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By Michael Ricbman 1-95's Close Encounters wo teams about 100 miles apart. Same division. One wears burgundy and Tgold, the other green and white. And, oh, they've been slugging it out for exactly 70 years. Add it up and what do you get? A combustible rivalry featuring the Washington Redskins and Eagles, one of the oldest and most compelling duels in NFL history. Since first colliding in 1934, the Redskins and Eagles have produced an abundance of wild, bizarre and dramatic games. From the league's formative years, to the Eagles' 27-25 victory last season when Redskins rallied Washington from an 1 1-point deficit in the waning minutes before misfiring on a conversion pass in the final seconds, the Redskins and Eagles have enthralled football fans. In 1968, Phulr J WIII llawkins Just ask Redskins Hall of Fame quarterback , who played his first seven (18) battled Redskins Aaron seasons in Philly before coming to Washington. Martin (40) and . "Look at how many close games the Redskins and Eagles have had over the years," says On the cover: Jurgensen, a long-time Redskins radio color analyst. "Regardless of the records, the games squares off against will still be close. You knew when you went to Philadelphia, it was going to be a very in 1990. physical game, a knock-down, drag-out fight. That's the city's culture. You knew it wasn't going to be an easy day. Nobody was going to lay down." Jim Gallagher, a former Eagles front-office official for nearly 50 years, says Philadelphians consider it a "big-time" rivalry. 'The Redskins are right down 1-95,'' he says. "The Giants are just north of us on 95. We call it the 1-95 series. We've always had a great rivalry with the Redskins, Giants and Cowboys. We don't like to lose to any of them. When we win, we think it's a big win." The biggest win in the series has gone to the Redskins. In the only playoff game between the teams, Washington earned a 20-6 victory in January 1991 that was oh, so, sweet, for it redeemed the Redskins after a humiliating loss a few weeks prior in the infamous "body bag" game. The win came at the height of the Redskins-Eagles rivalry, when Redskins coach and his Eagles counterpart, , battled it out in the entertaining NFC East from 1986 to 1990, the longest period when both teams have been true contenders. The Redskins also hold the upper hand in one of the most lopsided trades in NFL history, the landmark 1964 deal that brought quarterback Sonny Jurgensen to the Nation's Capital and sent quarterback to Philadelphia. Jurgensen continued fortifying his Hall of Fame career with dazzling passing performances in D.C., while Snead was above average at best, a distinction that long infuriated Philly fans. As for the unruliest fans, former Redskins star Larry Brown categorically gives the nod to those in the City I

To TImm A SPVCIAL #ISTOPICAL SUPPLEMENT of Brotherly Love. "They are by far the worst in the division," he says. "You don't have to be in the stadium to find yourself in some altercation with a Philadelphia fan. They treat their opponents poorly not only in the stadium, but it could be in the parking lot or a public bar or restaurant. If they have some kind of way of identifying that you're associated with the opponent, they can be very, very nasty." The Eagles have won 18 of the past 23 games against the Redskins and five in a row entering the 2004 season, while establishing themselves as one of the NFL's elite teams. The picture was much different in the NFL's early days, when the Redskins reached the NFL championship game six times and won twice from 1936 to 1945, and the Eagles were often among the league's worst squads. All the while, the Eastern Division foes generated histrionics when facing each other - and the unusual. Like when the Redskins' Bob Masterson kicked a 10-yard field goal in the final seconds to account for a 30-27 win in 1942, or when the Redskins' Joe Aguirre missed four extra points in a 3 1-3 1 in 1944. The Redskins also clipped the Eagles in D.C., on Dec. 7, 1941, in what's called the world's most forgotten football game. Around game time at 2 p.m. (8 a.m. PST), the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Midway through the first quarter, the public address announcer began sending puzzling and ominous messages over the loud speaker, summoning admirals, generals, cabinet officers, ambassadors and government officials to their offices in Washington. By the third quarter, an estimated 3,000 of the 27,100 fans had left eerily silent . By the mid- 1940s, the Eagles began to dominate the rivalry and won eight straight games at one point behind a high- powered offense led by Hall of Fame running back . Those wins included: I a 1946 comeback from a 24-0 deficit, the largest second-half lead the Redskins have ever relinquished; H a 45-42 victory in 1947, the highest single-game scoring Brian Mitchell (1999 photo) total in NFL history at the time (87 points); and wound up playing quarteddc H a 45-0 demolition of Washington" in 1948. the worst renular-season" loss at the time in the 1990 'body bag' game. in Redskins history. The Eagles - NFL champions in 1948 and 1949 - were angling for a return to the title game in 1952. But the Redskins said no way. Washington's 27-21 season-ending upset spoiled the Eagles' bid. Redskins quarterback Eddie LeBaron threw a pass to star receiver Bones Taylor to tie the game at 2 1 with less than five minutes left. Philadelphia needed a win to capture the division, but Washington's defense held the Eagles on downs in their own territory. LeBaron then sneaked in from one yard out for the win. "We were on the l-yard line, and I can remember one of the Eagles players saying, 'Oh, please don't score on us, you'll give the division title to the Browns,"' LeBaron says. Three years later, the rivals crafted one of the most bizarre sequences in NFL history when the Redskins erased a 16-0 deficit in two minutes, 17 seconds. The comeback began when Washington recovered a on the Eagles' 32, and

