OPINION:
Washington Redskins legendary cornerback and Hall of Famer Darrell Green is back on the field this week, coaching the American team in the NFL Players Association Collegiate Bowl on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.
It’s the place Green should be this week — on a football field. It’s where, 30 years ago, he helped pave the way for the Redskins return to the Super Bowl, just a few hours south of where he is teaching young players for Saturday’s bowl game.
The Redskins’ second Super Bowl title on Jan. 31, 1988 is defined, rightly so, by Doug Williams’ historic passing performance — 18-for-29 for 340 yards and four touchdowns in Washington’s 42-10 win over the Denver Broncos. But it was Green who was the key performer to lead the Redskins to San Diego for the championship game — including an important play 30 years ago Wednesday that may have saved the Redskins’ 17-10 win over the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC title game at RFK Stadium.
The week before in Chicago, Green made one of the defining postseason plays in Redskins history — not at cornerback, where he built his Hall of Fame career, but pressed into duty as a punt returner.
Two years removed from their dominant Super Bowl championship team, the Bears hosted the Redskins in their divisional playoff game. Chicago took a 14-0 lead early, but Washington came back to tie the game going into halftime. Then, in the third quarter, the speedy Green, who would occasionally be pressed into punt return duties, went back to field a punt in the near-zero temperatures on frozen Soldier Field.
He fielded the ball at his own 48 and appeared to be in the crosshairs of Bears special-teamer Cap Boso, who seemed to have Green nailed at the 30 yard line. But then Green did something he won’t likely be able to teach any of the kids he is coaching this week — the 5-foot-9 Green leaped over the 6-foot-4 Boso to avoid the tackle.
AUDIO: Former Dallas Cowboys All Pro Randy White with Thom Loverro
When he did, as he landed, Green tore a rib cartilage.
“I had my hands in the hand warmers,” Green told me years later in an interview. “I pulled them out and caught it and started to the right, leaped over one guy and when I leaped over the guy by the time my foot touched the ground I had to make an immediate left turn.
“In doing that, I’d torn the cartilage in my ribs, because I guess not only am I stretched vertically, up and down, my body is stretched from jumping, and then at the same time I take a step to my left and that was just overstretching, I would imagine.”
It didn’t stop him, though. He held the ball against his injured ribs as he ran down the field for a 53-yard punt return score to give the Redskins a 21-14 lead. The Bears added a field goal, but the Redskins came away with a 21-17 victory and a chance to come home to face the Vikings in the conference championship on Jan. 17, 1988.
Green would have the signature play in the game as well, though it has grown in legend and lore beyond what really happened. He is credited with knocking away a pass to Minnesota running back Darrin Nelson on fourth down in the red zone with just 52 seconds in the game to seal a 17-10 Washington victory and a ticket to the Super Bowl.
Green, playing that game with his sore ribs from the week before, has said the ball may have been coming out of Nelson’s hands as the same time Green hit him. “He was dropping the ball,” Green said. “Maybe my presence affected the catch, I don’t know. When I hit him, it looked like I knocked it out. But I don’t think he would have caught it anyway.”
We saw last Sunday, though, what can sometimes happen when the defender doesn’t make the hit. Strange things can happen that can change franchise history.
That’s a lesson Green could teach his players this week. He has first-hand knowledge.
• Thom Loverro hosts his weekly podcast “Cigars & Curveballs” Wednesdays available on iTunes, Google Play and the reVolver podcast network.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.