only 13 td's , with 17 int's and having a 71 qbr..

 

Alot of that wasted season falls directly on Rypien's shoulders dude.

[Gregpeck99]

It seems like yesterday ... we were siting in our end zone seats ... watching Skins destroy the Lions in the opener in what was almost a "perfect storm of a game" ... and a harbinger of things to come that season.

[SWFLSkins]

Yeah the D was also dominant. Best ever? Don't really know. One of the best for sure. 

[CrypticVillain]

I'm sorry but the 91 Redskins were the best Super Bowl team ever. Just look at the schedule, they killed teams...

 

Look at these scores

 

45-0

34-0

23-0

42-17

56-17

41-14

27-6

And that was just the regular season.

 

Poor Barry Sanders. We played the Lions twice that year and they combined to get outscored 86-10 in those two games lol....

[TD_washingtonredskins]

My signature from America's Game really sums up how dominant this team was. They took the bridesmaids of the NFC behind the woodshed and made a joke of the Bills in the Super Bowl.

 

I will concede that 1991 was probably a down year (a couple of normal contenders were in transition), but the difference between the Redskins and the rest of the league was stark.

[Henry]

That 92 team was very banged up. The offensive line got old and couldn't stay healthy. We really had no business winning more than about 4 games that season, but Gibbs can squeeze blood out of a stone and got us to 9 wins on sheer force of will. In my opinion '92 was the greatest coaching job of his career. I don't really blame Rypien for that season. He was an ok QB but he wasn't a franchise-type player and his performance wasn't going to make or break our season. 

 

Our window was closing in 92. We just didn't know it.

 

Yes the OL was showing it's age and was starting to get banged up, but with Ryp missing basically the entire offseason, the offense was just out of sync from day 1 of his return, and it continued all season. We're talking about a team that went from scoring 480 points in '91 to just 300 in 92..

Rypien was a big part of the reason why.

He went from throwing 28 td's with 11 int's and having a rating of 98

to throwing only 13 td's , with 17 int's and having a 71 qbr..

 

Alot of that wasted season falls directly on Rypien's shoulders dude.

 

He'd been the starting QB for four years and this was a veteran team. Rypien missing an offseason wasn't going to throw the entire team out of whack like that. I remember the backlash he got for holding out. Hell I was mad too. I remember him getting booed as he took the field in our home opener against Atlanta. We were all mad at him. But that season wasn't his fault. 

 

Only two day-one starters on the offensive line made it through the season. 33 year-old Joe Jacoby played about half the season, and was hurt most of that time anyway. Jim Lachey started to fall apart. Our sack rate tripled from what it was the previous two seasons. 30 year-old Earnest Byner failed to rush for 1000 yards for the first time in three years. Darrell Green broke his arm and only played half the season.  The team was old and falling apart.

 

It's not like we were not productive on offense early in the year and things eventually picked it up once it got 'in synch.' We averaged 21 points a game over the first five weeks. Over the following six weeks we averaged 12 points. (Amazingly, we went 3-3 over that span because, like I said, Gibbs was getting everything he could out of the Battling Outpatients.) I think I did blame Rypien initially too, but as the season wore on it was clear he wasn't nearly as big a problem as just the team was falling apart. I think that's one of the reasons Gibbs left when he did, because it became obvious that we had a big rebuild ahead of us, and we had just traded up to draft Desmond Howard ...

[Riggo-toni]

The 85 Bears were a 1 year wonder, mostly cuz the Skins knocked them out of the playoffs the next 2 years, but people still talk about them as the greatest ever.

If u ever want proof of what a biased, mindless dikkhead Peter King is, not only did he not put the 91 Skins in his top 5 SB era teams, but he put the 1990 Bills at #5. When questioned about it, he said the 91 Skins just didn't dominate the way his other choices did. Seriously, WTF!! They beyotch-slapped your friggin Bills team which was one year removed from what u (delusionally) name the 5th best ever....Find another career, you annoying fatass

[NoCalMike]

'91 was pure domination.  That was one of those "no doubt" situations where every week felt like they were facing inferior competition regardless of how good those teams might have looked against some other team, some other week.

 

That team just toyed with the league, it truly was incredible.

 

I was still really young, and the following season, losing to SF in the playoffs sucked.  I was hoping for a showdown with Dallas in the championship, but everything looked a little off with the team in SF.  The fumble, and then there was a a sure-INT that went right through the hands of someone, not sure if it was Green or not, and I believe the catch resulted in a TD.....that was a sign of the error-filled day.

[hailyeah1]

Well That 91 team was dominate ,hopfuly we are seeing a 10 year stretch of that now  with our offense fixed and better play out of our defense  

With the Douphus Cowpies beating those same Bills teams twice didn't help with respect for our team .

Still unbelievable that the Bills couldn't have at least won one of the two.

we beat down those  Cowpies all the time.

 

P.S. You can step on all the cowpies you want ,just don't step in one LOL!!!

[Mania]

 

 

*funny story about that team, I had a buddy at the time who was a Cardinals fan, and he was arguing about how Rypien wasn't a "real" qb because all he did was throw bombs LOL

Tell Kenny Stabler that and the entire team of renegades will demolish you.

