Cash in, they're down 7-0, it's sharp in motion.
And Elway has it deflected and it's incomplete.
Second down.
Wilbur Marshall.
Wilbur Marshall, one of those linebackers who works in coverage and blitzes with equal aplomb.
And this time he's coming.
Well, he was a weak side linebacker a year ago.
And, of course, you remember him from the days of the Bears when you could find him in your backfield or deep on pass coverage.
He can do it all.
The complete linebacker having to subordinate some of his talent as he fits into Richie Pettifone's defensive scheme of things and playing that strong side.
Second and ten.
From the 31-yard line.
Mann puts the pressure on Elway who then steps up to escape, looks for the sideline,
picks up two and is tackled by the omnipresent Wilbur Marshall.
So a minimal gain for Elway, it'll be third and eight.
We mentioned at the very beginning that the Broncos have a record of four and one,
but they have been, as you can see, outscored by five points.
They've given up 34 more first downs.
They're giving up almost 100 yards more per game.
They've suffered 20 sacks and the time of possession is about eight minutes in favor of the opposition.
And until last week's two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, they had gone 12 quarters without a touchdown.
Third down and eight.
A little dump off to Rivers who has some blocking and Rivers seeks that first down and he's closed.
He's tackled by Monte Coleman and you can see where the stick is.
It's either fourth and an inch or first and goal.
And that is a hustle play all the way by Monte Coleman.
Who's put in a chase position from the word go.
He's back there pressuring the quarterback and from the chase position makes that tackle from behind.
This is a critical play for the Broncos.
They cannot afford to get out of here without any points.
Well, they have not attempted a fourth down play this season and on fourth and inches,
they go into a lexical for three.
It's a 39 yard attempt for David Treadwell who's been a little erratic this season.
But perfect here.
Tommy Maddox did the holding and Treadwell picks up three.
So Reeves didn't want to come away with zero.
He changed the Redskins lead to four with 740 to go in the opening quarter at RFK.
The United States Capitol on this beautiful night in D.C. with 740 to go in the opening quarter.
Skins on top, seven to three.
John Elway taking his team into field goal position.
And here's Dalhueso now.
17 of his 20 kickoffs have been touchbacks and that's his worst kickoff of the season right here.
A dribbler down to the five yard line and the Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard
brings it back to the 19 before he is wrestled down.
The fumble by Ernest Beiner, as Frank mentioned, he doesn't fumble.
That was his first of the year on his 102nd touch of the year.
That's carries and receptions and only Emmett Smith has touched the ball more without a fumble this season.
And of course when it comes to fumbling, even though Ernest doesn't fumble very much.
I'm not going to bring it up. I'm not going to bring it up either.
But it was against Denver, wasn't it?
In the AFC Championship game a few years back when it was with the Browns.
First down of the 18 yard line.
You guys are bad.
Rippon to Beiner and he is tackled for no game.
That's Simon Fletcher in his eighth year out of Houston.
Defensive end slash linebacker has done a fine job.
Tell you what Beiner has done since he got here.
As we take a look at Fletcher who can play down on the line or play off as a linebacker.
And the nickel he'll get down into the three point stance, makes a good move on Beiner.
Since Beiner came here from Cleveland in 89 he has over 2,800 yards rushing over 100 receptions and 25 touchdowns.
And he was traded to Cleveland for running back Mike Oliver.
On second and ten from the 19 yard line.
Rippon with time and then has that deflected.
Pass intended over the middle for Ricky Sanders in the third down.
Even as it is you hear a smattering of boos from the crowd.
You won't see a better shot than that.
That ball wasn't deflected.
That ball just floated funny out of Mark Rippon's hands.
He had a wide open Ricky Sanders and that ball just nosedived.
I agree with you Al when I saw the flight of the ball I'm going it has to be deflected.
When you see an NFL quarterback throw a pass like that you have to assume somebody got a hand on it.
Third and ten.
And Rippon's throw is a little high for Sanders.
Did he make the catch?
He did a tremendous catch by Ricky Sanders who gets tackled by Dennis Smith.
Looky what I found.
