Henning Hopes to Show Gibbs He Has Learned
Charger Coach Dan Henning, a former Redskin assistant, will take a team to play against his former boss, Joe Gibbs, for the fourth time today at RFK Stadium.
A Henning team has never beaten a Gibbs team. Nor has a San Diego Charger team beaten a Redskin team. The Chargers have lost all four games they have played against Washington, which puts them in slow company. Only two others, Tampa Bay and the Jets, share that particular ignominy.
Washington (7-6) has won three of its past four games and still is alive in the mad scramble for an NFC wild-card berth. The Redskins rank second in NFL offense and seventh in NFL defense. They haven’t allowed a point in the second half of a game for four weeks.
The Chargers, on the other hand, have lost three in a row by a total of 10 points. Billy Joe Tolliver, the rookie quarterback they will start against the Redskins, has never started against a team with a winning record. In fact, he has only started twice. The Chargers lost both games.
This does not appear to be a game the Chargers will win.
Say what you will, Henning says. His team will show up. “The Redskins are at home and they’re favored,” he says. “I kind of like that challenge. It would be great to get a win under those conditions.” The Chargers’ strength is their defense, which hasn’t allowed opponents to score more than 20 points in the past 11 games. That is a team record. But the Redskin defense that has lost six players to injuries and other various causes (defensive end Dexter Manley to drug problems) has limited opponents to 14 points or fewer in its past five games.
If Washington wins, it will be the 100th NFL coaching victory for Gibbs, who has gone 14-15 since his team won Super Bowl XXII in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.
Henning was there as a Gibbs’ aide at Chicago’s Soldier Field for Gibbs’ first victory, a 24-7 victory over the Bears in 1981. Even though Gibbs is a close friend, Henning would just as soon not be there for No. 100.
“It’s tough to put into words,” Henning says when asked about playing against his former boss. “It’s like playing tennis against your brother or pool against your son.”
On the subject of friendly rivalries, one has emerged between Charger defensive end Lee Williams and outside linebacker Leslie O’Neal. They rank one-two in AFC sacks, Williams with 12 and O’Neal with 10 1/2.
“You think about it,” O’Neal says. “But I realize there’s only so many opportunities to get to the passer. The last couple of weeks, it has been easier to get sacks from the inside.” That is where the Chargers have been deploying Williams even though they still call him a defensive end.
But Washington’s offense is different. Their linemen utilize tighter “splits,” which theoretically should make Williams’ job more difficult.
Nonsense, he says: “It won’t make much of a difference. I have options to go inside or outside.”
As to the sack race he finds himself engaged in with O’Neal, Williams says, “It’s all right to converse about after a game, but during a game it doesn’t really enter my mind.”
The man O’Neal will have to beat en route to Redskin quarterback Mark Rypien is former Charger Jim Lachey, the left tackle.
Lachey left the Chargers two summers ago in the controversial trade that triggered a move that brought former Washington quarterback Jay Schroeder to the Raiders. After a slow start, Lachey has grown into one of Washington’s most dependable pass-protectors.
When they were teammates in 1986, O’Neal and Lachey faced each other every day in practice. “He’s changed, and I’ve changed,” O’Neal says. “They say he’s the best, and I like to go against the best. But it’s always hard to tell from looking at film whether a guy has improved or not.”
The Charger defense must improve at stopping opponents in third-down situations. Washington, led by wide receivers Ricky Sanders, Art Monk and Gary Clark--all of whom are on pace to gain 1,000 yards receiving--ranks first in the the NFC in third-down conversion percentage at 44.9.
Henning says Monk (66 catches for 905 yards), Sanders (66-836) and Clark (59-929) are the best “trio” he has seen on one team since he began coaching in the NFL back in 1972.
The best way to deal with them is to keep them off the field. To do that, the Chargers must control the ball on the ground. Marion Butts, their starting running back, missed much of this week’s practice when he returned to Georgia to attend his mother’s funeral.
Butts, a rookie, re-joined the team in Washington Saturday night. Henning said he will start today.
Charger Notes
Rick Smith, the Chargers’ senior public relations man, did the advance work this week for today’s game against the Redskins at RFK Stadium. It was a rare advance trip for Smith, who usually dispatches an assistant. But it was fitting--”Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.” . . . Redskin defender Markus Koch, born in West Germany and currently on injured reserve with a knee injury, once gave up football for two weeks and went off to the backwoods. He stayed there, according to Dan Henning, “until he realized you have to eat in the backwoods, too.” Koch then returned to the Redskins. . . . The Charger offense is four for 15 on fourth-down conversions this year. That’s a dismal 26.7% rate. Only three teams--Cleveland (12.5%), Cincinnati and New Orleans (both 25%) have done worse. . . . From the Hard-To-Believe Dept.: The Chargers, who have lost so many games in the final period this year, have actually outscored opponents, 77-73, in the fourth quarter through 13 games. . . . The Washington defense has allowed just 88 yards rushing the past two weeks. Washington’s top two receivers--Art Monk and Ricky Sanders have caught more passes (132) than the Chargers’ top four receivers--Anthony Miller, Jamie Holland, Rod Bernstine and Tim Spencer (122).