Countdown to Kickoff Celebrating Numbers From Our Past

[kleese]

13 days until we kickoff against the Chargers…

 

Taking this one back to September 12th, 2010

 

Redskins 13, Cowboys 7 

 

I’ve mentioned this before, but I was not THAT high on the Shanny hire. I was certainly relieved we were able to bring a proven coach after the Zorn fiasco, but I wasn’t quite as over the moon for Shanny as many others 

As always though, I was excited for the season to start— a new coaching staff and a new QB. And if I’m being honest, I WAS pretty high on the McNabb trade. I still thought he had gas left in tank. 
 

But the main thing I remember about this game was that after a day of watching football and getting all jazzed up for the game, my 18 month old daughter (hard to believe she’s 12 now) walked into the room, somehow grabbed the remote, and changed the channel literally as the ball was being kicked off to start the game. So that might be the only instance in my history as a fan where I missed the opening kickoff of the season. 
 

I do remember being highly invested in this game. And boy, it was a grind. The DHall play to end the first half was pretty wild. Going into halftime up 10-0 felt like a total steal. Second half was more of the same; both offenses sputtering along. 
 

I always respected Romo and I don’t think people realize how good he was at the end of games (usually). So when we left the door open with about 2:00 remaining only up by 6, I felt pretty uncomfortable. Of course, he led them right downfield. 
 

We actually haven’t had a ton of games over the year decided on the final play that was NOT a FG. So this was a little unique. My heart sank when Romo lofted the ball to Williams in the end zone. It was only a second or two before we realized there was a flag— likely on Dallas— but those couple of seconds really sucked. In my relief realizing the TD didn’t count, my mind was a little scrambled and I forgot that the game was also going to be ruled over due to not being able to extend the game on the last play like that due to a penalty. Slightly obscure rule and it did make the ending a bit anticlimactic. But a feel-good win overall, especially coming off that awful 2009 season. 

[kleese]

12 days until we kickoff against the Chargers…

 

12 is certainly a bit of an odd number to land on in football, but I don’t consider it SUCH an odd score that we would have only finished a game with EXACTLY 12 points 4 times in my lifetime (beginning 1977 season). But that’s what it is.. and in those 43 years we have only won a game one time while finishing with 12 points. A quick look at those four games: 

 

December 12th, 1982 (Redskins 12, Cardinals 7): I was 5, so I don’t have any direct recall of this game, but it was highlighted in America’s Game and a few other videos/highlights over the years. It probably went a long way in earning Mark Mosely the MVP in 1982– he accounted for all of our points— one FG in each quarter. 
 

October 11th, 1998 (Eagles 17, Redskins 12): The infamous 0-7 start to the 1998 season. Really painful because I had extremely high hopes for that team. Weird, I very strongly remember all 7 of those losses and really, that entire season. But this game at the Vet is a blind spot for me. Very little recall. Just a few sketchy mental images. Stats bear out that it was not a memorable game— box score is ugly for both teams. I do remember that Rodney Peete always seemed to play better against us than he did everyone else.

 

Monday, December 21st, 2009 MNF (Giants 45, Redskins 12): If I’m ranking my seasons as a fan from most enjoyable to least, I think 2009

might come in at the very bottom. 2019 actually is in running as well, but 2009 was maybe the only time I can remember legit not LIKING anything about that team. Miserable year. Of course this game would become

infamous for the absurd swinging gate debacle on the last play of the first half. Mike Tirico and Jon Gruden really did a great job with that in the booth— it’s hilarious. This was one of those games where you are trapped as a fan. We were 4-9 going in, so season is long over, and we are a veteran team with a lame duck coach and nothing interesting at all to watch or root for. But it’s a Monday night, I have nothing else to do— so there I am. Just sort of watching the game in a blank-stare-like haze. But that play made me chuckle. Still does— I watch it now and again for kicks. 
 

October 28th, 2012 (Steelers 27, Redskins 12): I was at the game in the Meadowlands the week prior— an absolutely crushing defeat. I still believe that loss to the Giants was THE best game of RG3’s career. He was sensational

that day. Just incredible. Such a disheartening way to lose at the end with the Eli to Cruz bomb and then the Santana fumble. It sucked the life out of the team for a couple of weeks for sure. Me too. I remember being very meh about that Steelers game. Had little hope we’d win and little energy watching the game. I do remember that we had some chances early in that game and whiffed on them. Felt like we were in it and then suddenly we weren’t. This is also the game where we threw a pass to RG3 where he got lit up on the sidelines. We’d lose again the next week to the 1-6 Panthers before starting our great run to end that season. 

 

 

 

 

[kleese]

11 days until we kickoff against the Chargers…

 

Considering this is the 20 year anniversary of 9/11, figured appropriate to make that the focal point of this one— looking back to 20 years ago and then briefly touching on the three games we’ve played on the anniversary since. 
 

I lived in Tulsa at that time. I just gotten married the month prior. Living with my wife in our first place together, a third floor apartment. We didn’t even have a dog yet (we would adopt one a month later and he’d be with us for the next 14 or so years). We lived on south side of town basically in a suburban area. I worked at the time downtown in a 20ish story building. It was an ad agency. I was a total grunt. Terrible job. I basically ran errands all day. It was kind of a joke position, money was nothing, but I wasn’t even 24 yet (that would happen two days later) and I didn’t really care. 
 

