REDSKINS DON'T SLIP IN THE SLOP

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 5, 1992                   TAG: 9201050218
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
REDSKINS DON'T SLIP IN THE SLOP
It was an NFL playoff game that should have been televised by The Weather Channel.
In the rain, wind, fog and mud at RFK Stadium on Saturday afternoon, the players were thinking about fronts different from those at the line of scrimmage.
"I think it was raining every direction out there," Washington guard Mark Schlereth said.
It even rained seat cushions, following a seemingly endless fourth-quarter touchdown drive that sent the Redskins into next Sunday's NFC championship game.
Schlereth has seen crummy weather before, having grown up in Alaska and played collegiately at Idaho. Still, he was impressed by more than the Redskins' 24-7 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.
"It was a fun game," said Schlereth, who in a few weeks will be playing in Hawaii's warmth in his first Pro Bowl. "It was the worst conditions I've played in, and it was great.
"When you went down face-first in the mud and the muck and people couldn't run because it was slick, well, that's the type of day an offensive lineman loves."
Once it was apparent the weather would waterlog the passing game, the Redskins had an advantage bigger than coach Joe Gibbs' three-tight end jumbo offense. Atlanta's running game is worse than its defense against the run, which entered this NFC semifinal ranked 23rd in the league.
"All we had to do was hang onto the football," said Redskins rookie Ricky Ervins, who rushed for 104 yards - 61 more than the Falcons. "On a day like this, that's what scares you the most."
The notion is that a bad-weather day favors the offense, because receivers and runners can make their cuts and defenders must play loose so as to not slip and fall.
That opinion was drowned on the field, and again in the Redskins' dressing quarters after the game.
"I'm an old guy," said Washington's 13th-season linebacker Monte Coleman, who had an interception and a third-quarter sack that might have been the game's biggest play until the final touchdown. "It's the worst conditions I've ever played in.
"I'm not talking about the worst since I've been in the NFL. I mean the worst since I started playing organized football. It was a good day to play defense. I think it's the opposite of what people say. I think the defense has an edge.
"Those scatback types can't stop and cut when they're running. The quarterbacks can't grip the ball. Receivers have to be careful they don't drop the ball when they're tackled, if they can even hold on to make the catch.
"Another advantage for the defense is that in weather like this, you end up playing less man-to-man coverage and more zone, simply because you can't move."
On Washington's final drive - a 52-yard, 13-play ground march that took more than seven minutes - the advantage created for the Redskins by the horrible conditions were evident.
"People say the offense has an advantage, but on days like this, it does become more of a defensive game," Washington linebacker Wilber Marshall said.
"You don't mind if it's raining, but when it's doing all that it was doing out there, it's tough," Washington quarterback Mark Rypien said. "You just prepare and do the best you can. Both sides have the same weather; you just have to deal with it."
Gibbs called it "Redskin weather."
Whatever it was, it surely helped ground the Falcons.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB