1969 Redskins at Eagles GOTW week 12

this is philadelphia's franklin field on a dark and gloomy december seventh afternoon today over sixty thousand fans who braved rain and sleep would witness a game between the national football league's closest rivals the hometown eagles and the neighboring washington redskins there are many bitter rivalries in the nfl but none closer than this the series between these two teams is tied at 30 games apiece both teams have been completely revamped in the front office and on the field a magic man named lombardi now coaches the skins he inherited the nfl's finest passer sonny jurgensen many wondered how sonny would react to his new mentor the answer is there for all to see jurgensen with his new slim shape is having his finest season before the game lombardi seemed concerned with the effect the weather would have on the eagle's new astroturf later his interest would seem prophetic there's a new regime in philadelphia too they are dedicated to making the eagles a winner leonard tose is the new owner he and coach jerry williams have stocked their team with many new faces harold jackson is the most significant one and george myra who was brought in from san francisco but the old guard remains the core nine-year veteran quarterback norm snead is still the field general tom udachick is what being a pro is all about the fine fullback is at last gaining the reputation he deserves the defense is led by number 82 defensive end tim rosevich the front four is one of the youngest and it is the eagles pride beside rosovich there is mel tom gary pettigrew ernest callaway and eleven-year man floyd peters the team they face today has in the tradition of other teams a trio of fine receivers but these redskins have an extra ingredient one that has been missing through the years a running attack lombardi's strategy is predicated on strong ground game he tested 21 backs the two that survived as regulars larry brown and charlie haraway have been excellent so today in this long time rivalry the series lead was on the line as the philadelphia eagles met the washington redskins i'm jack whitaker and this is the nfl game of the week the redskins got immediate field position when number 46 ricky harris returned the opening kick off 54 yards to the eagle 41. but the eagles defense braced on a third down play number 27 irv cross came up fast to hold charlie taylor one yard short of a first down and washington was forced to go for three points harris's great run went for nod as kicker kurt knight missed the attempt from the 39 on the eagles first play from scrimmage norm snead was sacked by the redskins fine linebacker chris hamburger number 55. then snead proved equal to a quarterback's greatest challenge as he twice completed third down passes to keep this drive alive the first was to ben hawkins for 15 yards on third and five then he completed this pass again to number 18 on third and 14 and it went for 51 yards a repeat shows the amazing grab by the acrobatic hawkins as he bounced off his defender then blazed down the left sideline the long gain put the ball in the washington 13. then tom udachik towered his way up the middle for 11 yards and another first down the other setback 208 pound rookie leroy keys number 20 shook off two tackles and went in from the two the eagles led seven to nothing washington struck right back larry brown number 43 triggered the drive he seemed stopped then broke through for 37 yards jerry smith made a nice grab of a high jergensen pass for an eight-yard game with his third and seven charlie taylor slanted across the middle and took the ball away from irv cross for 12 yards and the touchdown another look from the end zone reveals cross's coverage was perfect taylor simply made a great play washington had gone 63 yards and seven plays to tie the score late in the quarter tough running by wudashik took the eagles into field goal range a repeat of the last wudashik ramble shows the key block by number 20 leroy keys this is one of the reasons for the great faith the eagles placed in the highly publicized rookie but sam baker missed the field goal in the period-ended tied washington started the second quarter like it was going places jurgensen hit smith on a sideline pass for 10 yards then things went against larry brown dropped the pass from jergensen sleet was now falling and sticking to the playing surface making it slippery brown's next run confirmed conditions the eagle defensive line broke through to dump jurgensen with an 11-yard loss to end the washington drive philadelphia's faithful went wild at the defensive display not everyone watched with such pleasure however the eagles didn't disappoint the home crowd norm snead put on a brilliant display of pinpoint passing to move his team 56 yards and six plays for the go-ahead scorer he did it by employing all three of his receivers first tight end gary ballman then hawkins who was all alone the results 23 yards to the washington 29. snead got the remaining 29 on the next play as he laid the ball into harold jackson for six points the weather was becoming more of a factor in this game which was actually the first played on the stadium's astro turf in inclement weather sleet had turned to snow and there was now a thin layer of ice on the playing surface this made it hard to handle the ball and even more difficult for the runners to cut with his team sliding backwards instead of running forward jurgensen tried to pass his way out of the reverse momentum but was caught in his own end zone for a safety philadelphia's defense in the slippery field was proving a difficult one-two punch against the beleaguer jerkinson who presumably at this moment wouldn't be an advocate for astroturf washington got another chance late in the quarter and a short pass to taylor got them going his great moves made the play into a sizeable game a repeat shows the elements were still at work taylor slid then managed to keep his balance to spin his way free then larry brown who ranks sixth in the league in rushing turned the right corner and streaked 53 yards downfield the eagles were reeling a repeat shows brown bobbled the ball shot through a hole broke a tackle by number 21 joe scarpati another by number 50 ron porter before being run out of bounds by irv cross jurgensen had his team on the eagle five and he went for the quick score charlie taylor had already caught five passes in the half he didn't hold on to this one number 52 middle linebacker dave lloyd an 11 year veteran diagnosed this pass to the left and slapped it away from smith to save a certain score washington had to settle for three points provided by kurt knight the score was now philadelphia 16 washington 10. again the washington defense forced a punt and again jurgensen had another chance to score before the half he had just 36 seconds to do it brown powered up the middle for a dozen the rookie from kansas state had 96 yards in the first half alone then jerky under pressure hit taylor all alone at the sideline he stepped out to stop the clock a repeat shows why taylor was uncontested it was the slippery surface again number 26 al nelson had slipped on the play but on the next play the uncertain footing worked in philly's behalf as jurgensen slipped while trying to pass jerkinson was