THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 14, 1996 TAG: 9610140116
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FOXBORO, MASS. LENGTH: 142 lines
Of all the New England Patriots, only guard William Roberts broke into the NFL in 1983, the same year as the Washington Redskins' Darrell Green and Henry Ellard. Forty of the Pats were still in grade school when Ellard and Green played their first pro game.
On a brilliant New England fall day, Green and Ellard gave a Foxboro Stadium clinic with a dazzling display that led the Redskins to a 27-22 victory and showed the Patriots and 60,292 fans how one gets to be a strong Hall of Fame candidate.
Ellard reeled in eight passes for 152 yards - his biggest day since an eight-catch, 191-yard performance against Arizona in 1994 - and his first touchdown of the season. When the Redskins needed him most, on a late-game drive and the preservation of a two-point lead at stake, Ellard and quarterback Gus Frerotte combined on a 40-yard catch-and-run. Later, Ellard turned himself into a human tightrope to catch a 15-yard pass Frerotte came close to admitting he was trying to throw away.
``He's a good player,'' a testy Patriots coach Bill Parcells understated. ``He's got 734 catches, plus what he had today. We had trouble with him.''
Four plays later after Ellard's final catch, Scott Blanton kicked a much-easier 24-yard field goal into the wind with 56 seconds to play, and the Redskins had snapped a three-game Patriots winning streak.
Washington is 5-1 and holds a one-game NFC East lead over Philadelphia, two games over Dallas and three games over Arizona and Sunday's opponent, the New York Giants.
``All he needed was opportunity,'' Skins coach Norv Turner said of Ellard. ``Today, we got matchups we liked, good matchups. Why so good? Because they can't cover him. He's the best route-runner I've ever seen.''
Green had an enormous stake in Washington's fifth consecutive victory after an opening-day defeat. The ageless cornerback kick-started the Redskins defense in the second half by intercepting Drew Bledsoe's pass on New England's first play of the third quarter.
Seven plays after Green's 17-yard return, Frerotte and Ellard combined on a 13-yard pass for a 24-16 Redskins lead. Frerotte had given the Skins the lead the previous series with a 13-yard toss to tight end Jamie Asher.
Later, Green, for several years the NFL's fastest man, parlayed that speed and determination into a spectacular chasedown from behind of New England's Curtis Martin, who was 20 yards ahead of him and looked headed to an 81-yard touchdown.
Instead, Green dashed from the Patriots backfield down the left sideline and dragged down Martin at the Washington 27. A penalty on the play against free safety Stanley Richard gave New England another 15 yards. But Green's spectacular effort proved critical four snaps later when Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri's 43-yard field goal hit the right upright, preserving Washington's eight-point edge.
``You have to do your job,'' Green said. ``I'm not here because I'm good-looking. . . . I'm more pleased with the fact that I didn't give up. The key was not saying, `Oh, he's gone.' I kind of just went, `OK, let me go' and I took off.''
``I didn't expect how fast Darrell Green was,'' Martin admitted. ``I saw him maybe five yards away and I was thinking, `Now I am going to shift into the next gear.' As soon as I went to pick up my speed, he was on my back.''
The Redskins' defense was porous early in surrendering a 16-10 halftime lead, then tightened from then on. Bledsoe hit 13 of 26 passes for 123 yards before intermission, but was only 10 of 22 for 99 yards in the second half.
And while Martin, 1995's AFC rookie of the year, had the second-best rushing day of his career with 164 yards and two touchdowns on just 17 carries, Washington found a way to nullify him on one of the game's key plays.
Martin's 2-yard touchdown run with 5:33 to play brought New England to 24-22. Parcells' play call for the two-point conversion attempt was a pitch to Martin around the right side. Strong safety Darryl Morrison swooped up from the secondary and got a hand on Martin, forcing him to the sidelines, where linebacker Ken Harvey and several others stuffed him well short of the end zone.
