Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 18, 1995 TAG: 9509180154
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JIM DUCIBELLA LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: DENVER LENGTH: Medium
Behind them, the game clock ticked down - :06 ... :05 ... :04 ... :03 - on a scoreboard that showed the Broncos and Redskins each with 31 points, and Denver with no timeouts.
Back around midfield, Broncos quarterback John Elway was moving up in the pocket to avoid the rush. Elway's right arm suddenly flicked forward, and a pass flew through the air.
``I'm saying to myself, `We're in good shape,''' Green said later. ``They've got to get into the end zone.''
As the clock hit :00, Smith arrived at the goal line and leaped at the same moment Elway's bullet arrived. Green leaped, too, but an instant too late. Green swiped at the ball, but his arm was too short to make contact.
Smith, who had never before caught a pass in the NFL, suddenly was exactly where Green thought it was all but impossible for him to get and the Broncos had escaped with a dramatic and controversial victory.
At the same time, the 38-31 triumph was another chapter in the Elway legend. He has engineered 35 game-winning, fourth-quarter drives in his 13-year NFL career.
``But I've never really had one where we scored a touchdown on the last play of [the] game,'' Elway said. ``Never since I started playing football. It's extra special.''
Indeed. Despite being without tight end Shannon Sharpe, tailback Rod Bernstine and Anthony Miller - all injured earlier in the game - Elway willed the Broncos 80 yards in eight plays.
Smith, an undrafted first-year pro from Missouri Southern State, made his first NFL catch one he'll never forget.
``I had a few big catches in college, but nothing like this,'' Smith said. ``You go to practice every day and you run the routes and you know that if a starter goes out you've got to do the job.''
For all intents and purposes, Elway, who completed 30 of 47 passes for 327 yards, completed the miraculous game-winning pass when he stepped up to buy time against the rush. The Redskins stationed six defensive backs on the field - their ``Pirate'' scheme - and the Broncos countered by sending two receivers to the right side, Smith to the left.
Washington double-teamed the two receivers on the right side, and free safety Stanley Richard was supposed to run in whatever direction Elway's pass was thrown. But when Elway stepped up to avoid the rush, coach Norv Turner said, Richard had no choice but to freeze and see where Elway would throw.
``We need to win a game like this,'' Turner said. ``When we finally turn the corner, a game like this will make us better.''
For almost all of the second half, it seemed this would be the week the Redskins turned the corner. Instead, they head to Tampa, Fla., on Sept.24 with a 1-2 record.
They overcame their own mistakes, like Gus Frerotte bobbling a snap on a 30-yard field-goal attempt by Eddie Murray in the first quarter.
They overcame two horrendous officiating errors. The first was a touchdown given the Broncos when head linesman Dale Williams overruled umpire Bob Wagner's ruling that Redskins cornerback Tom Carter had recovered Terrell Davis' fumble in the end zone before Davis had crossed the goal line. That score, with 52 seconds left in the first half, and the conversion kick gave Denver a 24-7 lead.
The second blunder, although less clear-cut, took a touchdown from the Redskins. Gus Frerotte, who overcame a mid-second quarter lull to complete 16 of 26 passes for 233 yards, lobbed a pass into the end zone that rookie Michael Westbrook caught. Westbrook came down with one foot in bounds, but couldn't get the left foot down in time as he was pushed out by cornerback Ray Crockett.
Instead of a touchdown that would have given Washington a 28-24 lead, the Redskins had to settle for Murray's 21-yard field goal and a 24-24 tie.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
Keywords:
FOOTBALL
by CNB