The Redskins-Eagles showdown Sunday has all the earmarks of a big game — as big as a game can get, at least, in the middle of October of the NFL season. But is it a big rivalry game?
Of course, every meeting between NFC East teams is a rivalry in the division sense. But it doesn’t have the same cache as Cowboys-Redskins. But there have been some blood feud moments between the Redskins and Eagles that perhaps surpass Redskins-Cowboys.
After all, how many times has Jerry Jones gotten into a fist fight with Redskins fans?
Jerry Wolman was a Washington D.C. developer who bought the Philadelphia Eagles for $5.5 million in 1963. One of his first decisions was to trade quarterback Sonny Jurgensen to Washington in exchange for quarterback Norm Snead.
When the two teams met for the first time since the trade in 1964, Jurgensen threw for five touchdowns and 385 yards in a 35-20 win.
Jurgensen would, as we all know, go on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Redskins, and Norm Snead would go on to be Norm Snead. Philadelphia, though, got some measure of revenge when they traded Donovan McNabb to Washington last year.
Maybe it was the Jurgensen deal that Redskins fans were harassing Wolman about at a exhibition game between the two teams in Hershey, Pa., in 1965. Whatever it was, it got under Wolman’s skin.
Wolman and assistant coach Fred Bruney came out of the press box at the stadium and got into a fight with Redskins fans. It must have been quite the brawl because the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that fans scattered as the fight moved through several rows of seats. Four years later, Wolman sold the team.
Since then — particularly in the 1980s, when both teams were competitive under Joe Gibbs in Washington and Buddy Ryan in Philadelphia — there have been some hard fought games. None were more memorable than the “Monday Night Football” contest on Nov. 12, 1990 — a 28-14 beating by the Eagles in Philadelphia, known as the “Body Bag Game.”
Five Redskins had to be carried off the field. Eagles players reportedly taunted the Redskins, yelling “Do you need any more body bags?”
The Redskins would get their revenge in the playoffs, beating the Eagles in Philadelphia 20-6 in the wild-card round. Redskins tackle Jim Lachey later said the “Body Bag Game” was a motivator in the win.
“We had bitten our tongues in interviews after the game, but we had a lot pent up inside of us and let it out during the playoffs,” he said.
Last year’s 59-28 embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Eagles on “Monday Night Football” was a version of the “Body Bag Game,” only without the contact. But just as it did in 1990, these Redskins should have some payback stirring inside them.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
