Redskins at Rams: The Team Time Forgot

Washington Redskins (5-9) vs. St. Louis Rams (6-8)
1:00 p.m. Edward Jones Dome
I realize that there was no Saints-Redskins preview last week. As I said, the computer crapped out and I didn’t have time to write or upload a post at work. Since the Redskins are far from playoff contention, I’d like to think of my computer breaking down as divine intervention. It gave me a legitimate excuse not to have to talk about the Redskins. I did miss an opportunity to discuss the Saints in further detail. I guess that will have to wait until the postseason.

Speaking of the postseason, the St. Louis Rams won’t be making it this year. Who in the world would make them a darkhorse team (For the record, the ol’ Sports Guy gave the Rams that distinction at the beginning of the season. What a boob. According to a friend of mine, since I refuse to even open his page on this computer, he was barely holding on to a .500 predicting record on the season. How does this guy have a job, let alone a well paying one? He’s wrong more often than weathermen.). Before we get to St. Louis and what should be a pretty short preview of an otherwise meaningless game, I need to talk in depth about something else.

If you have watched any of the Thursday/Saturday night football games, you have noticed that the NFL Network is running a feature on the 20 greatest Super Bowl teams. Naturally, the Redskins, despite winning three of the 40 Super Bowls, meaning mathematically the odds that at least one of those teams would make the list is rather large, placed no teams in the top 20 list. This is a disgrace. The 1988/Super Bowl XXII Redskins I could see not making it. They won a lot of close games against bad teams, they backed their way into the playoffs and played three terrible quarters of football in the Super Bowl. Fortunately, the only quarter that mattered was the 35-point second in which there are Super Bowl records that will NEVER fall in our lifetimes unless the rules are drastically altered.

There was nothing particularly special about the 1983/Super Bowl XVII Redskins either. However, when compared to the other 39 Super Bowl winners, you could make a case for those Redskins to be somewhere around the 16th to 18th best team of all-time. You had Theismann, Riggins and some of the greatest nicknames in NFL history (The Hogs, The Fun Bunch, The Over the Hill Gang). The ’83 Skins were dominant in the playoffs, and were victorious in one of the most exciting NFC Championship games of all-time against Dallas. Plus, the Riggins touchdown run on 4th and 1 in the Super Bowl is one of the NFL’s more iconic moments.

The fact that the 1992/Super Bowl XXVI Redskins were left out is a joke. The 1992 Redskins were the third best team in the history of the modern NFL (bettered only by the ’72 Dolphins and the ’85 Bears). The ’92 Redskins have been forgotten because they were sandwiched between the end of the 49ers dynasty and the beginning of the Cowboys run in the mid-90’s.

In 1991-1992, the Redskins went 14-2. The only two losses they suffered were a three-point overtime loss to Dallas (a playoff team that season, and arguably the second best team in the NFC) and a two-point loss at Philadelphia in the final week of the season in a game that most of the starters never played. So they lost two games by a total of five points, one of those games in overtime and the other with their second-stringers. They led the NFL in offensive yards and points scored. They led the NFL with the least yards and fewest points allowed defensively.

The offense was so dominant that the o-line allowed the fewest amount of sacks EVER in a 16-game regular season (a record that still stands). They had two receivers (Art Monk and Gary Clark) record 1,000 yards. The team was so good that Ricky Sanders, an outstanding receiver, was the number three guy in the corps. Earnest Byner had over 1,000 yards rushing. The backup running back, a rookie named Ricky Ervins, posted nearly 700 more on the ground. Gerald Riggs, the fullback, even managed 250 yards on the ground. Mark Rypien had one of the greatest quarterbacking years of all-time. If there was fantasy football back in 1991, Rypien would have totaled 308 points for the season. In a Ricky Sanders-esque playing situation, Stan Humphries was the team’s third string quarterback. The same Stan Humphries that would lead San Diego to a Super Bowl only three years later. The lowest point total all season for the Redskins was 16. The offense only scored under 20 points twice. They scored 27 points or more ten times (12 counting the postseason).

The defense was even better. Nicknamed Capital Punishment, the defense posted shutouts in the first three home games of the season. The defense didn’t allow a point at RFK until week 7 against Cleveland (the old Cleveland Browns). By the by, the only way Cleveland scored was on a fake field goal, a defensive touchdown and a field goal. Bernie Kosar and company still lost 42-17. The Redskins didn’t surrender an offensive touchdown at home until week 10 against the Run ‘n’ Shoot Houston Oilers. WEEK 10! Only four times did the defense allow more than 20 points in a game. Including the postseason, the defense held the opponent to less than ten points on seven occasions.

