DATE: Monday, October 6, 1997               TAG: 9710060170

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA                      LENGTH:   88 lines

EAGLES TAKE FIGHT OUT OF SKINS DESPERATE FOR A VICTORY, PHILLY RACKS UP 449 YARDS

When imitating Muhammad Ali or Joe Frazier would have allowed them to virtually eliminate the Philadelphia Eagles from the NFL playoffs just five weeks into the season, the Washington Redskins instead played glass-jawed Andrew Golota Sunday at Veterans Stadium.

In losing 24-10 and surrendering nearly 500 yards in the process, the lethargic Redskins weren't competitive much longer than the 1:35 Golota lasted Saturday night against Lennox Lewis.

After stopping the Eagles, who were 1-3 and in desperate need of a victory, on the first series of downs, Washington's unexpectedly depleted defense allowed a 12-play, 81-yard touchdown drive that said everything one needed to know about how Sunday's game was going to be played.

Philadelphia tailback Ricky Watters caught a pass for 20 yards, then dashed through the center of Washington's line five times for 27 yards, before quarterback Ty Detmer polished off the march with a three-yard run for a 7-0 lead. Watters would finish with 31 carries and 104 yards against a Washington line that was missing injured rookie Kenard Lang and veteran Chris Mims while playing a flu-ridden tackle in Marc Boutte.

The Eagles added another touchdown on the first of Watters' two scoring bursts after which the Redskins never seriously challenged, primarily because Philadelphia rarely gave them the football. Philadelphia had it for barely less than 40 minutes.

``It's very embarrassing to get our butts kicked like that - and they kicked out butts the whole game,'' Redskins quarterback Gus Frerotte said. ``This is no dig on the Eagles, but they did nothing special today. Everyone on this team has to play better. They played a hard, good game. The effort we gave today will not win many games.''

Philadelphia rushed 50 times for 203 yards. It was the most carries for the Eagles since they had 52 against Buffalo in 1987 and their most yards on the ground since Watters and Charlie Garner both beat the century mark in a 1995 win over Washington. The Eagles finished with 449 yards.

The Redskins' offense, on the other hand, ran a total of 51 plays, just 12 of them runs. They accounted for just 228 yards total offense in dropping to 3-2. They are still tied with Dallas for first place in the NFC East heading into next Monday night's confrontation because the visiting Cowboys were upset by the Giants 20-17.

``I'm not one to talk about must-wins,'' Eagles coach Ray Rhodes said. ``But the latter part of the week, I said that, on a scale of 1-to-10, this was a 10. . . If we had come out of this at 1-4, we'd have been in real trouble staying in the playoff hunt.''

Their offense in high gear for the first time all season, the Eagles also bared their defensive claws, to Frerotte's chagrin. By halftime, the Eagles already had produced one sack, 10 hurries and a handful of knockdowns. On Washington's last play of the game, journeyman Richard Dent blew past reserve tackle Darryl Ashmore and plowed Frerotte under, banging his prey's head against the rock-hard artificial surface at Veterans Stadium.

Frerotte had to be helped off the field by one of his teammates and he rode home with a nasty headache and his left arm packed in ice. All this the result of a Philadelphia defensive line that had recorded one sack all season.

``They were relentless all day,'' Frerotte said.

Trailing 17-3 at the half, Washington showed its only sign of life on its second drive of the third quarter. It started with a 14-yard punt return by Brian Mitchell and was punctuated by Michael Westbrook's spectacular diving catch of Frerotte's 38-yard pass to the Eagles 5. Next play, Frerotte floated an easy pass to Terry Allen for the touchdown with more than half of the third quarter left.

But the Redskins got no closer because Philadelphia ran the ball down their throats and because Washington's offensive line didn't afford Frerotte enough protection to adequately test the Eagles secondary.

``We were playing for our season today,'' said quarterback Ty Detmer, who completed 17 of 27 passes for 246 yards. ``But you can relax when the defense is playing well and the running game is going well. You feel like every time you go out you are going to move the ball, and that makes it fun.''

Down the hall in the visitors' locker room, no one was laughing. Coach Norv Turner appeared stunned by what he had witnessed, especially since he'd been so confident following what he called a strong week of practice.

``There are only 16 weeks in the season; you'd like to think we'd be at our best,'' Turner said. ``We weren't, even though the Eagles are anything but a bad team. Green Bay got beat in here a month ago. We had some people hurt, but that isn't the issue. The issue is that the other guys have to step up and get it done. Today, we didn't.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Philadelphia's Ricky Watters scores one of his two TDs against the

Redskins.

Philadelphia's Andy Harmon and Washington's Shar Pourdanesh wait for

help to arrive after Redskins quarterback Gus Frerotte was knocked

silly.

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