By Shirley Povich
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 2, 1939; Page 18

Mud, oodles of it, and an under-rated Redskin team held New York's champion Giants to a 0-to-0 tie yesterday in the young bog that driving rains had made of Griffith Stadium. Oilskins and umbrellas dotted the stands as 26,341 of Washington's professional football fans braved the elements.

Down on the field, the two teams slogged in a bitter battle for yardage, mud-caked from the opening whistle, and it was the Redskins who struck hardest, conjuring visions of an upset victory over the team which a year ago had blasted them out of the championship by a 36-to-0 score.

They smothered every Giant assault, hammered viciously at the vaunted New York line and forced it to give ground. But inside their own 20-yard-line, the Giants braced rigidly, took advantage of the mud, and kept their goal line inviolate. In the second quarter they summoned all of their defensive might to avert defeat with a brilliant stand on the 4-yard line.

Baugh Completes 6 Passes
The advertised forward-passing duel between Sammy Baugh and Ed Danowski failed to materialize with the ball transformed into a slimy, treacherous missile. Baugh completed 6 of 7 passes for short gains and the Giants attempted only a half-dozen, completing one. The threat of a Baugh pass was removed completely from the game when he was forced from the field in the fourth quarter with a lamed knee.

Three times the Giants attempted to bang home a field goal with the slippery ball. Twice Ken Strong's kicks went awry and Les Barnum's one attempt was equally futile. The Redskins' Bob Materson had the best shot at a field goal when he booted from the 15-yard line in the second quarter without effect.

Victory appeared to be within the grasp of the Redskins early in the second quarter when they recoiled from the Giants' opening assaults and engineered a 40-yard march. The newly inserted backfield of Baugh, Farkas, Justice and Turner began to function immediately. Baugh's first act was to chuck a 6-yard pass to Charlie Malone, and Farkas fetched the Redskins a first down on the Giants' 28 with an 8-yard plunge through center.

Baugh Fumbles Pass From Center
Three times thereafter, the Redskins were within the Giants' 25-yard line only to founder in the twin grip of the bud and the Giants bristling of defense. Each time their scoring threat found them operating from the muddiest portion of the field, near the East goal.

In all the figures except the final score, the Redskins were the winners. Their running attack, led by Farkas and Filchock, piled up 12 first downs to the Giants' five. They gained 158 yards by rushing to the Giants' meager 77. Their passes netted 50 yards while the Giants were operating at a loss in passing. Total Redskin gains were 208 yards to the Giants' 74, and they ran back New York kicks for 125 yards while their own were returned for only 8 yards.

It was a strangely impotent Giant team that took the field as pronounced favorites, with Tuffy Leemans almost shackled as the Redskins' line outmaneuvered and outplayed the Giants. Late in the final quarter the Giants apparently were content with a tie, adopting ball-freezing tactics. Turk Edwards, Jim Barber, Dick Farman and Bob Masterson were smearing virtually every thrust of the New Yorkers after the first period.

The Giants were the first to strike, gaining more than half of their total yardage on one 46-yard drive following the opening kickoff. Leemans charged the Redskins' line until the Giants reached the Washington 19-yard line where, on fourth down, Strong attempted his first futile placekick.

Filchock engineered a spectacular return thrust by the Redskins, tearing off 35 yards on one dash around left end, outspeeding the Giants' secondary until he was hauled down by Strong on the Giants' 45. The march ended on the New York 38.

A flurry of firsts later in the period sent Ernie Picker and De Isola out of the game by the referee's command. The Giants were on the advance again, but it was checked when Masterson nailed Leemans for a 5-yard loss at left end, and Cuff dropped back to miss a placement from the 44-yard line.

Cuff's kick was short and Filchock grabbed it on the goal line for a 23-yard return. Jim Meade, on the final play of the quarter, set the Giants back on their heels with a 61-yard boot deep in New York territory.

Following the Giants' stand on their 4-yard line midway in the second quarter, the Redskins made another assault sparked by Filchock who grabbed a punt from Barnum, and dashed 40 yards to the Giants' 22 with the help of a spectacular block by Jim Barber who cut down two tacklers in a long leap. The threat came to grief when Baugh missed for the first and only time with one of his six passes, a long heave into the end zone which Ward Cuff intercepted for a touchback.

The Giants were in Redskin territory for the first time during the quarter when Mel Hein recovered Filchock's fumble on the Redskin 40-yard line, but Jim Meade removed the danger of an advance by breaking through to smear Danowski for a 9-yard loss on a fake-pass gallop.

Midway in the third quarter, the Giants found themselves in possession of the ball after Filchock's attempt at a jump-pass was tipped into the air by Hein and caught by Lunday on the Redskins' 25-yard line. When three plays netted only 3 yards, the Giants cleared away the mud at a chosen spot and Strong was sent in for a field goal attempt from the 30-yard line. It was wide. The Giants surged back and Barnum was delegated to attempt a field goal from the 52-yard line. It was partially blocked and caught by Johnson on the Redskins' 22. Later in the period Baugh delivered the Redskins from danger by a 70-yard quick kick over the goal.

Andy Farkas set another Redskin assault in motion at the start of the final period when he returned Danowski's quick kick 17 yards in a dazzlingdash for a first down on the Giants' 33. Baugh, faking a pass, gained 2 yards at the line and was hurt when tackled by Ward Cuff. It was the injury which forced him from the game.

Farkas staged something of a show at this point, dragging tackles with him on an 8-yard gallop through center and banging the Giants' line again for a first down on the 19, but the drive came to grief on a fumble by Filchock which Mellus recovered for the Giants.

With five minutes to play, the Redskins were presented with a last scoring chance when the ball squireed out of Danowski's hands on an attempt to punt, and Turk Edwards recovered for the Redskins on the Giants' 25. Farkas and Filchock, aided by an offside penalty, managed a first down on the Giants' 13-yard line, but Farkas was smeared by Barnum in two more charges at the line.

On third down the Redskins decided on a doubtful bit of strategy, calling for a pass by Filchock, instead of holding the ball for a place-kicking attempt on last down. It was a shoddy sort of heave by Filchock high over the center of the line and Cuff intercepted the throw to deliver the Giants from danger for the final time.