During the regular season, the Redskins won by an average score of 31-14. ON AVERAGE, the Redskins won by two touchdowns and a field goal every week. Go back in the Super Bowl era and see how many teams did that. And they did so against very good competition. The Redskins had one of the toughest schedules in the league in 1991. The Redskins played seven games against playoff teams and three more games against teams with winning records that didn’t make the playoffs (two against a 10-6 Eagles team, one against Pittsburgh and then you can throw in two more games against the 8-8 Giants). In the NFC playoffs, the Redskins beat Atlanta 24-7 (A team they beat in the regular season 56-17. By the way, that game marked the debut of one Brett Favre) and Detroit 41-10 (A team they beat 45-0 in the regular season. I believe Barry Sanders had a total of 11 yards in the second game). In the Super Bowl, the Skins beat the Bills 37-24, in a game that was never really that close. The Redskins led 24-0 in the third quarter at one point. The fact that the game was so boringly one-sided doesn’t help the ’92 Redskins achieve “greatness” because people tend to forget the non-exciting Super Bowls.

Did the Redskins have the most dominant offenses of all time? No. In fact, the 1983 Redskins offense was better. And the Redskins D wasn’t lights out like Chicago’s in ’85 or the Giants defenses in ’86 or ’91. But few teams, if any, have ever combined an offense and a defense that were as good as the ’91-92 Redskins. There are many other statistics that would further my point that the ’92 Redskins were the third best team of all-time, but I think the basics are overwhelming enough. Without further ado, here are my Top 10 Super Bowl winning teams of all-time:

The 1972-73 Miami Dolphins (Super Bowl XII): They were undefeated. Enough said.

The 1985-86 Chicago Bears (Super Bowl XX): The best defense ever assembled. The offense was pretty good too. They had some guy named Walter Payton, you may have heard of him. But, they lost one game, which means they weren’t perfect where it counted the most.

The 1991-92 Washington Redskins (Super Bowl XXVI): See above

The 1984-85 San Francisco 49ers (Super Bowl XIX): The defense did give up nearly 20 points a game, but the 9ers went 15-1 and won all three of their playoff games easily.

The 1989-90 San Francisco 49ers (Super Bowl XXIV): Almost identical to the ’92 Redskins. They lost two games by five points and blew away the competition in the playoffs. The average margin of victory was 15 points a game.

The 1998-1999 Denver Broncos (Super Bowl XXXIII): They went 13-0 to start, lost two very close games in the final minutes, and then walked through the playoffs to an easy win over Atlanta in the SB.

The 1986-87 New York Giants (Super Bowl XXI): Lost two games by a total of eight points (both on the road). Won 49-3, 17-0 and 39-20 in the playoffs and Super Bowl.

The 1978-79 Pittsburgh Steelers (Super Bowl XIII): The best of the Steel Curtain teams went 14-2. Average score during the regular season was 23-12. Lost the two games by a total of ten points.

The 1992-93 Dallas Cowboys (Super Bowl XXVII): Did suffer an embarrassing 31-7 loss to Philly, but went 13-3 and made all three postseason games laughers. Should have set a record for most points scored in a Super Bowl if it wasn’t for Leon Lett.

The 1966 Green Bay Packers (Super Bowl I): Went 12-2 under Lombardi and lost those two games by a combined four points. Thwarted Kansas City 35-10 in first Super Bowl.

So there you have it. The list that the NFL Network came up with really isn’t the 20 best Super Bowl teams. They’re the 20 most interesting teams. The 93-94 Cowboys are on the list and they went 12-4 and got blown out several times. The 96-97 Packers went 13-3 including a 31-point loss. But with the Cowboys you had all the drug related arrests and with the Packers you had the Favre pain pill story. With that in mind, he 82-83 Skins should have made it with John Riggins. He was always interesting.

Anyway, back to the current Redskins. I like their chances today. Steven Jackson is the type of back that the Redskins defense usually has success against. Power rushers that thrive between the tackles usually don’t do well against Gregg Williams defenses. It’s the scat backs that get outside the tackles that cause problems. Especially now with Marcus Washington done for the season.

For the Rams to win, they need Marc Bulger to perform well. As usual, Bulger season has tanked in the second half. Bulger struggles in the second half of the season because he usually gets hurt. But this year, he’s healthy. He just stinks. One of the more accurate quarterbacks in the last five years has suddenly lost his touch. Some of the throws he’s making to Torry Holt and Issac Bruce aren’t even close.

The Rams defense is, as always, atrocious. Ladell Betts should be able to run wild if Al Saunders doesn’t get pass happy. The last four games the play calling for the Redskins has been perfect. Run, run, run, play-action, run, run, pass, run, run, deep play-action pass. That’s what they should have been doing all season. Too bad it took Saunders so long to figure this out.

Next week, I’ll get more into the growing Betts-Clinton Portis saga. I want to get to this, it’s very important. But I’m running out of room here. Anyway, the Redskins should pound the Rams offensively, and will probably allow a couple of bombs and long scores defensively. It will probably come down to a field goal late.