NFL Old School Game of the Week: Eagles Knock off Redskins in Wild Shootout

Randall Cunningham completed 34 of 46 passes for 447 yards and threw five touchdown passes to lead the Eagles back from a 20-point deficit to defeat the Washington Redskins.

When most Eagles fans think of a shocking fumble in the final minutes that lead to an unbelievable win, they think of “Miracle at the Meadowlands” in 1978 when cornerback Herman Edwards recovered Giants quarterback Joe Pisarcik fumble and ran it back 26 yards for the game-winning touchdown as the Giants chose to run one more play and instead of taking a knee to run out the clock.

While maybe not as miraculous and not as memorable to some, 11 years later the Eagles got a mini-sequel to the “Miracle at the Meadowlands” when they traveled to RFK Stadium to face their division rival the Washington Redskins in the second week of the NFL season.

The Eagles were coached by Buddy Ryan, who was in his fourth year at the helm and had built the Eagles into a team to be reckon with as they were coming off a NFC East title in 1988 and their first trip to the playoffs in seven years.

With Randall Cunningham at quarterback and a fierce defense led by defensive end Reggie White, the Eagles were considered a threat to reach the Super Bowl.

While the Eagles were a team on the rise, the Washington Redskins seemed to be a team in transition as they were coming off a 7-9 record in 1988, their worst season under head coach Joe Gibbs since he arrived in D.C. back in 1981.

Washington had a new starting quarterback as Mark Rypien, a sixth-round selection in the 1986 NFL Draft, took over for former Super Bowl MVP Doug Williams.

The Redskins were also transiting from a run-first team into a passing team with Rypien’s ability to throw the deep ball and a wide receiving corps that featured Art Monk, Gary Clark, and Ricky Sanders, which came to be known as “The Posse”.

The Redskins entered the game with a 0-1 record having lost 27-24 to the New York Giants while the Eagles came in with a 1-0 record having defeated the Seattle Seahawks 34-7.

Some experts expected a typical hard-hitting, low-scoring game amongst these two NFC East foes.

Instead, they got a game that featured nearly 1,000 yards of offense, nine turnovers, and a bizarre ending that would proved vital in the playoff race.

The fireworks started on the first play from scrimmage when Rypien launched a deep pass for Clark, who had beaten Eagles cornerback Eric Allen by three yards, who made the catch and then ran in untouched to complete a 80-yard touchdown to give the Redskins a 6-0 lead just 15 seconds into the game(Washington did not make the extra point because of a bad snap),

It got even better for the Redskins on their first defensive possession when Eagles fullback Anthony Toney fumbled the ball, which was recovered by Washington defensive end Charles Mann at the Eagles’ 41-yard-line.

Once again, it only took the Redskins one play to get into the end zone as Gerald Riggs took a handoff from Rypien and scampered 41 yards for the touchdown and a 13-0 Washington lead with 2:26 gone by in the game.

It seemed to go from bad to worse for the Eagles on their next possession when Toney fumbled the ball again with the Redskins recovering the ball again deep in Eagles territory with a chance to put more points on the board.

But Allen, atoning for giving up the 80-yard touchdown, picked off Rypien, giving the ball back to the Eagles, only to have them give it back to the Redskins when Cunningham was intercepted by Washington cornerback Bryan Davis, whose 13-yard return gave the Redskins the ball at the Philadelphia 11-yard-line.

Two plays later, Rypien found running back Earnest Byner over the middle for a 12-yard touchdown to make it 20-0 in favor of Washington after just seven offensive plays for the Redskins.

Mark Rypien completed only 12 passes in the game, but four of them were for touchdowns.

After turning the ball over three times on their first three possessions, the Eagles’ offense finally put together a good drive as they drove 80 yards in nine plays, culminating with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Cunningham to tight end Keith Jackson to cut the deficit to 13 points, 20-7 with 1:36 left in the first quarter.

The Redskins responded with a eight-play, 80-yard drive that ended with Rypien’s five-yard touchdown pass to Clark, which had been set up by a 46-yard run by Riggs, to push the lead back to 20 points at 27-7 with 12:43 to go in the second quarter.

The score was still 27-7 when the Eagles defense picked off Rypien for the second time of the game, this time by William Frizzell whose 23-yard return to the Redskins’ three-yard line set up Toney’s three-yard touchdown run to bring Philadelphia back to within two scores as they trailed 27-14 with exactly seven minutes to go in the first half.

Again, the Redskins responded with another long drive, this one covering 63 yards in 12 plays, but had this time had to settle for a 25-yard field goal by Chip Lohmiller to make their lead 30-14 as the wild first half came to a close.