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LeBaron threw a touchdown pass to back Vic Janowicz on the next play. The ensuing kickoff appeared headed out of bounds and, while the Eagles watched to see which way it would go, the Redskins' Ralph Thomas pounced on the ball at the 2 and slid into the . Philadelphia fumbled the kickoff, Redskins (and future assistant coach) Lavern "Torgy" Torgeson recovered and Janowicz ran for a touchdown. Final score: 3 1-30 Redskins. "It was a unique experience," LeBaron says. "We made some good plays, but you never expect the other team not to recover the ball in the end zone on a kickoff. Those were great things that went our way, terrible things for Wilbur Moore slips behind the Philadelphia." Philly defense in a 1943 game Philly won another championship in 1960 behind legendary quarterback Norm Van at Griffith Stadium. Brocklin. He then retired, opening the door for a rifle-armed passer with a trigger Below left: Raleigh McKenzie (63) release named Sonny Jurgensen. takes on in 1988. Jurgensen became a star, throwing for NFL highs of 235 completions, 2,723 yards and 32 in 1961. He bedeviled the Redskins, then en route to their worst season ever at 1-12-1, by throwing for two scores in a 14-7 win and hitting Hall of Fame receiver Tommy McDonald with a last-second touchdown pass in a 27-24 Eagles victory. By the 1964 offseason, Jurgensen became part of "the swap." New Eagles coach , a former Redskins , overhauled his roster by trading away such stars as Jurgensen and McDonald. Jurgy went to Washington in exchange for Norm Snead, who had passed for 5,300 yards in three seasons in D.C. Redskins coach Bill McPeak considered Jurgensen one of the league's top three passers, along with Baltimore's and New York's Y.A. Tittle. Jurgensen, about to enter his eighth season, says he didn't want to be traded. "I was shocked. It happened on April Fool's Day. Somebody told me, and I thought they were kidding, putting me on. I'd just w met Kuharich, and I didn't know anything about it. But it was the best thing to 1 happen to me." D.C. fans also loved No. 9, who became a leader on an explosive offense that also showcased receivers and , both Hall of Famers, and gifted Jerry Smith. While riddling defenses throughout the league, Jurgensen carried a special incentive when playing the Eagles. In his first game against Philadelphia on Oct. 11, 1964, he threw five scoring passes in a - 35-20 Redskins victory. A - All along, many Eagles fans resented what was a very unpopular trade in Philadelphia, says Ray Didinger, a producer at NFL Films and long-time Eagles beat reporter. "Snead was not exactly welcomed with open arms," Didinger said. "Then Jurgensen put up huge numbers in Washington, and the fans kept saying, r- 'Look at what he's doing down there.' Norm always seemed to suffer in 1 comparison." The Redskins and Eagles struggled for most of the '60s. But when the Redskins became formidable in the '70s, reaching the playoffs five times with

