THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 10, 1995 TAG: 9510100374
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
Sometimes, the hardest questions have the simplest answers. Case in point: How to make the Washington Redskins more consistent?
Answer: Find more Brian Mitchells. About 30 of them.
When was the last time you saw someone with his drive, determination and singleness of purpose? Mitchell knows that the quickest way from Point A to Point B is a straight line. That's the way he runs. That's the way he plays. Game after game.
His stats in Sunday's 37-34 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Eagles were spectacular. Before the Eagles started kicking away from him, Mitchell had returned kickoffs for 42 and 44 yards and a punt for 59 yards and a touchdown.
It got comical after that.
When Eagles punter Tom Hutton hit one high enough to force Mitchell to call for a fair catch, the Veterans Stadium crowd cheered lustily, as though they'd just been introduced to the guy whose idea it was to slap mustard on a pretzel.
Know what Philadelphia special-teams coach Danny Smith called the biggest play of the game? Gary Anderson's kickoff over Mitchell's head and through the end zone to start overtime.
Seventy-one points. Eight hundred yards of offense. Two Eagles runners - Ricky Watters and Charlie Garner - with more than 100 yards each. Overtime. All that drama, and the play of the game is a touchback. Some might argue, but not many. After all, when Mitchell fielded a kickoff or punt, the Redskins started in Philadelphia territory more times than not.
Read this next sentence slowly: Mitchell is as valuable to the Redskins as any player in the league is to his club. Without him and the 210 yards the Washington special teams squeezed out of the Eagles, the Redskins lose by, oh, 34-10.
And it's not just his returns. On third-and-9, Gus Frerotte threw a screen pass to Mitchell that gained 15 yards and kept alive a touchdown march. Later, another Frerotte-to-Mitchell screen gained 14 on third-and-10, paving the way for the touchdown that cut the Redskins' deficit to 34-31.
``He's doing that in all our games,'' Turner said. ``He's doing it so much I guess you start to take it for granted.''
Oh, one more thing. On kick coverage, Mitchell even made a tackle.
You knew we'd get to the defense eventually. How could we not? Even though Turner doesn't feel comfortable using Mitchell for more than, say, 10 plays a game - a position with which we grudgingly concur - maybe there's something Mitchell could do in practice to help the defense.
Turner should just tell the D-line to sit on the sidelines, then let the Redskins' O-line and Mitchell rumble over the linebackers and secondary. They may not like it, but this way they'd at least get accustomed to the feeling of playing seven-on-11, as they did at The Vet.
``We made them look like a million dollars,'' Redskins defensive coordinator Ron Lynn said. ``Made them look like the best thing since sliced bread.''
Had Einstein watched Sunday's game, he'd have come out with a Theory of Reliability by now. Simply put, give a football to a player facing the Redskins and you can rely on at least one missed tackle per carry.
One guy in the press box scratched his head, dotted the I's, crossed the T's, carried the one and came up with 19 missed tackles. We're looking for someone willing to tutor a 50-year-old man in remedial math at 10 bucks an hour.
``They've got a couple of good backs,'' said free safety Stanley Richard, ``but the yardage they got comes from a lack of tackling on our part - mostly speaking for myself.''
Eagles quarterback Rodney Peete never threw a pass of more than 20 yards. He didn't need to, sure, but it also was part of the Philly gameplan.
``We wanted to throw short so the defensive linemen would have to turn and run, turn and run, turn and run,'' Eagles center Raleigh McKenzie said. ``We knew it would take its toll.''
It did and it may. Don't think other coaches aren't going to see that a conservative Philadelphia offense that ran right, ran left but mostly ran right through the Redskins, churned out some eye-popping numbers with a minimum of risk. Arizona's Garrison Hearst had better strap an oxygen tank onto his jersey Sunday. He's going to need it.
``They had both backs over 100 yards,'' Washington safety Keith Taylor said when asked if the defense would be seeing a lot more running plays. ``You'd be dumb not to.''
If that's the case, the only way the Redskins can stay close in these games is for Mitchell to continue being Brian Mitchell.
Get used to nail-biting finishes, but also to predictable results. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Brian Mitchell's kick returns - including a
59-yarder for a touchdown - kept the Redskins alive Sunday.
by CNB