| 12 July 2011
When most people think of Washington Redskins "history," they are referring to the first Joe Gibbs era (1981-1992) with three Super Bowl wins in four appearances. Good Times.
Two of those wins, Super Bowl 17 and Super Bowl 22, came in years that featured in-season NFL labor conflict. That, my friend, leads to the story of Mark Moseley's magic season. Or as Ethan Trex put it, "a case study in weird."
Trex' very readable piece in his Grantland blog describes how Moseley, a place-kicker, came to be named league MVP, right up there with John Elway, Joe Montana, Tom Brady. Elway, Montana and Brady were (are) quarterbacks. That is Trex' point. To have a place-kicker as MVP was the improbable end of an improbable, strike-shortened season. Weird.
The 1982 Redskins were not even Joe Gibbs' best championship team. The Skins won by moving the ball close enough for Moseley to winning kick-field goals. The Redskins got hot in the playoffs by feeding the ball to John Riggins.
Both Moseley and the Redskins had a better year—with a worse conclusion—in 1983. Moseley kicked for 161 points that year. The 14-2 Redskins scored 541 points, allowed 322 and ranked first in scoring, point differential and takeaways (+43). Joe Theisman was named league MVP that season.
Washington crushed all opposition en route to the conference championship only to blow it in the Super Bowl to the hungrier Oakland/LA Raiders.
That was the only Super Bowl the 'Skins were favored to win and the only Super Bowl I've seen in person, leading to my two superstitions about the team. Never attend a Super Bowl in person when the Redskins are playing. (I shall not jinx my favorite team.) And the Redskins will win the Super Bowl if the labor dispute cuts into the regular season.
They are saying the lockout could end this month. I'm pulling for October.
Follow the link to Mark Mosley and the 1982 NFL Season: A Case Study in Weird on Grantland.com.
Point after: It's fun to speak of labor strife and Redskins Super Bowl superstitions. That's not how those wins went down. In the 1982 players' strike, Joe Gibbs simply did a better job than anyone else of keeping his team together. It was a strike, not a lockout, so coaches could contact players.
The Redskins may have been the only group to practice together during the strike. It made a difference. Players-only practices are all the rage now. Since every team is doing it, without coaching feedback, the practice will not prove to be the competitive advantage that it was for the '82 Redskins.
In 1987, Redskins GM Bobby Beathard, a grand master talent evaluator, picked the right scrubs to go undefeated in the three replacement player games. Washington was the only team with no regular player to cross the picket line. Somehow, even that was a unifying achievement. The wins in the replacement games pushed the Redskins into the post-season.
The bottom line is that the Redskins won in years of labor conflict because of superior coaching and front office footwork. There is nothing superstitious about that.
It's a high standard for the 2011 coaching staff and front office. While I have my doubts, I have my hopes.
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