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Another Year, Another Look Back

• A Fond Look Back at Super Bowl XXVI, the Last Great Hurrah for the Washington Redskins

S. Williams

Doug Williams battles back from a knee injury and leads the Redskins on a 35-point second quarter in Super Bowl XXII that obliterates the record book. (AP)

By Dan Hargett
washingtonpost.com Correspondent
Web Posted: Thursday, Feb. 3, 2005; 10:25 a.m. EST

Fresh off an unplanned and regretful viewing of NFL Films's official Super Bowl XVIII highlight tape on ESPN Classic, it became imperative to erase the stink rot taking root in my brain thanks to Marcus Allen, Howie Long, Jack Squirek and, most of all, Steve Sabol and a network with way too much programming time slots to fill. All it took was a half hour littered with nauseous phrases like "Rocket Screen" and "Largest Blowout in Super Bowl History."

Absent an adequate narcotic solution to the instant melancholy, it seemed sound and right to remember the good things. Three Super Bowl titles. The glory days. A time when your authentic Redskin jerseys didn't become obsolete overnight.

Face it. Memories are all we've got. One playoff appearance in 12 years. Guys like Neil Olkewicz and Kurt Gouveia might as well have played with Red Grange it's been so long since the franchise engineered anything worth remembering. On the field, at least. So it's time to relive the past like the wistful, pathetic lemmings we've become and ask ourselves exactly what are the 10 most important moments in Redskins' Super Bowl history.

We know what you're thinking. Only 10? Well, we had to pick a number and no matter how important Nick Giaquinto was to Super Bowl XVIII, we needed to limit it to the attention span of our audience. Also, keep in mind that what is important may not also be memorable. So a moment may indeed be memorable but not fit into our criteria. So lodge your complaints on our message board and let us know if you think we missed one. Or more.

But really, whatever happened to that Giaquinto guy, anyway?

Okay, What's Your Favorite?

Gouveia Gets It Done	Williams's Return
A Ravin Flies High	Reed's Tantrum
This Rocket Won't Fly	Theismann Thwarts the Bs
Garo's Gaffe	Williams-to-Sanders TD
Riggo's Turns It On	Monk's Moment to Shine

View results

Super Bowl XXVI
The Redskins creep into halftime with a 17-0 lead after a series of close calls and blown opportunities in the first half, but linebacker Kurt Gouveia sets the rout in motion by intercepting Bills quarterback Jim Kelly on the first play of the second half and returning the ball to Buffalo's 2-yard line. Gerald Riggs scored a play later to give the Redskins a 24-0 lead and an upper hand they would not relinquish in a 37-24 victory.
• Game story

Super Bowl XXII
With the Redskins reeling after a Rich Karlis field goal stakes the Broncos to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, the momentum pendulum takes a fortuitous swing on the ensuing kickoff when Ricky Sanders get creamed, the ball flies loose and a wild scrum ensues. After replays appear to show an almost certain Denver recovery, reserve linebacker Ravin Caldwell emerges from the pile with the ball, saving the Redskins from a deep hole and helping launch a 42-10 rout.
• Game story

Super Bowl XVIII
The Redskins had been outplayed and manhandled by an aggressive Raiders team that made Washington look woefully unprepared, but the Redskins were only down 14-3 with 12 seconds left to go in the first half when Joe Gibbs unveiled the single most grievous mistake in Redskins Super Bowl history -- the Rocket Screen -- a play that had gone for a big gain against the Raiders in the regular season. But Los Angeles -- Jack Squirek in particular -- knew it was coming and intercepted a screen pass intended for Joe Washington. Squirek returned the ball five yards for a touchdown, a score that just about shattered the backs of the Redskins.
• Game story

