Washington Redskins
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The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Redskins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays its home games at FedExField in Landover, Maryland; its headquarters and training facility are at Inova Sports Performance Center at Redskins Park in Ashburn, Virginia and the Redskins Complex in Richmond, Virginia, respectively.
The Redskins have played more than one thousand games since their founding 87 years ago in 1932, and are one of only five franchises in the NFL to record over six hundred regular season and postseason wins, reaching that mark in 2015.[2] The Redskins have won five NFL Championships (the latter three in Super Bowls), and have captured fourteen divisional titles and six conference championships.[3] The Redskins were the first NFL franchise with an official marching band, the Redskins Band, and the first with a fight song, "Hail to the Redskins".[4]
The team began play in Boston as the Braves in 1932, and became the "Redskins" the following year. In 1937, the team relocated to Washington, D.C., where they have been based since.[4] The Redskins won the 1937 and 1942 NFL championship games, as well as Super Bowls XVII, XXII, and XXVI. They have been league runner-up six times, losing the 1936, 1940, 1943, and 1945 title games, and Super Bowls VII and XVIII. With 24 postseason appearances, the Redskins have an overall postseason record of 23–18. Their three Super Bowl wins are tied with the Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos, behind the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots (six each), San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys (five each), and the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants (four each).[5]
All of the Redskins' league titles were attained during two 10-year spans. From 1936 to 1945, the Redskins went to the NFL Championship six times, winning two of them.[4] The second period lasted between 1982 and 1991 where the Redskins appeared in the postseason seven times, captured four Conference titles, and won three Super Bowls out of four appearances.[4] The Redskins have also experienced failure in their history. The most notable period of general failure was from 1946 to 1970, during which the Redskins posted only four winning seasons and did not have a single postseason appearance.[3] During this period, the Redskins went without a single winning season during the years 1956–1968.[3] In 1961, the franchise posted their worst regular season record with a 1–12–1 showing.[3] Since their last Super Bowl victory following the end of the 1991 season, the Redskins have only won the NFC East three times, made five postseason appearances, and had nine seasons with a winning record.
According to Forbes, the Redskins are the fourth most valuable franchise in the NFL and the tenth most valuable overall in the world as of 2018, valued at approximately US$3.1 billion.[6] They also set the NFL record for single-season attendance in 2007, and have the top ten single-season attendance totals in the NFL.[7] Over the team's history, the name and logo have drawn controversy, with many criticizing it as offensive to Native Americans.
The Redskins relocated south from New England after five years to the national capital of Washington, D.C. in 1937. Through 1960, the Redskins shared baseball's Griffith Stadium with the first Washington Senators baseball team of the American League.[10] In their first game in Washington, the Redskins defeated the New York Giants in the season opener, 13–3.[11] That same season, they earned their first division title in Washington with a 49–14 win over the Giants.[11] Shortly after, the team won their first league championship, defeating the Chicago Bears.[11] In 1940, the Redskins met the Bears again in the 1940 NFL Championship Game.[12] The result, 73–0 in favor of the Bears, is still the worst one-sided loss in NFL history.[12] The other big loss for the Redskins that season occurred in September during the coin toss prior to the Giants game. After calling the coin toss and shaking hands with the opposing team captain, lineman Turk Edwards attempted to pivot around to head back to his sideline. However, his cleats caught in the grass and his knee gave way, injuring him and bringing his season and hall of fame career to an unusual end.[13]
| Washington Redskins | |||||
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 Current season | |||||
| Established July 9, 1932 First season: 1932 Play in FedExField Landover, Maryland Headquartered at Redskins Park in Ashburn, Virginia Training camp in Richmond, Virginia | |||||
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| League/conference affiliations | |||||
National Football League (1932–present)
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Current uniform
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| Team colors | Burgundy, gold | ||||
| Fight song | Hail to the Redskins | ||||
| Personnel | |||||
| Owner(s) | Daniel Snyder[a] | ||||
| President | Bruce Allen | ||||
| Head coach | Jay Gruden | ||||
| Team history | |||||
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| Team nicknames | |||||
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| Championships | |||||
League championships (5)
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| Conference championships (5) | |||||
| Division championships (14) | |||||
| Playoff appearances (24) | |||||
| Home fields | |||||