That morning was as bright and sunny in Tulsa as it was in NYC. As I was getting ready for work, my wife was watching one of the morning shows and she said to come look at the TV. First plane had hit— and we both figured it was a tragic accident involving a small plane. Honestly didn’t think much of it and I left for work. This is bananas, but I either didn’t have a cell phone then or it was such an old school version that I rarely bothered to have it with me or turned on. In any event, during my drive to work I had no clue what else was transpiring. When I got to work it was clear something was up. Lots of people huddled around TVs or radios. Funny to think back how while we of course had the internet, nothing was streaming. Became obvious quickly we were under attack and there was some panic setting in among the employees. First, they had everyone evacuate the building with the thought being that any high rise in America could be next. With all of the streets of downtown filling with people from the buildings, we eventually got word to just go home. 
 

I imagine my next 48 hours or so were a lot like everyone else’s. We basically stayed home and watched TV non stop. Everyone was sort of paralyzed. After about 48 hours I think there was a realization that the immediate threat was over. I’m a little ashamed to admit this, but I was also very antsy to hear about whether or not the NFL would go on as planned that weekend. We had gotten destroyed week 1 in San Diego and I was anxious to get that one erased and play the Cardinals at FedEx week 2. 
 

I remember being really disappointed when they postponed the games until the week after the season. I remember thinking how incredibly boring the next 10 days or so were going to be. It was absolutely the right decision, but at the time, I was bummed. 
 

Everything was so weird for about 2-3 weeks. Nothing seemed quite right or comfortable. That MNF game in what was supposed to be week 3 was brutal. We embarrassed ourselves that night. Eventually that season turned, but that was a terrible month for the country and a terrible month to be a Redskins fan as well. 
 

We’ve played on 9/11 three times since 2001: 

 

2005 (Redskins 9, Bears 7): Man, 2005 started like a repeat of 2004. What an ugly way to start the season. I specifically remember wondering how in the world were we not winning a game

against Kyle Orton more easily than this? Turns out Orton wasn’t a scrub after all, but I believe at the time he was a surprise out-of-nowhere starter for the Bears. All I really remember here was being knotted up all game. I SO wanted 2005 to go well for Gibbs. Losing at home to Chicago week one would have been really bad. Total relief when that one ended. I also remember the Patrick Ramsey “injury” from that game. 
 

2006 (Vikings 19, Redskins 16): This game reminded me so much of the MNF opener in 1992– less extreme of course. But in 1992 we were defending our SB title and of course I had extremely high hopes. In 2006 season I also had extremely high hopes that we were going to build on our strong 2005 season and be SB contenders. I was very confident prior to 2006. In both of those opening Monday Night games 14 years apart, it was clear something wasn’t right. We didn’t just lose- we didn’t LOOK right. Something was up. At least in 92 we were up against a budding dynasty— in 2006 it was just a meh Vikings team. It seemed like things were OK that night, and then we were tied. And then we were losing. This loss really, really bothered me. Probably about as down after week one as I’ve ever been. 
 

2011 (Redskins 28, Giants 14): 10 Year anniversary of 9/11 and the teams from NY and DC as the primary late afternoon FOX game— I recall them playing that up pretty strong. My hopes for 2011 were pretty modest given our QB situation, but as always, had my fingers crossed week one. This was really a good opener for us. Team played well across the board. We scored right before half to tie it and then Kerrigan had his pick 6 early in the second half. We kind of dominated the game from there. Never felt like the Giants threatened after that. Strong game from Rex who totally outplayed Eli. This would happen again late in the season in NY— strange in a year the Giants would in a SB (one of the worst SB teams ever BTW). 

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

On 8/16/2021 at 11:48 PM, kleese said:

26 Days until kickoff vs the Chargers….

 

Let’s take a look at a 26 point victory that took place on Halloween Day, 1999. 
 

Redskins 48, Bears 22

(26 point victory) 

 

Yesterday we looked at one of the more underrated teams in franchise history (1986); today we visit the opposite- the overrated 1999 team. 
 

1999 started with a bang… the heartbreaking opening day loss to Dallas didn’t erase now explosive our offense was that day. As a matter of fact, through four games to start the season we were averaging over 37 points per game. Brad Johnson was on fire and we looked unstoppable offensively. 
 

Seems many forget that over the second half of the season, we cooled considerably, as did our QB. We also went 10-6 without beating any teams above .500 until week 17 in a meaningless game against the Dolphins. 1999 saw TWO 8-8 teams make the playoffs in the NFC— it was a down year and every time we had a chance to really make a move and earn home field and/or a bye in the playoffs, we failed to get the job done. 
 

That said, the offense was still rolling on Halloween… and things certainly didn’t slow down that day. 
 

Bright sunny early afternoon kickoff at FedEx. 1999 was also my first year with Sunday Ticket. I was in my senior year (my first senior year I should say) at OU in Norman, living off campus in a rent house with two good friends. 1999 was such a great year for me personally. I’m also a big Reds fan and it was a magical summer in Cincinnati. I’d also met my future wife in Feb and by October we were an item for

sure. Very few stresses, almost no responsibility, living in a place I loved with good friends all in the same boat. It was glorious. Despite my take that the 1999 team was overrated, I certainly ENJOYED that team and that season. 
 