blitzed by lloyd on the play and had to be removed from the game with only 17 seconds remaining in the half frank ryan made his first appearance since joining the skins from cleveland at the beginning of the season he was hit scrambled then shoved a pass to former brown's teammate haraway but good pursuit by number 88 gary pettigrew prevented a long gain and time was called with two seconds on the clock kurt knight's second field goal in two minutes brought the redskins within three points of the eagles washington had been thwarted from scoring six again but the momentum seemed to be with them as the half ended as halftime wayne the magic carpet seemed more like an ice rink and the players changed shoes to combat it ironically it was the eagles who so far were claiming the scalps not the redskins and their loyal partisans wanted more though outplayed washington was only down three and through most of the third quarter they held philadelphia in check norm snead's passes were tough to hold in the sleep and he managed only one completion in the quarter the only bright spot for the eagles was the running of tom woodyshake who would total over 100 yards on the day the rush was led by number 85 john hoffman a six foot seven inch 260 pound rookie from hawaii who was all over the field and helped stop the eagles other setback leroy keys sneed too was feeling the pressure of the revamped defense and even when he unloaded on time paid for it however the redskins would fare no better in the early part of the quarter jurgy was also pressured and dumped once by defensive end tim rosevich number 82. punter mike bragg was then called on and he managed to salvage a good kick after a high snap to bill bradley bradley made an error in judgment he chose to run back the punt from his own five rather than let it bounce in the end zone the eagles had to start from their own 13. snead was caught by a hard charging jim norton number 83 on second down for an eight-yard loss so he went back to pass again and carl cameron knocked the ball loose john hoffman recovered in the end zone for a touchdown and washington had the biggest break of the game and took their first lead 20-16 the super rookie from texas while bill bradley atoned for his earlier error as he carried the ensuing kickoff 30 yards to give the eagles good position at their 42. it seems that tom woodachick can run in any weather after woody's run snead hit his only completion of the quarter a 30 yarder to jackson who beat pat fisher number 37 to the ball with this catch jackson went over 1 000 yards for the year but from here the eagles attacked bogged down as the erratic sneed overthrew both hawkins and bauman sam baker's 19-yard field goal made it 20-19 near the end of the quarter unlike sneed but like united used to jergensen can seemingly rally his team at will and inspired by lombardy sonny did just that in a time-consuming drive that took the rest of the quarter jurgensen larry brown and jerry smith led the skins to another score on the last play watch the offensive line push out and open a huge hole in the eagles line as brown darted across midfield tim rossovich's hands and jerry smith's hands foiled jurgensen's next attempt but as if lombardi was in the huddle saying do it again until you get it right jurgy came right back with the exact same call and it worked then from the 25 sunny dropped back under good protection and fired for smith again and number 87 made a great catch near the flag for a touchdown despite some vociferous counsel for the defense a repeat will show that smith did hold the ball long enough to have possession a judgment decision by the official the quarter ended with the redskins now ahead 27 to 19. when they got it again the redskins failed to move the ball fierce line play by rosawich stopped larry brown after a good game but on second down brown took another shot and couldn't hold the ball as the eagles adrian young recovered on the skins 30. the hitting was so hard on this play that it could almost be heard in the stands and especially on the redskins bench the eagles had a big break now and snead tried to capitalize on it but after his pass to jackson the defense braced and stymied leroy keys then snead was haunted by his biggest bugaboo the interception mike bass picked it off in the end zone instead of three or seven the eagles came away empty this was the turning point of the game the eagles did score next time they had it but could only manage a field goal after woody's seven-yard jaunt snead's pass was batted down by the omnipresent john hoffman who was another of lombardi's wondrous finds sam baker's 47-yard field goal made it 27-22 with nine minutes left again jerkinson needed a score for insurance and inspired by the man who seems to inspire everyone beyond their own ability sonny ate up six minutes on his way to a touchdown this drive contained mainly passes to jerry smith and charlie taylor whose 10 catches for the game put him second in the league in receiving smith was covered by strong safety nate ramsey number 24 and a perfect spiral found smith on the six yard line on the play watch the blocking on number 88 gary pettigrew as smith beat ramsay to the ball larry brown is making a strong bid for rookie of the year and he ran for his 137th yard of the game down to the four then from the one brown behind perfect sweep blocking went inside left tackle for the score on a replay we can see the lombardi's credo is perfectly executed as larry brown runs to daylight the score was now 34-22 and time was running out on the underdog eagles with two minutes left the eagles had to score fast and snead tried his best the skins were in a prevent defense but sneed's arm was now finding its mark almost with ease first to keys then to ben hawkins but sneed then failed on third down so on fourth he faded back and threw right down the throat of the secondary and seemingly into the hands of brig owens number 23. but on a replay watched the ball closely it was trapped by owens not intercepted however the skins took over on downs and the game was all but over or was it charlie harraway fumbled on the very next play and there was still time for a miracle on 33rd street sneed the cyril pinder got the ball of the ten then snead fired to jackson and the diminutive flanker had his eighth touchdown of the year on the play no one rushed need until late and he unloaded a perfect bullet to jackson the eagles now trailed by six with 30 seconds to play philadelphia was fired up now and everyone in the stadium knew what had to happen next could the eagles pull off an onside kick and get one final shot at winning the answer as we shall see was a resounding no as the clock ran out on the philadelphia eagles the moral of the story is that although vince lombardi may not be able to part the red sea today he was able to walk across a soggy carpet and defeat a team that beat his former packer team in 1960 for the nfl championship but time marches on and so do the redskins who under coach lombardi have found a new spirit that may once again bring the man and the nation's capital a winner you

Channel: Comrade Dobler

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Id: haNjihhoVoc

Length: 23min 11sec (1391 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 11 2020