Seems to me we've played Denver before
OK, so Peyton Manning didn’t play in this game. His Broncos had an able replacement in John Elway. The offensive coordinator asking Elway to fire passes down field was Mike Shanahan.
The Redskins, who will visit Denver come Sunday, had a quarterback named Jay Schroeder and a running back from South Carolina named George Rogers.
It was the Super Bowl game of 1987. And neither Schroeder nor Rogers had anything to do with this game.
And it did not start well for the 14-4 Skins of coach Joe Gibbs. Elway took to the air to find Ricky Nattiel and that 56-yard scoring play put the Skins down 7 points. When Rick Karlis added a short field goal, the favored Skins were down 10-0 after one quarter.
Boo to that.
Add a few commercials prior to the second quarter. And then all heck broke loose.
Back up quarterback Doug Williams took a page out of Elway’s book and hooked up with Ricky Sanders from 80 yards out. We were back in it.
Gary Clark was next on Williams’ list of gifted receivers, and he put the Skins ahead with a 27-yard TD reception.
And then it was Timmy Smith time. Here’s our fifth-round pick in the draft of 87′ who evidently was paying attention to the offense when he was riding the bench. Well, he got his turn to play in the Super Bowl.
Huh?
This back from Texas Tech, carried the ball all of 29 times during the year, and now he’s bursting 58 yards for a touchdown in the biggest football game on the planet. It’s 21-10 good guys.
Williams evidently smelled blood so he kept busy firing footballs through the air. It’s still the second quarter at Jack Murphy Stadium and Sanders again is open. This pass play covers 50 yards and the Skins are now up 28-10.
It’s approaching halftime and Washington is comfortably ahead. But Williams isn’t done yet. This time, he’s found one of our fine tight ends from the past. Clint Didier, a 12th-round draft pick from Portland State, played six seasons with the Skins, and he caught a Super Bowl touchdown pass from Williams before halftime.
Washington, down 10 points after one quarter, is up by 25 points at halftime. The final was 42-10. The Redskins compiled a ridiculous 602 total yards in the Super Bowl romp.
Williams is named the MVP of the Super Bowl with his 4 TD passes. The total stranger, Smith, racks up 204 yards on the ground. Sanders catches 9 passes for 193 yards and the two scores. My only question is who was the kicker in this game. Ali Haji Sheikh is listed as making the extra points. I must have reached for another beer when he was kicking. I’ve never heard of him.
So you Skins players of today, go rent this film of this game and get inspired. Let’s shock Peyton and his buddies and notch a victory in Denver.
