NFL Old School Game of the Week: Elway to Smith Hail Mary Gives Broncos Win over Redskins

 

Broncos wide receiver Rod Smith makes the game-winning touchdown catch as time expired in the Broncos' 1995 game against the Washington Redskins.

Every NFL player remembers their first career catch, but perhaps no had a better first career catch than Denver Broncos wide receiver Rod Smith when he caught made his first career NFL reception in the Broncos' game with the Washington Redskins in week 3 of the 1995 NFL season.

The Broncos entered the game with a 1-1 record under first year head coach Mike Shanahan, who had been the Broncos' offensive coordinator during two of Denver's three trips to the Super Bowl in the late 1980s.

Denver was led by future Hall-of-Fame quarterback John Elway, who was beginning his 13th season in the NFL, still looking for his first Super Bowl ring.

Little did he know, but he had a future star lining up behind in rookie running back Terrell Davis, who would soon becoming the stud running back Elway would need to capture the Vince Lombardi Trophy which had eluded throughout his career.

The Redskins also came in with a 1-1 record under second-year head coach Norv Turner, who had been the playcaller for the Dallas Cowboys' back-to-back Super Bowls in 1992 + 93 before becoming the head coach of the Redskins.

Turner hoped he had found his quarterback of the future in second-year quarterback Gus Frerotte, who had been selected in the seventh round of the 1994 NFL draft, but beat the Redskins' first round pick, Heath Shuler, for the starting job to begin the 1995 season.

To help Frerotte, the Redskins had signed running back Terry Allen in the offseason, to give Washington a strong presence in the backfield.

While many figure that Elway, Davis, Frerotte, Allen, or even Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe would have an huge impact on the week 3 game, nobody thought Smith was going to make a difference.

Smith had been signed by the Broncos after going undrafted following the 1994 NFL Draft where he did not catch a single pass during the entire season.

Smith made the team again in 1995 but was still at the bottom of the depth chart as the Broncos entered their Week 3 game against the Redskins in front of a sellout crowd at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

After the Broncos were forced to punt on their opening possession, the Redskins got the ball at their 17-yard-line from where they would drive to the Denver eight-yard-line as Frerotte completed his first four passes for 66 yards to set up 1st & goal.

However, the Broncos defense would hold as the Redskins to a field goal attempt by Eddie Murray from 30 yards out, only to have Murray's kick hit the right upright and no good to give Denver the ball back at its 20-yard-line with 6:49 to go in the first quarter.

From there, the Broncos would hold the ball for the rest of the first quarter as Denver would drive to the Washington four-yard-line where they had a 1st & goal as the second quarter began.

But the Redskins would hold Denver to just one yard on the next three plays, forcing the Broncos to settle for a 20-yard field goal by Jason Elam to give the Broncos a 3-0 lead with 13:14 left in the second quarter.

Broncos quarterback John Elway would complete 30 of 47 passes for 327 yards and throw two TDs.

The Redskins would be given good field position to begin their ensuing possession as return specialist Brian Mitchell returned the ensuing kickoff 37 yards to the Washington 43-yard-line.

Then after Allen ran for a combined 25 yards on two of the next three plays, Mitchell came in and ran for a 36-yard touchdown to give the Redskins a 7-3 lead with 10:53 to go in the second quarter.

The Broncos would take over at their 27-yard-line where after Davis picked up seven yards to start the drive, Elway connected with Rod Bernstine for a 38-yard gain to give Denver a 1st down at the Washington 28-yard-line.

Seven plays later, the Broncos were in the end zone as Bernstine punched it in from the one-yard line to give Denver a 10-7 lead with 5:54 remaining in the second quarter.

Following a Washington three-and-out, the Broncos got the ball at their 39-yard-line where they drove 61 yards in eight plays as Elway completed four of five passes for 47 yards on the drive, culminating with an eight-yard touchdown pass to Davis to increase the Denver lead to 17-7 with 1:50 left before halftime.

The Redskins would get the ball at their 23-yard-line with a chance to cut into the lead before halftime, only to have Frerotte be intercepted on the Redskins' first play from scrimmage as Broncos defensive end Dan Williams deflected the ball at the line of scrimmage, allowing for linebacker Elijah Alexander to come away with the pick and give Denver the ball at the Redskins' 30-yard-line.

After Elway threw an incomplete pass on 1st down, he connected with Davis for a 15-yard completion and a 1st down at the Washington 15-yard-line when Davis would get the ball on back-to-back plays, with the second carry going for a six-yard touchdown to increase the Broncos' lead to 24-7 with 44 seconds left in the first half.

The Redskins were probably thinking they would just take a knee to end the first half but after Mitchell returned the ensuing kickoff 38 yards to the Washington 39-yard-line, Turner decided to try and go for some points as the Redskins had all three timeouts left.

Frerotte would hit Henry Ellard for 11 yards to give Washington a 1st down at the 50-yard-line, then connected with Michael Westbrook on a 45-yard bomb to give the Redskins 1st & goal at the Denver five-yard-line with 18 seconds remaining.

Frerotte would then a five-yard touchdown pass to running back Marc Logan to cut the Broncos' lead to 24-14 with 11 seconds left in the first half as Elway would take a knee to run out the clock as the two teams went into the locker room for the halftime break with the Redskins set to get the ball to start the second half.

Starting at their 27-yard-line, the Redskins gave the ball to Allen, who ran for 12 yards to begin the second half, then was stopped for no gain to set up 2nd & 10 when Frerotte hit Logan for 18 yards, then found Ellard for 28 yards to give Washington a 1st down at the Broncos' 15-yard-line.

