By Dave Sell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 28, 1986; Page E6

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., OCT. 27 -- Gary Clark had been just a tad short of stupendous all night, setting a Washington Redskins record with 241 yards on 11 receptions and keeping his team in a game it at times appeared it would be blown out of.

But when the Redskins had lost, their last-minute drive failing when Clark slipped while going for a pass, the Redskins wide receiver blamed himself for the defeat.

"I messed up, I slipped," Clark said, though he placed the blame in the wrong spot. It can be assigned to a number of factors -- no running game and an ineffective run defense to name a couple -- but not to Clark.

Clark was the main receiver for quarterback Jay Schroeder, who finished with 22 completions in 40 attempts for 420 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions. He was sacked four times.

The Giants, who moved into a three-way first-place tie in the NFC East with the Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys, had taken a 27-20 lead with 1:38 left in the game. The Redskins started at their 30. Schroeder hit Clark for 16 and 17 yards to the Giants' 37. After two incompletions, they were faced with third and 15 at the 42. Schroeder found Clark open once again, but Clark was three yards short of a first down.

So on fourth and eight (following the second illegal proceedure penalty of the drive), Clark again ran a crossing route, but as Schroeder's pass was nearing him, Clark's feet came out from under him. The ball, and the Redskins' hopes, went bouncing away.

"Jay put the ball right where he had to, but I slipped," Clark said. "That last pass is definitely something I have to do. I've got to make that catch. It was stupid and dumb."

"We got to him a few times," Schroeder said of the last drive, "but we came up short on the points, and that's the name of the game. Gary Clark runs an excellent route. Sometimes he's out by the numbers {painted on the field} and sometimes he's in the midddle of the field."

Although Clark played brillantly against the NFL's best defense, the Redskins managed only 32 yards rushing. Thirty-two.

"They're tough up front," said guard Russ Grimm. "The bottom line is we have to do better. We got beat up front on a few plays. They shut us down in the first half, and we were lucky to make the big plays in the second half to make it a game. They played hard and deserved to win."

"We never had the lead to run the ball in to the ground," said Clark, ho surpassed Art Monk's 1985 Redskins record of 230 receiving yards in a game. He also had 11 catches against the Giants here last year.

But Clark had trouble seeing the light.

"We were having a pretty good day until that last pass," he said. "It seems like going into the clutch . . . we need to keep going hard. You can only have a good game if you do everything right, and I didn't. It's just a major disappointment."

If Clark wasn't willing to recognize a good performance, Giants Coach Bill Parcells was.

"I was extremely impressed with Clark," Parcells said. "That's the best I've ever seen him play."