What great concentration.
You talk to Joe Gibbs about Ricky Sanders.
He said well maybe Art Mock and Gary Clark they get a little more pumped.
But this is the man that makes the big play for them.
The play when they need it.
And he's done it so often and this is pure concentration.
It's another bad pass by the way.
High, loses it right there.
He knows he's going to get hit and he knows all about these two safeties.
And one of them right there Dennis Smith who can really put a pop on you and he kept his total concentration on the ball.
Denver knows all about Sanders.
Ricky had a tremendous day in Super Bowl XXII and the skins beat him by 32.
Miner.
Picks up four up to the 37 yard line.
It'll be second and six.
Ricky Sanders.
The only player in league history speaking the fumbles to handle the ball at least 300 times and never fumbles.
Stop and think about that.
I mean you saw that one roll right by you without absorbing that one.
Look at those hands a moment ago.
At the 37 at second and six.
Five 18 to go.
First quarter.
Redskins lead seven to three.
Takes the Biner.
That buys time.
Rippon going for Clark and it is broken up at the 10 yard line by Steve Atwater.
Clark had gotten behind him and Atwater able to race back and with the pass hanging just enough for him he breaks it up at the last instant.
Frank did you notice how that ball started to fall apart about halfway there.
It started to get the wobbles about the halfway distance the halfway mark towards Gary Clark.
And watch Gary Clark pull up right here Dan.
He's got to stop for it.
If it's a tight spiral like Mark Rippon was throwing like all last year it's a 14 to three ballgame.
Good play by Steve Atwater to get back there in it.
He timed it perfectly his lead.
Third down and six.
From the 37 yard line.
And Rippon picks up the first.
Clark has it.
He's inside the 40 and Nick tied at the 36 by Dennis Smith.
And a flag goes down at the spot of a tackle.
Atwater and Smith they are intimidators.
I don't think there's any doubt at least in my mind that that's an accident.
I mean Dennis Smith is trying to make the tackle and Gary Clark makes a tremendous move to get away from him.
And Dennis is saying hey I'm sorry guys I didn't mean to hit the guy in the head.
It's a personal foul against the Broncos.
Gordon McCarter is the referee.
I agree with you Dan.
I mean Dennis Smith if he doesn't make this move Gary Clark is long gone.
Coming up right here a little move to the outside by Clark right there and Smith is off balance.
That's the only move he had.
Actually where does his hand hit Clark?
See I don't think that's a penalty.
I don't think that's a penalty.
That's a good tackle.
That is a fine open field.
The guy is going to move.
The guy is coming at you.
He's trying to evade you.
I don't agree with that call.
I think that's a fine play by Dennis Smith.
Full speed is hard to tell.
Agreed.
First and tenth and the twenty and Dynas slips down and Fletcher comes in to make sure he doesn't get up.
Loss of one.
Four and a half minutes to go in the first quarter.
Rippon, one thing about Rippon, I mean he had a terrible week last week.
He made two bad decisions.
He is a stand up guy.
Stood there in the locker room after the game.
Talked to everybody.
Didn't hide this week during practice.
He flips in there.
Another play designed to take advantage of the Denver Broncos defense which is a very strong pursuing defense under Wade Phillips and there he is.
They do a lot of things.
Whereas the Redskins are relatively predictable in what they do with their 4-3.
With the 3-4 of the Denver Broncos you never know where they're going to come from.
Mecklenburg can be all over the field as is Simon Fletcher.
We talked about that.
They change up a lot.
But they always pursue.
Third and sixteen from the twenty-sixth.
Redskins up by four.
Late first quarter.
Sanders in motion.
Rippon's got to get him to the tenth for a first down.
He lost one way out of bounds.
Gary Clark the nearest receiver and he was covered very well by Lilo Lang.
And it will be fourth down.
And Chip Lowmiller will come into attempt with about a forty-three yard field goal.
A timely pass rush by the Denver Broncos.
The first real heat that they put on Rippon so far in this very young evening.
And it forced Rippon to throw it back off his heels and he had no chance of completing that.
I bet you Joe Gibbs might be happy this is outside the forty wouldn't you say?
