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The first 15 minutes of this video cover the Redskins first-round 24-20 playoff loss at San Francisco after the 1971 season. This was the game, and year, I truly became a Redskins fan.
We had moved to DC late in 1970, when I was nine-years-old and just marginally aware of football. It was the year after Vince Lombardi had died, after just one season in DC, and Bill Austin filled in for one forgettable 6-8 campaign.
Not so in 1971.
George Allen came to town that year and started building the Over the Hill Gang. For whatever reason, my young self lived and died with every game that year, more so as the season went on and it became apparent the team was actually pretty good … and had a shot at the team’s first playoff appearance since World War II.
Somewhere in a trunk at home I have a piece of paper I can remember drawing on during class one day in 5th grade, hiding it from the teacher, with a Skins “R” helmet and words to the effect of, “8-4-1, soon to be 9-4-1!”
This playoff game at San Fran was the first time in my young life I’d felt what it was like to be utterly, helplessly invested in a sporting event … the giddy, sky-is-the-limit feeling when things were going well—the Skins had the better of it into the third quarter—and then that visceral, hollow feeling in the gut and taste of bile in throat when we’d lost, and the season was over.
When you’re ten, “next year” might as well be next life.
1971 PLAYOFFS
Couple of observations and connections:
Dick Nolan was the 49ers head coach, father of future Redskins DC Mike Nolan.
Steve Spurrier was the San Fran punter.
Redskins special teams dominated—until one painful exception late in the game that ended up being the scoring difference. Bigger picture, history has forgotten how impactful Allen’s Skins were in that regard. Special teams were largely an afterthought up until Allen and made them “the third phase of the game.” Not since.
NFL Films has come a long way with their music.
The person who edited the tape didn’t cut the commercials, just blacked them out. You can skip forward.
We had moved to DC late in 1970, when I was nine-years-old and just marginally aware of football. It was the year after Vince Lombardi had died, after just one season in DC, and Bill Austin filled in for one forgettable 6-8 campaign.
Not so in 1971.
George Allen came to town that year and started building the Over the Hill Gang. For whatever reason, my young self lived and died with every game that year, more so as the season went on and it became apparent the team was actually pretty good … and had a shot at the team’s first playoff appearance since World War II.
Somewhere in a trunk at home I have a piece of paper I can remember drawing on during class one day in 5th grade, hiding it from the teacher, with a Skins “R” helmet and words to the effect of, “8-4-1, soon to be 9-4-1!”
This playoff game at San Fran was the first time in my young life I’d felt what it was like to be utterly, helplessly invested in a sporting event … the giddy, sky-is-the-limit feeling when things were going well—the Skins had the better of it into the third quarter—and then that visceral, hollow feeling in the gut and taste of bile in throat when we’d lost, and the season was over.
When you’re ten, “next year” might as well be next life.
1971 PLAYOFFS
Couple of observations and connections:
Dick Nolan was the 49ers head coach, father of future Redskins DC Mike Nolan.
Steve Spurrier was the San Fran punter.
Redskins special teams dominated—until one painful exception late in the game that ended up being the scoring difference. Bigger picture, history has forgotten how impactful Allen’s Skins were in that regard. Special teams were largely an afterthought up until Allen and made them “the third phase of the game.” Not since.
NFL Films has come a long way with their music.
The person who edited the tape didn’t cut the commercials, just blacked them out. You can skip forward.