The game itself was over quickly. The most memorable highlight was Big Daddy Wilkinson taking an INT 88 yards to the house. Darrell Green ran him down at about the 50 and escorted him unscathed to the end zone. It was one of four INTs on the day for the Bears QBs. 
 

Stephen Davis only carried the ball times, but still went for 142 yards. 
 

It was 31-0 at the half and 45-0 midway through the third. I recall being mildly annoyed that Cade McNown came in for the Bears and led them to three late TD drives. Also remember thinking McNown was gonna be really good. Oops. 
 

The win moved us to 5-2 on the year and it looked like we had a special season on our hands. 
 

 

Oh wow. What a memory. I was 6 years old and this was supposed to be my very first live game. My grandfather still had his season tickets and this was supposed to my game. I was counting down the days. Unfortunately, I was a sickly child in my formative years and I had a real bad asthma episode the night before so no game for me. Ugh…what a perfect first game it would have been. 

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

On 8/18/2021 at 10:52 PM, kleese said:

24 days until we kickoff against the Chargers…

 

Going super random on this one… 

 

November 23rd, 2003

 

Sunday Night Football at Miami 

 

Dolphins 24, Redskins 23 

 

First of all, it should be noted that this was right before the league changed the MO in relation to Sunday and Monday Night Football. In 2003, SNF was still generally mid-card level games while MNF got the more marquee match-ups. It shifted shortly after. 
 

I chose this game because this loss always bothered me to an odd level. It was year two of Spurrier. We were 4-6 entering the game. The Dolphins were 6-4. There was no real reason to be excited about this, but I do remember thinking it was our “desperation” game that season. If we won, we would have kept some playoff hopes alive. A loss and we were more or less toast. Even though I’d pretty much lost faith in Spurrier at that point already, I imagine I was still hopeful that a great finish to the season might validate his hiring (I was big fan of the hire when it went down). 
 

We played really well that night for three and a half quarters— or we are least didn’t screw it up for the first three and a half quarters. Tim Hasslebeck took the majority of the snaps that night. He was NOT good at all, but this was the one game I recall that he actually made some plays. 
 

After giving up a long TD early we went on a 20-0 run and wound up leading 20-10 at the half. Brian Griese was helping us out by having a terrible game for the Dolphins. 
 

In the third quarter, we put a drive together, but couldn’t punch it in from about the 5. We settled for a FG and entered the fourth leading 23-10. I remember thinking, “we are probably gonna lose this game 24-23.” Failure to punch that last drive into the end zone was inevitably going to cost us. 

Dolphins pulled Griese in favor of Jay Fiedler and he gave Miami just enough boost to start moving the ball. We had bottled up Ricky Williams pretty good all night, but he started getting going in the fourth. He scored a TD to make it 23-17 and that’s when it really started feeling shaky. 
 

After failing on another drive, Williams broke lose for a 24 yard TD run and Miami took the one point lead. I honestly do not recall the last 4:00 of that game or if we had any real chance to get down for the go-ahead score. Feel like if anything really significant happened I would

have remembered. 
 

What I do remember is shutting off the TV that night and feeling pretty depressed about the game and where we were as a franchise overall. No progress made from 2002. Another lost season and it looked like Spurrier was in over his head/out of his element. I just recall being very bummed over that loss and frustrated that they couldn’t even give me one semi nice win the week of Thanksgiving to at least keep things interesting. Obviously when you look at those rosters it’s probably a mini miracle we even had four wins— maybe Spurrier was actually a decent coach and just a horrid talent evaluator? 
 

But for whatever reason, when I think “24” that mundane, relatively meaningless mid-season game in a lost year in Miami comes to mind. 

 

 

 

IIRC, this was Dan Snyder‘a birthday and I remember they brought him a cake in his suite as we were winning…and then the Dolphins immediately took the lead 

[kleese]

10 days until we kickoff against the Chargers… 

 

Sifted through the years looking for the most memorable win we’ve ever had while scoring exactly 10 points and landed on…

 

October 15th, 2000

(Redskins 10, Ravens 3)

 

Weird the things you remember… I went for a jog the morning of this game and remember it was an absolutely beautiful day in Norman, OK. I was in my (second) senior year at OU that fall. That summer I decided to scale things back… for four years I’d been living with friends.. dorms, apartment, frat house, rent house… and doing all the things you do in those settings. But in Feb 99 I’d met a girl I really liked and by this time I was pretty sure I’d be proposing at some point. So for that last year in college I got a one bedroom apartment and lived solo. I am an only child, so that one year was kind of nice. After four years of living on top of each other, the calmness of living by myself was welcome. Normally my buddies watched the Redskins because they had to. In 2000, I watched the majority of the games by myself in my apartment. Probably not as “fun” to do it that way, but I didn’t mind it that year. 
 

That day I watched by myself and my girlfriend (now my wife of over 20 years) came by afterwards. We were 4-2 entering the game and the Ravens were 5-1. At that time I thought the Ravens were frauds and thought we were much better. I didn’t realize at the time exactly how historically good that defense was going to be. 
 

Kevin Mitchell had a huge INT in the end zone off of Tony Banks right before half— huge play in the game. Kept it 3-3 at the half. Stephen Davis finally got loose very early in the fourth quarter and ran one in from about 30. It’s all we needed. 
 