A five of nine.
You saw that for Lowmiller and his record inside the forty is abysmal.
One and five.
Forty-three yard attempt.
And Lowmiller boots it through.
And so that penalty, that bogus penalty in our estimation on Dennis Smith puts the Redskins in field goal range.
And they cash in with three oh eight to go in the quarter.
And Reeves is talking about just that in three.
Disaster has struck the Washington Redskins.
That's Jim Lachey in the middle being aided by Mr. Jacoby.
And this is a disaster.
We touched earlier on how thin the Redskins are.
Lachey was injured when Dennis Smith fell on his leg on that field goal attempt.
And there is Ray Brown.
The one back up.
Moelo Nwibi another.
And we may see one of those two guys in the game.
The next Redskins offensive possession.
Lowmiller's tech field it at the four.
This is Arthur Marshall the good looking rookie out of Georgia who was so instrumental in their win last week against Kansas City.
Bringing it back out to the twenty yard line.
This is Jim Lachey right here lined up.
Now watch Dennis Smith come up over the top and he will land right on Jim Lachey's leg.
Lachey loses his footing.
You see his right leg.
And here comes Dennis Smith right there lands right on the back of the leg of Jim Lachey.
And what may be the finest offensive tackle in football is being looked at by everyone on the Redskins medical staff.
Again they were already minus Jeff Bostick their center.
Rotator cuff surgery this week.
And now Lachey shaken up as Denver has it at its twenty first and ten.
Mark Jackson is the man in motion.
Here is Gaston Green going next to nowhere as he's wrestled down by Tim Johnson.
Number 78 the sixth year tackle out of Penn State.
Green had a tremendous year broken with the Rams couldn't really get started there after coming out of school as UCLA's all time leading ground gainer.
And then when Bobby Humphrey didn't sign last year Green got his chance and made the most of it.
And they missed a face mask call in that last play or did they?
Yep they did.
Sort of.
Tim Johnson has the right hand.
He's got it on the face mask.
He didn't hook it and give it a good yank.
I guess the officials are really tuned in to that violent head twist that shows that someone has a hold of your face mask.
That wasn't there.
Second and nine.
And a hole for Green who exploits it for about a seven yard pick up as he takes it down to the twenty nine.
It's going to be third and two.
Next Monday night we go to Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.
And we'll have a chance to take a look at Bill Cowers Club.
The Pittsburgh Steelers against Dave Schuler's Cincinnati Bengals.
And you're looking at Bumer Siasen but his status right now is questionable as Bumer was shaken up yesterday.
Badly bruised passing arm for the Bumer.
Bengals Steelers next Monday night.
Third and two at the twenty nine yard line.
A minute and a half to go first quarter.
Elway throws and reaching behind him is Shannon Sharp.
And then he's able to pick up a first down.
Nice play by a guy coming into his zone as a tight end and H-back.
Shannon Sharp the brother of the Packers Sterling Sharp.
Big game last week for Shannon Sharp.
Nine receptions against Kansas City where he really arrived.
And he is leading receiver for the Broncos coming into the night.
But he is either a fast wide receiver or a slow tight end.
But they have used him as the H-back with a great deal of success.
I remember when we saw him out there in August of his rookie year in a preseason game in Denver.
We were all struck by it.
First down at the thirty three yard line.
Elway buys time and then throws an out that's incomplete.
Shannon Sharp the intended receiver but Martin Mayhew was draped over it.
Mayhew has been there. He's played steady ball for the Redskins.
One of the few real plus factors when you get down to it and you talk to the Redskins about their defense is Martin Mayhew.
And principally because he is one of the few that is not nicked.
And taking it upfield for the yardage for the first down is Shannon Sharp.
And look at Mayhew come back.
Mayhew only goes five eight and Sharp is six three.
Joe Gibbs paid him quite a compliment yesterday saying I don't know where we would have been the last three years without Martin Mayhew.
Lines up and plays every game.
And when you have as many people hurt as the Redskins have it's a valuable commodity.
That was Reggie Johnson who came in late but down to three on the play clock.