The third quarter was pretty calm as compared to the first half as they was only one touchdown score in the quarter coming courtesy of the Eagles, as they drove 92 yards in 12 plays, ending with another touchdown pass from Cunningham to Jackson, this one from five yards out, to bring the Eagles to within nine points, at 30-21.

The touchdown drive was propelled by two completions from Cunningham to fullback Keith Byars that covered 31 and 12 yards, respectively.

Then, the Eagles defense struck again and forced another turnover when defensive tackle Jerome Brown sacked Rypien, knocking the ball loose which was recovered by strong safety Andre Waters at the Redskins’ 42-yard-line.

Seven plays later, Cunningham found Cris Carter in the left corner of the end zone for a five-yard touchdown to cut the Washington lead to just two points at 30-28 with 12:39 to play in the fourth quarter.

It seemed the Eagles were on the verge of taking the lead, especially when they recovered another Washington fumble deep in Redskins territory on the Redskins’ ensuing offensive possession.

But kicker Luis Zendejas missed a 33-yard field goal that would have given the Eagles the lead, keeping it 30-28 in favor of the Redskins with 10:22 to go.

The score was still 30-28 when the Redskins put together a six-play, 71-yard drive that ended when Rypien hit Monk in stride on a sideline route for a 43-yard touchdown that along with Lohmiller’s extra point seemed to put the game away as Monk’s touchdown pushed the Redskins lead back to nine points, 37-28 with 3:06 remaining.

The Eagles got the ball back and went no-huddle in a desperate attempt to get a score to stay in the game.

Gerald Riggs rushed for a team-record 221 yards, but his fumble with a minute left proved costly for the Redskins.

On a fast-paced eight-play, 69-yard drive, Cunningham found wide receiver Greg Garrity on a pair of receptions, one for 29 yards and the other for 12 yards, to set up a two-yard touchdown pass to Mike Quick in the back of the end zone to bring it back to a two-point game, 37-35 with just 1:48 to play.

Needing at least a field goal to win the game, the Eagles could have attempted an onside kick, but Ryan chose to trust his defense and kicked the ball back to the Redskins, who took over at their own 20-yard-line.

But the decision to kick away looked like it backfired when on 1st down Riggs took a handoff from Rypien and ran 58 yards down the right sideline, before being tackled at the Eagles’ 22-yard-line as Riggs went over the 200-yard mark and broke the team record for most rushing yards in single game while seemingly breaking the back of the Eagles at the same time.

Still, the Redskins needed another 1st down to clinch the game, but could not move forward on their next two plays as the Eagles used their remaining timeouts, setting up a 3rd-and-10 at the Eagles 22 with 1:10 remaining.

Gibbs had a choice to make: either have Rypien take a knee so he could milk the clock down to about 25 seconds, then kick a field goal, or give the ball to Riggs again and hope he maybe break another run to get the 1st down and ice the game or at least worst gain a few yards or set up better field position for Lohmiller to kick his field goal.

Gibbs decided to run the ball with Riggs and that is when the unthinkable happened.

Rypien handed it off to Riggs, who managed to gain three more yards, before running into his center Reggie McKenzie, who had replaced starting center Jeff Bostic in the second quarter, fumbling the football, which was picked up by Eagles linebacker Al Harris.

As Redskins offensive tackle JIm Lachey grabbed Harris and try to bring him down, Eagles safety Wes Hopkins raced to Harris and asked him to lateral the ball to him.

Harris obliged and Hopkins ran 77 yards before he was knocked out-of-bounds by Sanders at the Washington four-yard-line.

It only took the Eagles one play to get in the end zone as Cunningham connected with Jackson for their third touchdown of the game, this one giving Philadelphia its first lead of the game at 42-37 with 58 seconds to go.

The Redskins got one last chance to save themselves and pull out a victory but Brown forced another fumble off a sack of Rypien, which was recovered by White to give the Eagles a shocking 42-37 victory.

While it was only the second game of the season, the shootout between the Eagles and the Redskins was the difference between the two teams and making the playoffs, as Philadelphia finished with a 11-5 record which earned them a wild card spot, while Washington finished with a 10-6 record and out of the playoffs.

However, the Redskins would get some revenge one year later when the two teams meet in the Wild Card Round of the 1990 NFL Playoffs as Washington knocked off the Eagles 20-6, which end cost Ryan his job as Eagles head coach.

Keith Jackson caught 12 passes for 126 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winner with 58 seconds left.