It was a really good win over the eventual SB champs. We’d win again the next week to finish the first half 6-2. I was supremely confident at that point and absolutely had my eyes on a SB. Sigh. 

[hail2skins]

Was sitting in my seats near the top of the club level with my buddy. We could interact with people in the suite right behind us, and were jawing with a Ravens fan. Towards the end of the game the guy says "I'm sick of arguing with you guys, what do you want to drink?" and passed a couple of rum and cokes through the window!

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

12 hours ago, kleese said:

10 days until we kickoff against the Chargers… 

 

Sifted through the years looking for the most memorable win we’ve ever had while scoring exactly 10 points and landed on…

 

October 15th, 2000

(Redskins 10, Ravens 3)

 

Weird the things you remember… I went for a jog the morning of this game and remember it was an absolutely beautiful day in Norman, OK. I was in my (second) senior year at OU that fall. That summer I decided to scale things back… for four years I’d been living with friends.. dorms, apartment, frat house, rent house… and doing all the things you do in those settings. But in Feb 99 I’d met a girl I really liked and by this time I was pretty sure I’d be proposing at some point. So for that last year in college I got a one bedroom apartment and lived solo. I am an only child, so that one year was kind of nice. After four years of living on top of each other, the calmness of living by myself was welcome. Normally my buddies watched the Redskins because they had to. In 2000, I watched the majority of the games by myself in my apartment. Probably not as “fun” to do it that way, but I didn’t mind it that year. 
 

That day I watched by myself and my girlfriend (now my wife of over 20 years) came by afterwards. We were 4-2 entering the game and the Ravens were 5-1. At that time I thought the Ravens were frauds and thought we were much better. I didn’t realize at the time exactly how historically good that defense was going to be. 
 

Kevin Mitchell had a huge INT in the end zone off of Tony Banks right before half— huge play in the game. Kept it 3-3 at the half. Stephen Davis finally got loose very early in the fourth quarter and ran one in from about 30. It’s all we needed. 
 

It was a really good win over the eventual SB champs. We’d win again the next week to finish the first half 6-2. I was supremely confident at that point and absolutely had my eyes on a SB. Sigh. 

And funny enough….this turned out to be my first ever live football game. I vividly remember Stephen Davis ripping off like a 20 yard TD run. 

[kleese]

9 minutes ago, BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93 said:

And funny enough….this turned out to be my first ever live football game. I vividly remember Stephen Davis ripping off like a 20 yard TD run. 

Not a bad one at all— and this was before any real angst or apathy had set in for the fanbase so I imagine it was a fun, raucous, crowd. 

[kleese]

Asleep at the wheel, missed a couple of days…

 

7 days until we kickoff against the Chargers…

 

Even with as common as the number 7 is in football, this was a very easy choice for me…

 

November 23rd, 1997

(Giants 7, Redskins 7) 

 

For those of you longtime ES’ers like myself, you’ve heard me talk about this game at length many times, along with the 1997 season in general. That season remains my personal most frustrating season as a fan. It’s the single season that elicited the most dramatic outbursts from me. We laid an egg in Tennesee that season, had a frustrating loss at the Vet, and then absolutely horrible home losses to the Ravens (the Bam Morris game) and the Rams (the Amp Lee game). Add the sleepwalking effort in tbe de facto division title game at tbe Meadowlands and you had a season rife with missed opportunities and meltdowns. 
 

That Sunday night game at FedEx had all of the above. 
 

It is of course famous for the Gus head butt. How humiliating. I was watching this game with my roommates/friends in our apartment sophomore year. They all had such a good laugh at the replays of Gus knocking himself out of the game. That was bad, but we led 7-0 and I really didn’t think the Giants were that great— I felt good about the game. Turns out, we probably win fairly easily if Gus doesn’t head butt the wall. Jeff Hostetler came in and might have thought he still played for the Giants. Good Lord, he was awful. 
 

The game devolved quickly after the Gus incident, but we still had tons of chances. It was an insane comedy of errors after the Giants tied the game 7-7. It seemed to go on forever. Hostetler threw three picks and lost a fumble in limited action. Even with all of that, we still had one very good opportunity. On a play at the sideline, the refs ruled a no catch on what looked like a nice play by Michael Westbrook. He got made, took off his helmet, and slammed it. Fifteen yard penalty. This took us from makeable FG range into long shot FG range— of course, we missed. The Giants also had missed opportunities in OT and the game appropriately ended in a tie. 
 

I don’t think fans are ever “happy” with a tie, but this absolutely felt like a loss— maybe worse. It was such a choke job on all levels- like the entire Norv era wrapped up into one pitiful night. I was very angry after this one. Kinda still am. 

[hail2skins]

I took a friend who was a Giants fan to that game and remember hanging out in one of the end zone bars pre game and remember talking to one dude who called JKC a MFer for moving his seats from a lower upper deck row at RFK to way up in the upper deck at the new stadium.

 

As you recall, the game was a s-show. I definitely know we didn't stay until the end, but can't remember if we even stayed for a little of OT.

[kleese]

3 hours ago, hail2skins said:

I took a friend who was a Giants fan to that game and remember hanging out in one of the end zone bars pre game and remember talking to one dude who called JKC a MFer for moving his seats from a lower upper deck row at RFK to way up in the upper deck at the new stadium.