[skins island connection]

 91' was a season where everything lined up perfectly for the Skins, and it was predicted by many before the season started. "It just does", as quoted in Joe Dirt, everything seemed to fall into place; the defense was pitching shut-outs in the beginning at home, Ryp had held out but got in and made the best of it, and boy did he ever!

 

One of the unsung heroes of the season was Chip Lohmiller, who bailed us out of a few close games, and without him, it could have been possible that we would not have been seeded #1 in the post-season. I mean, c'mon, when your kicker outscores an ENTIRE NFL team { Colts } that says a lot about the ability to move the ball downfield.

 

Peter King was/is nothing but a hater, JKC probably didn't give him a clubhouse room so he decided he would bash any and everything Redskins.

 

I just hope that when we're hoisting the Lombardi, all the haters out there don't get a chance at any interviews, especially Heath Evans; every time he's on tv, I look for the air nozzle and hope someone pulls it open...

[FunBunch7]

Another HUUUUGE factor to support this argument is our point differential... I believe we outscored our opponents by a whopping 285 pts... still a record for Super Bowl winners... New England would have surpassed that number had they gone undefeated but fooey!

 

I'm still erked that we lost to Philly in the the finale on a last second field goal...  We pulled out starters after we lost out on a chance at surrendering the fewest sacks ever... I believe we had allowed only 6 going in but the Eagle Defense got us 3x... then we pulled our starters... they kept theirs in cuz it was their Super Bowl...

 

If we had been 15-1 I believe we would be in the conversation more with the 84' 49ers (15-1) and the 85' Bears (15-1)

 

But I still say we were the best ever!

 

HTTR!

[36HAMMER]

I agree whole heartedly I mean I am soo tired of seeing the Broncos of the late 90's being put ahead of us each time the nfl network does a greatest superbowl  team of all time count down. To me the reason is clear, the Redskins were a TEAM that was greater than the sum of their partsover all. I believe there are plenty of guys on that team who should be in the hall of fame but they were out going or  personaility   culters who attracted a lot of attention. Look at the Superbowl that year, We clearly dominated the whole year and yet Buffalo got all the press because of the  of Smith and Thomas and their flare for attention.i'll always love hearin tally sayin keep playin, their not that good if we keep playin. If our coach wasn't the type of man he is we could have put up many more points in that game and the Denver massacre.As far as the shadow on the strike years, I understand others make that comment but I know that if Miami or dallas or san fran would have won those then nothing would have been said.But now with Robert we do have a person who can attract the imagination of the sporting world, something we never have had . HTTR  I'm Proud of the Lunch Pale Redskins of the first GIBBS era. Also no one ever brings up the fact that the highly touted Bears who all thought were a lock to be a juggernaut were beaten not once but twice on their own home field in the playoffs by these same Redskins.

[pjfootballer]

We won that SB on my 24th birthday. What a great day that was.

[Henry]

To this day I wish we hadn't let off the gas on defense and allowed the BIlls to get those two garbage time TDs in the fourth quarter. Had the final score been 37-10 I think that '91 team would have been on everyone's top five list.

[Jumbo]

What Henry said. In my cold dark universe  , sometimes "nice" or even "respectful" is misplaced. 

[skins island connection]

 Gibbs had the team focused and determined.

 

 Mark Rypien said it best;  " we just weren't sexy enough" during an interview during the season, even though they were something like 10-0 or 11-0 at that point.

 

The focus was on the Bills, who were looking to repeat their previous season accomplishments, with their 'high powered offense', let by Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas.

 

 Then there was the Atlanta Falcons, with Deion Sanders and his 65 lbs of bling and outlandishly loud clothing that he strutted out in front of cameras wearing. I gotta admit, it was a nice feeling to beat those chumps twice that year, especially with Ricky Sanders running Deion ragged all day long.

 

Then there was Mike Utley's injury, and the emotional ride the Lions rode, yet once again, the Redskins beat twice during the season, but was in the media alot.

 

There were alot of characters and teams making news for one reason or another, and evidently the Redskins just took care of business and flew under the radar. The entire league pretty much knew that the Redskins were bound for the SuperBowl, so maybe it wasn't as big a deal, being they simply blew teams out left and right during the season, the media and America for that matter kinda expected it.

 

SIC

[gortiz]

It's just remarkable how that team is perceived as an offensive juggernaugt.  But that defense was sensational and doesn't get as much credit as the offense does. which it certainly deserves.

Offense is sexy man ... no one is ever going to compliment Kate Upton on her personality before they pay homage to her big ole ... eyelashes. 

[TD_washingtonredskins]

That team was so fun to watch, but by November I was a basket case. I went from enjoying the early-fall blowouts to realizing how much we had to lose. By the time we lost to Dallas, we were pretty much just playing out the string until the Divisional round of the playoffs. There was no doubt we would win the division at that point and, unless something ridiculous happened, have a bye. I remember as a 14-year old being so scared of what might happen if we just had one bad day in the playoffs.

 

Luckily, the team didn't miss a beat and was so focused and determined to dominate anyone in its path. What a truly balanced and great team that was. We may win more Super Bowls in my lifetime, but it would be next to impossible to follow a team that great again.

[pjfootballer]

Only season in my life that I never worried about losing a game. I really thought we'd win them all.