Allen would carry the ball on the next two plays for eight yards to set up 3rd & 2 when Frerotte found Leslie Shepherd for a seven-yard touchdown to bring the Redskins to within a field goal at 24-21 with 11:01 to go in the third quarter.

Following the ensuing kickoff, the Broncos would drive from their 21-yard-line to the Redskins' 46-yard-line until a holding penalty and a quarterback sack pushed the Broncos back 19 yards to their 35-yard-line as they were forced to punt the ball away.

That is when Mitchell struck again as he returned the ensuing punt 52 yards to the Denver 42-yard-line where the Redskins would begin their next possession.

Redskins return specialist Brian Mitchell had 290 all purpose yards as he returned five kickoffs for 188 yards, returned a punt for 52 yards, caught a pass for 14 yards, and ran for a 36-yard touchdown.

The drive started with a 22-yard run by Allen which was followed by five more runs by Allen for 12 yards plus an illegal contact penalty on the Broncos to set up a 20-yard field goal by Murray which tied the game at 24 with 2:52 left in the third quarter.

Having seen their 17-point lead disappear, the Broncos looked to respond on their next possession which began at their 22-yard-line as Elway would hit three passes in a row for 20 yards before handing it off to Aaron Carver who ran for 14 yards to give Denver a 1st down at the Washington 44-yard-line as the third quarter came to an end.

Three plays later, the Broncos were faced with a 4th & 2 at the Redskins' 36-yard-line when Shanahan decided to neglect a potential 53-yard field goal and go for the 1st down.

However, Elway's pass for Carver fell incomplete to give the Redskins the ball at their 36-yard-line with 13:30 left in the fourth quarter.

The Redskins would go three-and-out on their next drive, forcing them to punt the ball back to the Broncos who took over at their 20-yard-line.

Once again, Elway would begin the drive with three straight completions, this time totaling 33 yards to put the Broncos in Redskins territory where Davis would run for six yards to give Denver a 1st down at the Washington 41-yard-line.

Three plays later, the Broncos would be faced again with a 4th & 2 situation when again Shanahan would go for the 1st down.

This time, Shanahan's gamble was successful as Elway handed the ball off to Davis, who ran for seven yards and a 1st down at the Washington 26-yard-line.

From there, the Broncos would run the ball for the next five plays, ending with an one-yard touchdown run by Davis to give Denver a 31-24 lead with 4:53 left in the fourth quarter.

Broncos running back Terrell Davis would carry the ball 13 times for 68 yards and score two touchdowns, while catching seven passes for 61 yards and scoring another TD.

The Redskins would get another great return from Mitchell, who returned the ensuing kickoff 56 yards to give Washington the ball at the Broncos' 40-yard-line.

However, the Redskins' drive would get off to an auspicious start as Allen was dropped for a one-yard-loss on 1st down, which was followed by a quarterback sack by Broncos linebacker Keith Burns that dropped Frerotte for an eight-yard loss, setting up 3rd & 19 when Frerotte connected with Mitchell for 14 yards to set up a do-or-die 4th & 5.

That is when Frerotte found tight end Coleman Bell for six yards and a 1st down at the Broncos' 29-yard-line, which was followed by a 20-yard pass from Frerotte to Westbrook to give the Redskins a 1st & goal at the Denver nine-yard-line.

Frerotte would throw an incomplete pass on 1st down, then connected with Logan for eight yards to set up 3rd & goal from the one-yard-line when Frerotte fired a one-yard touchdown pass to tight end Scott Galbraith that with the extra point tied the game at 31 with 67 seconds left in regulation.

But 67 seconds plus one timeout in his pocket was just enough time for Elway to try to pull off another late game miracle.

The Broncos would get the ball at their 20-yard-line as Elway began the drive with a seven-yard completion to Davis followed by a 19-yard completion to Ed McCaffrey for a Denver 1st down at the Broncos' 46-yard-line as Elway called timeout with 46 seconds left.

Elway would then hit Davis for four yards and then Glyn Milburn for seven yards for another Denver 1st down at the Redskins' 43-yard-line when Elway spiked the ball to stop the clock with 15 seconds left.

But when Elway threw back-to-back incomplete passes, the Broncos were faced with a 4th & 10 at the Washington 43-yard-line with six seconds left.

Shanahan could have sent Elam to attempt a potential 60-yard field goal but he decided to go for the touchdown even though Sharpe, Bernstine, and Anthony Miller all were out of the game.

Enter Smith, who was sent in the game and lined up as the lone receiver on the left side where he would be covered by future Hall-of-Fame cornerback Darrell Green.

Lined up in the shotgun, Elway took the snap and evaded the Redskins' pass rush to step up in the pocket and fire a pass from the Denver 45-yard-line toward the end zone looking for Smith.

With Green on his back, Smith leapt up at the goal line to make the catch and then fell into the end zone as time expired for the 43-yard touchdown to give the Broncos a incredible 38-31 win.

The Redskins would end up finishing with a 6-10 record, giving them their third straight losing season while the Broncos would go on to finish with a 8-8 record.

However, the groundwork was set for the Broncos to future success as Denver would go 39-9 over the next three regular seasons and win back-to-back Super Bowls in 1997 + 98 with Davis as the catalyst as he would rush for over 1,500 yards those three seasons to help give Elway the Super Bowl rings he had been searching for his career.

As for Smith, he pretty much spent the rest of the 1995 season on the bench as he would catch only five more passes for 109 yards but would break out in 1997 as he would catch 70 passes for 1,180 yards and 12 touchdowns as he would go to a fantastic 12-year career, spending all 12 seasons with the Broncos, and finishing with 849 receptions for 11, 389 yards and 65 touchdowns, where he currently ranks first all-time in all three categories in Denver Broncos history.