 

As you recall, the game was a s-show. I definitely know we didn't stay until the end, but can't remember if we even stayed for a little of OT.

Thing is, it was a HUGE game. I mean we wound up playing them second to last game with the division on the line. Everything could have been different had we gotten the win at FedEx that night. In terms of pure ugliness/sloppiness of play— it has to be in the top 5 worst games I’ve witnessed. The tie with the Bengals in London was actually a good game with an unsatisfying ending. 

[kleese]

6 days until we kickoff against the Chargers… 

 

In my lifetime as a fan, we’ve never won a game when scoring exactly 6 points, however, we came VERY close one time— and I was there. 
 

In 2009, we were 3-6 playing at Dallas. I had a mini reunion with a bunch of friends from college down in DFW and we all went to the game, tailgated prior, etc. I was the only one who had a rooting interest in the game itself and my friends generally just enjoy watching me writhe. There was probably about 12-15 of us total— really fun weekend. The game was absolutely dreadful. But Dallas was really good that year and the fact that we were shutting them out late in the 4th was shocking. 2009 was an awful, awful season as I’ve detailed earlier in the thread, but entering this game my interest was still hanging by a thread. In other words, I still actually cared about this game. Holding a 6-0 lead, Suisham had a chance to ice it for us, but of course, he missed. And right then, you just knew Romo was finally going to get them going. It was very predictable, he threw a TD pass with a little over 2:00 left and we lost 7-6. 
 

But that won’t be my official memory for today…

 

October 22nd, 1995 

(Redskins 36, Lions 30 OT) 

 

1995 was a “good” bad year. We went 6-10, but we were way better than we were in 1993-1994 and there appeared to be reason for hope. We had a bunch of close losses and generally were competitive. 
 

Entering this game against the Lions, we were 2-5– some real tough ones in those 5. Watched the game at R&R Sports Bar in Houston— a hole in the wall to be sure, but they didn’t care that I was only 18 (senior year in HS). A good friend and fellow fan went with me that day— we actually spent many Sundays from 93-95 at R&R and mostly left disappointed/depressed. But this day would be different. It looked like we were going to blow another one, but we kicked a FG late to send it to OT. We got the ball first, didn’t score, but pinned the Lions back. On Detroit’s first play, Scott Mitchell threw a quick out to a WR— but something went wrong and he wound up throwing it right to Darrell Green. DG hit the turf, bounced right up, and trotted in from about 7 yards for the winning TD. My buddy and I went crazy. Probably an over the top reaction for a 2-5 team. But we’d seen so many go the other way that that one felt great. I occasionally go back and watch that play on YouTube as it remains a very good memory from the 90s for me.   

[Cooleyfan1993]

@kleese funny thing is, i was watching that game from 09 earlier today on NFL Gamepass! (Got around to downloading the NFL app on the tv at my parents place this weekend so i could get my free NFL Gamepass subscription going, i get it free through my job). 
 

suisham had been 12/12 on FGs entering that game. Went 2/4 on FGs that day. the team gave up on him way too early after being i think 17/20 on FGs after the game against the saints. 

[kleese]

2 minutes ago, Cooleyfan1993 said:

@kleese funny thing is, i was watching that game from 09 earlier today on NFL Gamepass! (Got around to downloading the NFL app on the tv at my parents place this weekend so i could get my free NFL Gamepass subscription going, i get it free through my job). 
 

suisham had been 12/12 on FGs entering that game. Went 2/4 on FGs that day. the team gave up on him way too early after being i think 17/20 on FGs after the game against the saints. 

 
You might be the only dude in history who has ever pulled that game up on Gamepass 😁

[skins4eva]

On 8/17/2021 at 11:25 PM, kleese said:

25 days until we kickoff against the Chargers…

 

Today we go back to December 9th, 1990 in Foxboro.

 

Redskins 25, Patriots 10

 

This may be the worst weather game we’ve ever played. It rained the entirety of the game, and it rained HARD. It was also cold and windy as you’d imagine it would be on a rainy day in Boston in December. 
 

This was also back when the NFL would have 1-2 Saturday games once the college slate ended. This one was a 3:00 kickoff. 
 

It might be hard to imagine, but there was a time when the Patriots were BAD. Like, REALLY bad. The 1990 Patriots entered this game at 1-12. Terrible team. So, terrible team and absolutely horrendous weather conditions led to perhaps the most sparsely attended NFL game I can ever recall. Place was empty. 
 

This was also back in the days of real AstroTurf… so when it got wet, it was like an ice rink. 
 

For the Redskins, clinching a playoff berth was on the line— they’d missed the playoffs in 1988 and 1989– back then, that felt like forever. So I remember being excited to hopefully see us get back— The game itself felt like a formality, but you never know with a weather game like that what might happen.

 

Well, what happened was we took a 9-0 lead before we even took one snap on offense. Kurt Gouveia ran back a fumble for a TD and then we got a safety when the Pats snapped the ball out of the end zone. This was all less than 3:00 minutes into the game. Honestly, we basically tried to run out the clock for the remaining 57:00 minutes. 
 

Rypien completed FIVE passes on the day. Three to Sanders and two to Monk. That was it. Byner carried the ball 39 times. No one else had more than 2 carries. 
 