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The Redskins have played more than one thousand games since their founding 87 years ago in 1932, and are one of only five franchises in the NFL to record over six hundred regular season and postseason wins, reaching that mark in 2015.[2] The Redskins have won five NFL Championships (the latter three in Super Bowls), and have captured fourteen divisional titles and six conference championships.[3] The Redskins were the first NFL franchise with an official marching band, the Redskins Band, and the first with a fight song, "Hail to the Redskins".[4]
The team began play in Boston as the Braves in 1932, and became the "Redskins" the following year. In 1937, the team relocated to Washington, D.C., where they have been based since.[4] The Redskins won the 1937 and 1942 NFL championship games, as well as Super Bowls XVII, XXII, and XXVI. They have been league runner-up six times, losing the 1936, 1940, 1943, and 1945 title games, and Super Bowls VII and XVIII. With 24 postseason appearances, the Redskins have an overall postseason record of 23–18. Their three Super Bowl wins are tied with the Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos, behind the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots (six each), San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys (five each), and the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants (four each).[5]
All of the Redskins' league titles were attained during two 10-year spans. From 1936 to 1945, the Redskins went to the NFL Championship six times, winning two of them.[4] The second period lasted between 1982 and 1991 where the Redskins appeared in the postseason seven times, captured four Conference titles, and won three Super Bowls out of four appearances.[4] The Redskins have also experienced failure in their history. The most notable period of general failure was from 1946 to 1970, during which the Redskins posted only four winning seasons and did not have a single postseason appearance.[3] During this period, the Redskins went without a single winning season during the years 1956–1968.[3] In 1961, the franchise posted their worst regular season record with a 1–12–1 showing.[3] Since their last Super Bowl victory following the end of the 1991 season, the Redskins have only won the NFC East three times, made five postseason appearances, and had nine seasons with a winning record.
According to Forbes, the Redskins are the fourth most valuable franchise in the NFL and the tenth most valuable overall in the world as of 2018, valued at approximately US$3.1 billion.[6] They also set the NFL record for single-season attendance in 2007, and have the top ten single-season attendance totals in the NFL.[7] Over the team's history, the name and logo have drawn controversy, with many criticizing it as offensive to Native Americans.
Contents
- 1 Franchise history
- 2 Logos and uniforms
- 3 Name and logo controversy
- 4 Season-by-season records
- 5 Rivalries
- 6 Players of note
- 7 Coaches of note
- 8 Single-season records
- 9 Redskins career records
- 10 Single-game records
- 11 NFL records
- 12 Broadcasting
- 13 U.S. presidential election superstition
- 14 References
- 15 Notes
- 16 Further reading
- 17 External links
Franchise history
Origins and early years (1932–1945)
The team originated as the Boston Braves, based in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1932, under the ownership of George Preston Marshall.[8] At the time the team played in Braves Field, home of the Boston Braves baseball team in the National League. The following year, the club moved to Fenway Park, home of the American League's Boston Red Sox, whereupon owners changed the team's name to "Boston Redskins." To round out the change, Marshall hired William "Lone Star" Dietz, who was thought to be part Sioux, as the team's head coach.[9] However, Boston wasn't much of a football town at the time and the team had difficulty drawing fans.The Redskins relocated south from New England after five years to the national capital of Washington, D.C. in 1937. Through 1960, the Redskins shared baseball's Griffith Stadium with the first Washington Senators baseball team of the American League.[10] In their first game in Washington, the Redskins defeated the New York Giants in the season opener, 13–3.[11] That same season, they earned their first division title in Washington with a 49–14 win over the Giants.[11] Shortly after, the team won their first league championship, defeating the Chicago Bears.[11] In 1940, the Redskins met the Bears again in the 1940 NFL Championship Game.[12] The result, 73–0 in favor of the Bears, is still the worst one-sided loss in NFL history.[12] The other big loss for the Redskins that season occurred in September during the coin toss prior to the Giants game. After calling the coin toss and shaking hands with the opposing team captain, lineman Turk Edwards attempted to pivot around to head back to his sideline. However, his cleats caught in the grass and his knee gave way, injuring him and bringing his season and hall of fame career to an unusual end.[13]
Max Krause was a running back for the Redskins from 1937 to 1940
The Redskins played in the NFL Championship one more time before a quarter-century drought that did not end until the 1972 season. With former Olympic gold medalist Dudley DeGroot as their new head coach, the Redskins went 8–2 during the 1945 season. One of the most impressive performances came from Sammy Baugh, who had a completion percentage of .703.[15] They ended the season by losing to the Cleveland Rams in the 1945 NFL Championship Game, 15–14.[12] The one-point margin of victory came under scrutiny because of a safety that occurred early in the game. In the first quarter, the Redskins had the ball at their own 5-yard line. Dropping back into the end zone, quarterback Sammy Baugh threw to an open receiver, but the ball hit the goal post (which at the time was on the goal line instead of at the back of the end zone) and bounced back to the ground in the end zone. Under the rules at the time, this was ruled as a safety and thus gave the Rams a 2–0 lead. It was that safety that proved to be the margin of victory. Owner Marshall was so mad at the outcome that he became a major force in passing the following major rule change after the season: A forward pass that strikes the goal posts is automatically ruled incomplete. This later became known as the "Baugh/Marshall Rule".[16]
