ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, October 21, 1996 TAG: 9610220028
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
No wonder it feels like Christmas in October for the Washington Redskins.
In Norv Turner's second season as an NFL head coach, his Redskins didn't reach their sixth victory until Christmas Eve, 1995. Of course, that's twice as many triumphs as his team had when it went home for the holidays the previous year.
On Sunday, in what was likely the last game of a long rivalry played at RFK Stadium, the Redskins went into a Santa Claus act against the New York Giants - who happen to be the team that played the Redskins in their first game in Washington, 59 years ago at Griffith Stadium.
After taking a 28-0 halftime lead, Washington held on for its sixth straight victory, a 31-21 triumph and a 1996 sweep of its NFC East foe.
``Who would have figured we'd be so far enough ahead that we could struggle and still win?'' said offensive tackle Ed Simmons, who was part of recent glory days that aren't much more than newspaper and videotape clips to his younger teammates. ``We're 6-1. Not many people would have thought we'd be that.''
However, many of those same people figure the Redskins' run is over. Their six victories are over teams with a combined 9-27 record. Turner's team has beaten only one club with a winning record, New England (4-3).
The Redskins reach the midway point of the season Oct.27 when Indianapolis visits RFK, and four of the following five dates are against Buffalo, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Dallas.
Still, 6-1 is better than 6-10 by more than one digit.
``We know we're going to have to play better,'' said Gus Frerotte, who, given the Redskins' quarterback job at the season's start, certainly has earned it.
Washington probably can't play much better than it did in the first half against the Giants. If the Redskins are as bad in the coming weeks as they were in the second half, they might not even be a wild-card team.
``I'd appreciate only dealing with questions concerning the first half,'' Turner joked in his post-game scrimmage with the media. ``We're still very young, and sometimes we forget just how young we are.''
Simmons sees it. The 10th-year lineman looks around the locker room and doesn't see many fingers with rings from Super Bowl XXVI. ``The only time I mention that game is when I'm with [Brian] Mitchell and Darrell Green,'' he said. ``This, so far, kind of reminds you of that.''
The Redskins' six-game winning streak is their longest since that Joe Gibbs' 1991 title team started 11-0. The record isn't the most remarkable number to date for a franchise Turner is rebuilding with more than the gadget plays - like the double-reverse the 'Skins ran for 31 yards on the first drive Sunday - he enjoys.
In seven games, Washington has lost only one fumble - none in the last five games. After two years of back-and-forth behind center with the more-celebrated and higher-paid Heath Shuler, Frerotte has settled in.
He's thrown only four interceptions, including one Sunday to Giants rookie Percy Ellsworth, the former Virginia secondary star. Simmons and his linemates have protected well, too.
The defense, by the numbers, has been as different as Sunday's two halves. Washington came into Sunday's game ranked last in the NFC in yards allowed. In the league, only San Diego has permitted more. However, the 'Skins were No.1 in scoring defense.
Before allowing 21 points to the rallying Giants in the last 30 minutes, Washington had permitted only 22 second-half points in the previous six games.
``I heard we were 29th in the league in defense,'' Simmons said. ``What's important is stopping teams from scoring, and our guys have. That's why they have scoreboards in the stadium.''
The game turned as the weather did Sunday. In the first half, under dark skies and a brief shower, the Redskins controlled the ball and produced nine plays of 12 or more yards.
In the second half, the Giants stuffed the run ``real well,'' Turner said, and New York had 10 plays of more than 12 yards. In Washington's first three series of the half, it had 11 plays from scrimmage, including six for no yardage and two for 1 yard.
When the Redskins needed a late, clock-eating drive, however, Frerotte produced it - just as he did in the win a week earlier at New England - and Scott Blanton's 46-yard field goal all but finished the Giants.
``That's a difference, too,'' Simmons said. ``We got that confidence at the end of last year [when the Redskins won three of their last four]. We could have made that drive then, but not before. We're different now.''
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines KEYWORDS: FOOTBALLby CNB