We took a 19-0 lead into Halftime. Patriots finally got on the board in the third, but never truly threatened. The second half was a boring slog, just bleeding the clock down. Final 25-10. Watched the game at home and was able

to rest easy after our clinching win. Earlier that day, the Giants lost in Buffalo (SB preview) in a great game. We knew it was wild card time

for us from there on out. 
 

A mundane, boring, methodical victory… 31 years ago, but due to the slip n slide conditions, it’s a game I’ve always remembered well. 

I was at this game. Awful, Awful weather. I was visiting a good friend in Boston and his dad took us. We left at halftime and watched the rest from his living room…

[skins4eva]

On 8/20/2021 at 4:33 PM, kleese said:

22 Days until we kickoff against the Chargers... 

 

Looking through our archives, we haven't scored exactly 22 points very often. As a matter of fact, while I may have missed one, I don't think we landed on exactly 22 points once between 1990-2005. Then, oddly enough we scored exactly 22 points three weeks IN A ROW in 2006. We lost at home to the Titans 25-22, then lost the next week on the road to the Colts 36-22. We were 2-5 and things were looking bleak in terms of building off our 10-win 2005 wild card winning season. 

 

November 5th, 2006 

 

Redskins 22, Cowboys 19 

 

Alright, before I go much further, I'll be honest and say I'm gonna probably rain on some parades here. I've seen this game in some fans' all-time Top 10 list. Yikes. This one probably isn't even Top 30 for me. I find it to be an overrated game/moment in our history. Had a fun/improbable ending but it didn't mean much when we won it, and we followed it up the very next week by getting drubbed in Philly, 27-3. So, in terms of greatest moments in franchise history? Nah, this one doesn't do it for me. 

 

But it WAS certainly memorable and I did get very excited when it actually happened. This was pre-kids for me-- still about three years until the first came around, but I had been married for over 5 years at this point. We had recently moved to OKC from Tulsa and I started my own business. In what I thought was a pretty brilliant move, I installed DirecTV at my in-laws house instead of at our house. Figured I'd make watching the games at the in-laws the new tradition. My in laws are awesome and my father in law is a football fan (Cowboys if you can believe that) so it was a good example of killing multiple birds with one stone-- I mean, how mad can you get at me for watching football all day if I'm doing it at your parents house? The dish "lived" there for over a decade before we moved a bit farther out into the burbs in 2017. It was a fun routine in those years. My father in law always got a kick out of my antics. 

 

I actually don't remember a ton about the game other than it was kind of weird, with strange scores throughout. At one point it was 5-0, then 6-5, then 9-5, and then 12-12 at the half. Kinda sloppy, but a pretty entertaining/intense game. I do remember my heart sinking when it appeared clear that Romo had gotten the Boys into fairly easy FG range. Feel like in our history, we haven't blocked many meaningful FGs so I wasn't even really thinking that, just hoping he shanked it. Of course, we got the block, and I initially shot up thinking ST21 was going to take it to the house. I was legit standing and yelling during that moment. Then, in the chaos of the play, I got a bit confused myself and initially thought the flag would be on us-- I knew it was after the block, so I assumed OT. But then it dawned on me that they grabbed his facemask and it should be 15 and one untimed down. Remember thinking what a wild swing that was... and also not having a ton of faith in Nick Novak making a 47 yarder. Of course he did and that was one of those jubilant moments of relief-- just so happy we didn't lose at the buzzer. And sure, at the time, I was certainly still hopeful we could turn the season around. It gave us life for a week-- which again, was short lived. 

 

So while I think this moment has been a bit over-sold over the years, I still think it's a worthy note for the number 22. 

I still maintain that if ST had cut outside instead of inside, he would have taken it to the house!

[skins4eva]

On 9/5/2021 at 4:24 PM, kleese said:

Asleep at the wheel, missed a couple of days…

 

7 days until we kickoff against the Chargers…

 

Even with as common as the number 7 is in football, this was a very easy choice for me…

 

November 23rd, 1997

(Giants 7, Redskins 7) 

 

For those of you longtime ES’ers like myself, you’ve heard me talk about this game at length many times, along with the 1997 season in general. That season remains my personal most frustrating season as a fan. It’s the single season that elicited the most dramatic outbursts from me. We laid an egg in Tennesee that season, had a frustrating loss at the Vet, and then absolutely horrible home losses to the Ravens (the Bam Morris game) and the Rams (the Amp Lee game). Add the sleepwalking effort in tbe de facto division title game at tbe Meadowlands and you had a season rife with missed opportunities and meltdowns. 
 

That Sunday night game at FedEx had all of the above. 
 

It is of course famous for the Gus head butt. How humiliating. I was watching this game with my roommates/friends in our apartment sophomore year. They all had such a good laugh at the replays of Gus knocking himself out of the game. That was bad, but we led 7-0 and I really didn’t think the Giants were that great— I felt good about the game. Turns out, we probably win fairly easily if Gus doesn’t head butt the wall. Jeff Hostetler came in and might have thought he still played for the Giants. Good Lord, he was awful. 
 