Front-office disarray and integration (1946–1970)
The team's early success endeared it to the fans of Washington, D.C. However, after 1945, the Redskins began a slow decline that they did not end until a playoff appearance in the 1971 season.[17] The Redskins had four different head coaches from 1946 to 1951, including former players Turk Edwards and Dick Todd as well as John Whelchel and Herman Ball, and none were successful. But this did not stop George Preston Marshall from trying to make the Redskins the most successful franchise in the league. His first major alteration happened on June 14, 1950, when it was announced that American Oil Company planned to televise all Redskins games, making Washington the first NFL team to have an entire season of televised games.[4][18] His next major change came in February 1952, when he hired former Green Bay Packers coach Earl "Curly" Lambeau.[18] But, after two seasons, Marshall fired Lambeau following the Redskins loss in their exhibition opener to the Los Angeles Rams and hired Joe Kuharich.[18] In 1955, Kuharich led the Redskins to their first winning season in ten years and was named both Sporting News Coach of the Year and UPI NFL Coach of the Year.[19]In 1961, the Redskins moved into their new stadium called D.C. Stadium (changed to Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 1969). The first game in new D.C. Stadium occurred on October 1 in front of 37,767 fans. However, the Redskins failed to hold a fourteen-point lead and lost to the New York Giants 24–21.[20] That same year, Bill McPeak became the head coach and had a record of 21–46–3 over five seasons. During his tenure, he helped draft future stars: wide receiver Charley Taylor, tight end Jerry Smith, safety Paul Krause, center Len Hauss, and linebacker Chris Hanburger.[21] He also helped pull off two important trades, gaining quarterback Sonny Jurgensen from the Philadelphia Eagles and linebacker Sam Huff from the New York Giants.[22]
One reason for the team's struggles was disarray in the front office. Marshall began a mental decline in 1962, and the team's other stockholders found it difficult to make decisions without their boss. Marshall died on August 9, 1969,[20] and Edward Bennett Williams, a minority stockholder who was a Washington local and attorney, was chosen to run the franchise while the majority stockholder, Jack Kent Cooke, lived on the West Coast in Los Angeles and ran his basketball team, the Los Angeles Lakers.[23] In 1966, Otto Graham was hired as the new head coach. Graham coached the Redskins for three seasons, but whatever magic he had as an NFL player disappeared on the sidelines as the team recorded a mark of 17–22–3 during that time period. He resigned after the 1968 season in favor of Vince Lombardi, and became athletic director of the Coast Guard Academy before retiring at the end of 1984.
In 1969, the Redskins hired Vince Lombardi—who gained fame coaching with the Green Bay Packers—to be their new head coach.[24] Lombardi led the team to a 7–5–2 record,[17] their best since 1955, but died of cancer on the eve of the 1970 season.[24] Assistant coach Bill Austin was the interim head coach in 1970, and Washington finished at 6–8.[17]
Integration controversy
During most of this unsuccessful period, Marshall continually refused to integrate the team, despite pressure from The Washington Post and the federal government.[25] On March 24, 1961, Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall warned Marshall to hire black players or face federal retribution. For the first time in history, the federal government had attempted to desegregate a professional sports team.[26] The Redskins were under the threat of civil rights legal action by the Kennedy administration, which would have prevented a segregated team from playing at the new D.C. Stadium, as it was owned by the U.S. Department of the Interior and thus was federal government property.In 1962, Washington became the final professional American football franchise to integrate. First, the Redskins drafted running back Ernie Davis of Syracuse, the first black player to win the Heisman Trophy.[26] They also took fullback Ron Hatcher in the eighth round, a player from Michigan State who became the first black to sign a contract with the team.[26] But, in mid-December 1961, Marshall announced that on the day of the NFL draft he had traded the rights to Davis to the Cleveland Browns, who wanted Davis to join the league's leading rusher, Jim Brown, in their backfield. Davis was traded to the Browns for running back Bobby Mitchell (who became a wide receiver in Washington) and 1962 first-round draft choice Leroy Jackson.[26][27] The move was made under unfortunate circumstances – as it turned out that Davis had leukemia, and died without ever playing a down in professional football.[26] The Redskins ended the 1962 season with their best record in five years: 5–7–2. Mitchell led the league with 11 touchdowns, and caught 72 passes and was selected to the Pro Bowl. In time, Mitchell w
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