THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 22, 1996 TAG: 9610220400
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 74 lines
If you're with the Washington Redskins these days, every stoplight turns green the instant you drive up. The leaves from your trees blow into the neighbor's backyard. You buy a stock one day, they declare a 2-for-1 split the next. Every package the mailman brings contains mom's homemade cookies.
You're leading a charmed life. Take Sunday's 31-21 victory over the New York Giants, their sixth in a row, sixth in seven games.
When cornerback Darrell Green limped off the field with 10:46 left in the game, dragging his right leg behind him after mammouth Giants guard Lance Smith fell on it, he thought it was broken. Monday, tests revealed that it's just a bruised calf. He might even play Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts.
Three minutes earlier, guard Tre' Johnson was felled when Giants defensive end Michael Strahan was blocked into the back of his knee. The Redskins were 5-1 with Johnson in the lineup last season; 1-9 without him. A serious knee injury could have sent Washington's running attack back to the drawing board.
But, although the 350-pound Johnson is questionable for the Colts, he won't need surgery. He'll likely make it back for Buffalo the following week.
It's like even their four-leaf clovers have four-leaf clovers.
And that's fine. Every successful team has its share of good fortune. If you followed the Redskins the three previous seasons, you know they were as overdue as Rip Van Winkle's library books.
There's evidence the Redskins know they're on a roll and enjoying it to the max. If humor, feeble or otherwise, is any barometer, the Redskins clearly feel comfortable with their new-found fortune.
``I'd appreciate if we would only deal with questions concerning the first half,'' coach Norv Turner deadpanned Sunday, pretending he would discuss only Washington's 28-0 halftime lead, not the extraordinary steps the Redskins later took to give most of it away. Turner paused just long enough for folks to think him serious before bursting into a smile.
Turner has taken a simple end run, with quarterback Gus Frerotte handing to Terry Allen, and broadened the play - and its danger level - to include a reverse, where Allen hands to an end, or, Sunday, a double-reverse. That's where Frerotte rolls slightly, hands to Henry Ellard coming from the right, who hands to Leslie Shepherd going to the left.
It's totally out of character with the button-down manner in which Turner started the Redskins on offense this season. Why the change?
``Because we've got guys who handle the ball well and run well with it after they get it,'' Turner said. ``And they practice it hard, too. I call it in the huddle and they look at me like, `Man, if you're crazy enough to call that, we'll make it work.' ''
Ok, Ok, so you won't hear this stuff on Jay Leno. That's not the point. It's not what they say that matters. It's that the Redskins suddenly don't care about saying it. When they were struggling to forge an identity, not sure what they would be this season, interviews were ``just-the-facts'' type routines.
Sunday, Frerotte tells the press that Allen ought to thank Ellard, Shepherd and Brian Mitchell for having the decency to be tackled inside the Giants' 2 so Allen could score three no-sweat touchdowns.
And the dour Allen, driven to excel by injustices real and perceived, smiles and agrees.
``He's right, I really didn't do that much work,'' he admits.
Monday, Turner rambled on about how Allen ran so well early in the season that opposing defenses recently have moved safeties closer to the line to stop him, making it easier for Ellard to find holes in the secondary. He was asked if he was willing to accept more performances like Allen had against the Giants - 28 rushes, just 89 yards - to make more big pass plays.
``I am,'' he answered, ``but I don't think Terry is.''
Besides wit, Turner is stretching in other ways, too, keeping things fresh and unexpected for everyone. He declared Monday a day off, the first time he's done that since coming to Washington.
``The next nine weeks, with a couple exceptions, every team has a winning record, every team is in playoff hunt,'' Turner said.
``I felt it would be a good mental break to get them away from us for a longer period of time than usual.''
Redskins are so loose that they're telling jokes in lockerroom by CNB