The game devolved quickly after the Gus incident, but we still had tons of chances. It was an insane comedy of errors after the Giants tied the game 7-7. It seemed to go on forever. Hostetler threw three picks and lost a fumble in limited action. Even with all of that, we still had one very good opportunity. On a play at the sideline, the refs ruled a no catch on what looked like a nice play by Michael Westbrook. He got made, took off his helmet, and slammed it. Fifteen yard penalty. This took us from makeable FG range into long shot FG range— of course, we missed. The Giants also had missed opportunities in OT and the game appropriately ended in a tie. 
 

I don’t think fans are ever “happy” with a tie, but this absolutely felt like a loss— maybe worse. It was such a choke job on all levels- like the entire Norv era wrapped up into one pitiful night. I was very angry after this one. Kinda still am. 

This was and still is the most painful regular season skins game I’ve ever watched. F’ing Michael Westbrook. First he cold****s Stephen Davis in training camp and then he essentially loses this game for us. I watched this at my grandparents house. I think they both thought I needed professional help afterward. 

[LightningBuggs]

10 hours ago, kleese said:

 

 

October 22nd, 1995 

(Redskins 36, Lions 30 OT) 

 

1995 was a “good” bad year. We went 6-10, but we were way better than we were in 1993-1994 and there appeared to be reason for hope. We had a bunch of close losses and generally were competitive. 
 

Entering this game against the Lions, we were 2-5– some real tough ones in those 5. Watched the game at R&R Sports Bar in Houston— a hole in the wall to be sure, but they didn’t care that I was only 18 (senior year in HS). A good friend and fellow fan went with me that day— we actually spent many Sundays from 93-95 at R&R and mostly left disappointed/depressed. But this day would be different. It looked like we were going to blow another one, but we kicked a FG late to send it to OT. We got the ball first, didn’t score, but pinned the Lions back. On Detroit’s first play, Scott Mitchell threw a quick out to a WR— but something went wrong and he wound up throwing it right to Darrell Green. DG hit the turf, bounced right up, and trotted in from about 7 yards for the winning TD. My buddy and I went crazy. Probably an over the top reaction for a 2-5 team. But we’d seen so many go the other way that that one felt great. I occasionally go back and watch that play on YouTube as it remains a very good memory from the 90s for me.   

 

Watched this game from a hotel room in Honolulu while on a business trip.  Kickoff was at 7am there.  Was great.  Ordered room service for breakfast, watched the game in bed, then hit the pool for a few hours.

[kleese]

5 days until we kickoff against the Chargers... 

 

I really love telling this story, if you've heard it before, apologies. This is without question, my favorite all-time 5 point victory... 

 

November 17th, 1996

(Redskins 26, Eagles 21) 

 

So, setting the scene here is really important. I was a freshmen in college, living in the dorms at OU. I was fortunate to attend college with a bunch of dudes I'd know since elementary school. So we sort of packed up together and headed to Norman, of course making new friends once we arrived as well. Entire college experience was a blast, but freshmen year in the dorms was really something. Our room just so happened to become the meeting spot-- we'd have upward of ten guys in that small space at any given time. I was really the only one who had a rooting interest in an NFL team on Sunday, so of course, the fun for the rest of the guys was to root against me. This was a few years before I got Sunday Ticket (1999) so I was still hitting the local sports bar most weeks. But this game was on locally, so I was tuned in from my dorm room. 

 

1996 was the season we started 7-1. Then we had back to back losses-- blown out in Buffalo and then the embarrassing and deflating Boomer Esiason game vs the Cardinals the week prior. Things felt uneasy at best. The Eagles were also 7-3, so this was a huge game at The Vet and we came in with negative momentum. 

 

The game started well for us. We led 10-0 and then 13-7 at half. Game felt somewhat in control. So did I. I was the only one in my room for most of the first half, which wa great and kept me more calm. Then as the second half started, my friends slowly started pouring in. It seemed like every time a new guy arrived, the game got a little tighter. The Eagles had answers for us that day-- we took a 20-7 lead, but Eagles made it 20-14. We took a 23-14 lead, but Eagles responded to make it 23-21. We had a chance to put it away,  but settled for a FG and a 26-21 lead. Things were tense. We friends sensed it completely and started absolutely egging me on. It felt like the freakin' Super Bowl in that room-- or if each guy had 10K on the game or something. It was raucous in that dorm room, with all of them more or less rooting for the Eagles out of spite-- or in the hopes of witnessing me meltdown. Well, they got what they wanted.... but do did I... 

 

Ty Detemer was the QB for the Eagles that day (post Cunningham and pre-McNabb the Eagles had some good teams with bad QBs) and he played alright. He started leading them down the field on that last drive and my heart sank. Finally, there was a fourth down play, the pass fell incomplete, and the game was over. I leapt from my seat (I had been pretty quiet with all the noise around me), I yelled, pumped my fists and then one by one I pointed at each of my friends and emphatically said "F you and F you and F you and F you!" Of course, I was not editing myself like I am now. Finger right in the face of each one as I did it. As I was finishing my F bomb parade, our phone rang-- yep, old school, wall mounted phone. Not surprisingly, it was my Mom-- she would often call to get my reaction after a big win (never after a loss). As soon I heard it was her, I yelled "F yeah, Mom!" and then again for emphasis. Again, no self editing. My friends ATE this up. I was making a bigger ass of myself in victory than had we lost, so I think they were thrilled with the show. 