``They lined up (tight end Ben) Coates outside, then brought him back so he could help with the block,'' Morrison said. ``They'd been doing that all day. As soon as I saw the toss, I tried to get into the backfield, make him bounce outside. The rest of the guys helped string it out.''
``They overplayed like crazy,'' Martin added. ``Usually, I just have to race for the pylon, but the way they played defense, it wasn't there.''
Frerotte and Ellard then spearheaded a 12-play, 74-yard drive that consumed 4:37 and ended with Blanton's field goal.
On third-and-8 from the Washington 22, Ellard found a seam in the Patriots zone, caught Frerotte's short toss, got a block from Leslie Shepherd and sprinted 40 yards. Later, on second-and-19, Frerotte went to Ellard for 10. Next snap, Frerotte stood up to a heavy rush before finally aiming a throw for the sidelines.
Ellard dove, his body parallel to the ground, caught the ball and dragged his feet across the chalk for a critical, controversial, first down that all but snuffed the life out of the home team.
``The last two years, I caught a lot of balls and we lost a lot of games,'' said Ellard, who had just 11 catches in the first five games, leading some to believe that his skills had waned considerably. ``I got no satisfaction out of that.
``Today, this team turned a corner.'' ILLUSTRATION: Associated Press
Drew Bledsoe fumbles as Washington's William Gaines applies a hit.
The Pats QB got the ball back, but didn't throw a TD pass Sunday.
SKINS REPORT CARD
Offensive line: Faced an 8-man Patriots front much of the game
that kept them from springing Terry Allen. But the pass protection
was good enough for Gus Frerotte to throw for 280 yards and be
sacked only once. Grade: C-plus
Receivers: Everyone contributed. Henry Ellard makes a brilliant,
drive-saving catch late in the game and catched eight overall.
Leslie Shepherd runs like Gale Sayers for 32 yards and a touchdown.
Bill Brooks doesn't catch a pass all day, but hustles to recover a
fumble by Frerotte. Grade: A
Running backs: Allen was held to 71 yards on 26 carries. His
consecutive-game touchdown streak ended at 10. But Marc Logan
continues to contribute as a pass receiver, grabbing four for 63
yards. Grade: C-minus
Quarterback: Frerotte's 280 yards passing is the second-highest
mark of his career and, again, he made no turnovers. He was at his
best when the Redskins needed it most, when the Patriots had closed
to within two and Washington needed a drive. His only blatant
mistake was missing Brian Mitchell in the end zone on his opening
drive. His block on Shepherd's TD run made the play. Grade: B-plus
Defensive line: They lost Marc Boutte early and were already
playing without Sterling Palmer. There was no pass rush until late
and Curtis Martin ran through them for 164 yards. He's the fourth
back in six games this season to eclipse the 100-yard mark against
the Skins. Grade: C-minus
Linebackers: Rod Stephens, Marvcus Patton and Ken Harvey combined
for 22 tackles, and a sack and helped hold TE Ben Coates to five
catches for just 34 yards. Harvey also put some occasional pressure
on Bledsoe and was in on lead-saving tackle on New England's
two-point try. Too many missed tackles. Grade: C-plus
Secondary: Made Bledsoe look like John Unitas at times, but the
final stats show that the New England QB had just 222 yards passing,
no touchdowns and completed less than 50 percent of his passes.
Darrell Green makes the two key plays of the game. Grade: B
Special teams: Tough day against one of the league's better
special-team clubs. Scott Blanton missed a 48-yard FG; his kickoffs
were lousy. P Matt Turk's kicks were low liners that gave Pats'
return guys chances. Scott Turner commits a stupid penalty coming in
from out of bounds on a punt-coverage play. Grade: C
Coaching: Norv Turner did a brilliant job setting up Shepherd's
reverse run for a touchdown. He also had the good sense to spend
extra time working on third-down conversion plays. Washington was 6
of 13, scoring two touchdowns, on third down. Grade: B
- JIM DUCIBELLA by CNB