Super Bowl VII
The Redskins of 1972-73 are known to history as little more than a footnote, the final chapter in Miami's remarkable undefeated 17-0 season, but they might have been known as the only Super Bowl team to ever be shut out if it wasn't for Garo Yapremian. Less than three minutes from infamy, the Redskins blocked a Miami field goal attempt, and the bouncing ball fell right into the hands of Yapremian, who feebly tried to deposit the ball into the hands of a more competent teammate. Instead, he succeeded in fumbling the ball to defensive back Mike Bass, who ran it back for a touchdown. Shutout averted.
• Game story

Super Bowl XVII
The play is known simply as 70-chip. It's fourth-and-one from the Dolphins 43-yard line with 10 minutes to go and the Redskins down 17-13. It's the play that changed the fortunes of a franchise and created a legend in John Riggins, who steamrolled through the paralyzing tension as well as Miami defensive back Don McNeal on his way to arguably the most memorable and important touchdown in the history of the Super Bowl. To this day it remains the signature play in franchise history.
• Game story

Super Bowl XXII
Quarterback Doug Williams may have become the first, and to this day last, black quarterback to win a Super Bowl and the only one to ever be asked: "So, how long have you been a black quarterback?" After Williams hyper-extended his left knee in a first period that saw the Redskins fall behind 10-0, though, it looked as if John Elway might write the lead to this Super Bowl story. But after Jay Schroeder ran eagerly into the huddle and was immediately pummeled on the next play, a defiant Williams returned with a noticeable limp on the next series and proceeded to rewrite history.
• Game story

Super Bowl XXVI
In a first half that shown a scalding light on Buffalo's ineptitude, from Thurman Thomas's lost helmet to Jim Kelly's interceptions, it was a late first-half meltdown from future Redskin Andre Reed that seemed to seal Buffalo's fate inside the Metrodome. With Buffalo stumbling and bumbling but remaining in field goal range in the final minute of the opening half, Reed went across the middle and was T-boned by safety Brad Edwards well before the ball arrived. After coming down and seeing no flag, Reed instead threw his helmet -- off the Metrodome carpet -- and soon saw the yellow flag he had been waiting for. The 15-yard penalty moved the Bills out of field goal range and closer to Super Bowl infamy.
• Game story

Super Bowl XVII
Few may remember the name Kim Bokamper -- alpha class member of the Dolphins, ahem, famed Killer Bs defense -- but it was a play he almost made that would certainly have redirected the fortunes of the Redskins in Pasedena in 1983. In the second half, backed up deep in his own territory, quarterback Joe Theismann went back to pass and summoned up one of his signature mad dashes to avoid several Bs and uncorked a pass that was repelled by a Miami defender back into the Redskins end zone. As the ball made its wobbly decent into the Bokamper's willing hands, an alert Theismann averted a deadly mistake, reached into the fray and kept the Redskins from falling into a precipitous hole.
• Game story

Super Bowl XXII
Doug Williams had the most prolific 15 minutes in Super Bowl history in San Diego in 1988, but it was his first scoring pass that touched off the ensuing onslaught. Things were looking grim for the Redskins, who trailed 10-0 in a game that had never seen a team come back to win after facing such a deficit. But after sustaining a knee injury that could have altered fate, Williams returned and in the first minute of the second period, hit Ricky Sanders for an 80-yard touchdown strike to open the floodgates on a prolific 35-point second quarter that obliterated the record book and made Williams a national hero.
• Game story

Super Bowl XXVI
Seeing Art Monk score his first Super Bowl touchdown felt like a decade-long check finally being cashed in the first period of Super Bowl XXVI, however fleeting the moment turned out to be. Monk had only two catches for 66 yards combined in the previous three Super Bowls, but on this day would have seven catches for 113 yards and a touchdown -- at least until it became the first score overturned in Super Bowl history. While Monk had his greatest Super Bowl, it was Washington's response to the overturned touchdown -- and ensuing botched field goal -- that helped produced the last, finest moment in team history.
• Game story


	Doug Williams battles back from a knee injury and leads the Redskins on a 35-point second quarter in Super Bowl XXII that obliterates the record book. (AP)