 

The great thing is that the "F yeah Mom!" game has lived in infamy for 25 years now. I should probably commemorate it in 11-17 this year somehow. To this day, on our text chain if something big happens in sports or life, someone might text "F yeah Mom!" 

 

It's amazing that we somehow still blew that season after that game. I was on top of the world that day. One of my favorite regular season wins of all time. F yeah Mom! 

[hail2skins]

4 hours ago, kleese said:

 

It's amazing that we somehow still blew that season after that game. I was on top of the world that day. One of my favorite regular season wins of all time. F yeah Mom! 

Can never hear this most classic of Kleese stories enough.

 

I was with my mom at that game at the Vet and on the way out ran into another Skins fan in the parking lot and high fived and said "We are definitely playoff bound!"

 

Then the next week a friend who liked the Niners took me to the game. We were sitting down low in one of the end zones, and on the ensuing kickoff after our go ahead TD, when the ball squirted out of the 49er returner and hit the ground, RFK was deafening.......

[kleese]

1 hour ago, hail2skins said:

Can never hear this most classic of Kleese stories enough.

 

I was with my mom at that game at the Vet and on the way out ran into another Skins fan in the parking lot and high fived and said "We are definitely playoff bound!"

 

Then the next week a friend who liked the Niners took me to the game. We were sitting down low in one of the end zones, and on the ensuing kickoff after our go ahead TD, when the ball squirted out of the 49er returner and hit the ground, RFK was deafening.......

I’ve said this before, that play was the last true “RFK moment” and it was also when it started to sink in that maybe things would never be the same. 
 

That game against the Niners was awesome. We were  8-3 playing a top NFC team; game was a real battle. Looked like we belonged and when we took that 16-9 lead it honestly sort of felt like maybe this is a team that could go to the Super Bowl. And you’re right, that fumbled kickoff—- it was right there for us. It really looked like we had it. SOB that still stings. 

[kleese]

I've traveled down some rabbit holes in my day at ES, but this might be the most useless one yet. Started off tracking every 17-13 game we've ever played because I figured that would be the most common 4 point spread (I was right). Then decided to just look at every four point spread in our history since I was born (1977). Below are the results with a few comments on some that stand out. 

 

We are 18-20 in games decided by 4 points since 1977 

 

17-13 is the most common spread (8 times) 

 

Home: 13-7

Road: 5-13

 

Cowboys most common opponent (7 times) 

 

Strangely, the Browns appear 3 times 

 

Happened twice in playoffs, both against Bears 

 

1977: W at Falcons 10-6

1978: L at Colts 21-17

1978: W vs Cowboys 9-5 (Before my time watching game, but this I think this is the infamous MNF Ken Houston game) 

1979: W at Browns 13-9

1979: L at Saints 14-10

1980: L at Cowboys 14-10

1980: L at Falcons 10-6

1982: W vs Eagles 13-9

1983: W vs Eagles 28-24

1984: L vs Bears 23-19 (playoffs) 

1986: W vs Raiders 10-6

1987: L at Eagles 31-27

1987: W vs Giants 23-19

1987: W vs Cowboys 24-20

1987: W at Bears 21-17 (playoffs- quite a run of 4 point wins in 1987; this is one of my favorite all time moments-- incredible win) 

1988: L at Browns 17-13

1989: L vs Broncos 14-10 (MNF_I was in a hotel room in Toronto; Elway out, Kubiak in; I was so surprised and mad about this one-- really cost us in 1989). 

1990: W vs Cowboys 19-15

1990: L vs Giants 24-20

1991: W at Giants 17-13 (As great as 1991 was and as easy it became, we NEEDED this one on Sunday night-- fell behind early-- two Clark TDs in second half) 

1992: W vs Eagles 16-12 (Typical of our 1992 team-- total grind, sigh of relief at end) 

1992: L at Eagles 17-13 (Very painful at the time, Eric Allen breaking up our last pass and celebrating, but it actually may have worked out best for us due to WC match up) 

1993: L at Rams 10-6

1994: L at Eagles 21-17

1995: W vs Cowboys 27-23 (One of the more surprising wins in the last 30 years) 

1995: L at Cardinals 24-20

1998: W vs Chargers 24-20

1998: W vs Bucs 20-16

2003: L vs Saints 24-20

2004: L at Browns 17-13 (One of the only games in the past 30+ years I've missed. Had a family deal and was getting phone call updates) 

2005: W at Cardinals 17-13 (Game #2 on the five in a row or we don't go) 

2006: W vs Panthers 17-13

2008: L vs Cowboys 14-10 (Win this one and Zorn's first year probably turns out much differently) 

2010: L vs Vikings 17-13

2012: L at Giants 27-23 (I was there-- crushing. I still maintain it was RG3's best game of his career) 

2013: W vs Bears 45-41 

2014: L at 49ers 17-13

2016: L vs Cowboys 27-23

 

[HigSkin]

Dan O on NFL Live showing 5 most important linemen matchups for this weekend's games and one was Cosmi vs Bosa.  I kind of agree with him.  If Cosmi holds up, it'll be a big deal.

[hail2skins]

Ed, Ken Houston tackling Walt Garrison was 1973. The 1978 game ended with Theismann running out of the end zone for a safety at the end and then spiking the ball. I think that took us to 5-0 and we'd improve to 6-0 before collapsing to 8-8.