THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 15, 1996 TAG: 9609150297
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. LENGTH: 81 lines
Redskins vs. Giants:
The Giants have won 13 of the last 16 games against the Redskins, and seven in a row.
The teams can be good, bad or indifferent. One theme runs true in recent games between the Washington Redskins and New York Giants - the Redskins almost always find a way to lose.
Heading into today's game at Giants Stadium, New York has won 13 of the last 16 games, seven in a row.
Some of Washington's more memorable gaffes:
1986 - A wide-open Gary Clark drops a long pass from Jay Schroeder that would have given the Redskins a touchdown and the early lead in the NFC title game. Instead, the Giants won 17-0.
1988 - Kicker Chip Lohmiller missed one extra point the entire season. It came in a 24-23 loss to New York in which Lohmiller also missed a 36-yard field goal with 2:54 to play.
1990 - Running back Earnest Byner caught 185 passes in five seasons with the Redskins, but Stan Humphries' pass at the New York goal line slipped through his hands. Instead of giving the Redskins a 17-14 lead, the pass was picked off by Greg Jackson. Forced to pass later, Humphries was intercepted by Everson Walls who returned it for a touchdown and a 21-10 triumph.
1994 - The Giants keep the ball for 14 minutes in the fourth quarter, 22 minutes of the second half, in eeking out a 21-19 victory.
Last season was no different. In a 24-15 loss at RFK Stadium, Gus Frerotte's pass for fullback Marc Logan slipped through his hands and was intercepted by New York's Vencie Glenn. He ran 75 yards for a touchdown.
Later in the same half, New York's Jamal Duff batted Frerotte's pass so hard it flew five yards over the quarterback's head - where the Giants' Michael Strahan caught it and ran 62 yards to the Washington 2, setting up another touchdown.
In the rematch six weeks later, the score was tied 13-13 when the Redskins blew a coverage on Chris Calloway's 40-yard touchdown catch with 1:18 to play. Thirty-one seconds later, Heath Shuler's pass to an open Henry Ellard was incomplete at the New York 1. Later, the Redskins claimed a sudden gust of wind held the ball in the air the second necessary for cornerback Thomas Randolph to catch Ellard and knock it down.
``You get a sick feeling in your stomach when it's late in the fourth quarter and you sit there knowing there were things you could have done to win the game and you didn't,'' Frerotte said. ``We've had that feeling too many times against them. And it doesn't seem to matter what the record is when we play them.''
Today is another potential case of more of the same. For the second year in a row, New York is 0-2 following a 23-20 overtime home loss to Buffalo and a 27-0 pasting at Dallas.
``You watch the Buffalo game and you keep telling yourself, `They're going to win, they're going to win, they're going to win,' '' Washington coach Norv Turner said. ``And if they were not playing (Bills quarterback) Jim Kelly, they do win. He kept his team together. He made the plays they needed to make to win.''
New York coach Dan Reeves says that's the story of his life.
``Are we handling anything well?'' Reeves repeated last week. ``We were 5-11 last year; we're 0-2 this year; 5-13 our last 18 games. I don't think you're doing anything real well when that's your record.
``It's a miserable game - make that tolerable - when you win. It's not even tolerable when you lose. The situation here now is not a heck of a lot of fun. A loss is like dying; I don't know who said that first but I used to laugh at that. I don't laugh anymore. The losses take a lot out of you.''
There's not much ``new'' in New York. Dave Brown still starts at quarterback. Rodney Hampton still heads the running game. The Giants are next-to-last in the league in offense, last in defense.
``You go into a game thinking that they're 0-2 and you're the one who ends up playing like you're 0-2,'' Redskins tackle Ed Simmons said. ``We know we match up well with them. It's also a fact that we've been on the short end of the score, just like with Philadelphia, almost every time we play.''
With both teams' offenses struggling, you'd expect a tight, low-scoring game. Whatever their other defensive woes, the Giants have seven quarterback sacks, one more than the Redskins.
``And they've run well on us in the past, too,'' said Turner, trying to win two games in a row for just the second time in his career. ``Calloway makes catches against us. They're probably about where we are, trying to get some continuity on offense. Certainly, we have nothing to be overconfident about.'' by CNB