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one appearance, they beat the Eagles almost week after week. That changed with the arrival in Philly of coach , who guided the Eagles to four straight playoff appearances, including one Super Bowl, through the 198 1 season. But the Redskins, winners of eight of their last 11 games in 1981 under first-year coach Joe Gibbs, delivered a 37-34 shocker in the 1982 season-opener at . Redskins quarterback was sharp with 28 of 39 completions for 382 yards and three touchdowns, bringing his squad back from the brink of defeat time after time. F'! Redskins kicker hit a 48-yard field goal to tie the game at the end of regulation and a 26-yarder to win it in . Once the latter kick split the uprights, an elated Gibbs leaped into Theismann's arms. Gibbs calls it one of the biggest games during his first stint in Washington, when the Redskins went to four Super Bowls and won three. "They'd been to the Super Bowl two years before, so to open up like that at their place was great," he said. "That was probably our key game that year, kind of established us for the first time as somebody that might win the division." The Redskins did more than that in the 1982 season. They beat the Dolphins 27-17 in Super Bowl XVII for the franchise's first NFL championship in 40 years. (87) has seen the More wild games were in store. Case in point: The Redskins held a 20-0 first-quarter rivalry from both perspectives. lead over the Eagles in a 1989 game, before wilting under an All-Pro performance by elusive Eagles quarterback . He posted team records of 34 completions and 447 yards, plus five scoring passes, one of which cut the Redskins' lead to 37-35 with 150 left. Redskins running back , who rushed for a team-record 221 yards that day, ran 58 yards to the Eagles 22 on the next possession. But he fumbled soon after, and gained control of the ball and raced 77 yards down the sideline to the Redskins' 7 before a mortified crowd at RFK. Cunningham then found tight end for the winning score to climax one of the strangest games in Redskins history. "We were just icing it at the end when Riggs fumbled," Gibbs remembers. "That ball was one foot from going out of bounds, and they picked it up. It's unbelievable. That was one of the toughest losses I've ever had. We had more than 400 yards of offense and lost the game." The Redskins also committed six turnovers against an Eagles defense transformed by Ryan - the architect of the famed that shaped the Bears into a juggernaut in their Super Bowl-winning season in 1985 - into one nasty bunch. The Eagles rode their defense to vie with the Redskins and the -coached Giants for frst place in the NFC East from the mid-1980s until 1990, a triangular situation that made for intriguing Sundays. Gibbs defeated Ryan eight of 11

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times. That Philly defense pounded the Redskins in the "body bag game," a 28-14 Eagles Monday Night victory at Veterans Stadium on Nov. 12, 1990. Nine Redskins left the field with injuries, including starting quarterback and backup . Rookie running back Brian Mitchell, a quarterback in college at Southwest Louisiana, was forced into action. The embarrassed Redskins would1 have a chance for revenge in a wild card playoff game at Veterans Stadium on Jan. 5, 1991. The Eagles were chest-thumping in the days prior, thinking they would obliterate the Redskins in light of their dominance in the "body bag" game. The brash and bombastic Ryan, for his part, predicted that Redskins running back Earnest Byner would fumble the ball three times. When informed by the press at Redskins Park of Ryan's comment, the dignified Gibbs refused to respond. Indeed, Gibbs and company took care of business on game day, manhandling the Eagles 20-6 in a game that wasn't that close. Although retribution was at hand, the Redskins refused to taunt. Offensive line coach remembers a few players, including guard , walking on the sidelines saying, "Nobody say anything bad. Let's not even talk about it." NFL Films caught Gibbs in the post-game locker room imploring his troops to "win with style." His adversary, Ryan, was fired a few days later. Did Gibbs say anything beforehand to remind his players of the "body bag" game? "When you get your clock cleaned like that, all we had to do was show the film," he says. "Probably the biggest motivating factor is to whip somebody really good, and they'll remember it. That's about as excited as our football team had been in a while. It stemmed more from having your rear end kicked." These days, the Eagles are armed with a quarterback Gibbs says reminds him a little of Cunningham - scrambler Donovan McNabb - and two-time NFL Coach of the Year . McNabb has tormented the Redskins, like when he rushed for 125 yards, the highest total for an Nm, quarterback in nearly three decades, in a 23-20 Eagles win returns 8 in the that crippled the Redskins' playoff chances in 2000. 1986 opener at RFK Stadium. Gibbs says he's not looking forward to facing McNabb or Reid, sparks behind the Eagles reaching the NFC championship game the past three years. No. 53 is linebacker Dwayne Jiles. "They've been dominating the NFC East," Gibbs says. "They've pretty much had their say in this division. So you've got to rate them as the favorite. Andy Reid's doing a terrific job up there. They have a great quarterback, he's hard to get down and he makes plays all over the place. They just keep coming at you on defense. They're relentless."

------Red Cloud. Red Thunder. Red Eagle. Redlands. Red mud. "The tern reciskin, applied by Europeans to Algonquians in general and the Delawares in particular," says the Reader's Digest in its book America's Fascinbting Indian Heritage, "was inspired not by their natuml complexion but by their fondness for vermilion makeup, concocted fi~mfat mixed wifh beny juice and minerals that provided the desired color." The men "would streak their aces andbodies with bright red ocher and bloadroot," adds the Reader's Digest. Indians painted their skin for decorative and ceremoniaI purposes. 'Xed is generally accepted as. king one of the colars most easily available to and most used by Indians," as Ronald P. Koch states n his book Dress Clothing ofrhe Plains Indiam.

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