#33

 

DARRELL GREEN

Darrell Green didn’t preen like Deion Sanders. Nor was he lionized like Rod Woodson or Mel Blount. However, when Green arrived with the Redskins in 1983, the 5-foot-8 cornerback from Texas A&I put his world-class speed on display and didn’t stop for 20 years.

Green was simply one of the best cover men to ever play. His great speed was the key ingredient in his ability to shut down much bigger receivers but it was hardly his only asset. Green also had great hands, instincts and knew how to rise to the occasion in big moments.

Start with his first game of his NFL career in 1983. The Washington Redskins were playing their archrival Dallas Cowboys on a Monday night, and the formidable Tony Dorsett was the focus of the potent Dallas offense. In the second quarter, Dorsett got free on the near sidelines and started sprinting. A touchdown appeared inevitable because he had raced past the Redskins defenders and the only Washington player running after him with speed and purpose was Green.

However, Green was on the opposite side of the field and had to angle over to try to run down the speedy Dorsett. Simple high-school geometry showed that Green was running the hypotenuse length of the right triangle. Dorsett was running fast. But with each step they both took Green was eating up yardage. He took down Dorsett after a 77-yard run, and the Cowboys were forced to settle for a field goal.

That play would be the spur for a great rookie season. Green would start all 16 games and register 109 tackles and two interceptions. He was a big part of a team that would storm through the regular season with a 14–2 record and then overwhelm the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional playoffs and survive a San Francisco 49ers comeback to win the NFC championship. The Redskins were significant favorites to beat the Los Angeles Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII in Tampa, Florida, but they got hammered, 38–9.

“We would come back and win a couple of Super Bowls and those are feelings that mean so much to me,” Green said. “To play and become a champion in this sport is so satisfying. But that day we lost to the Raiders, it hurt and it hurt plenty. We expected to win and we had played so well all season. But they were more ready than we were and they took it away from us.”

As Green’s career progressed, he became a bigger part of the Redskins’ defense. While he never lost his speed—he won four NFL fastest man competitions—he learned how to battle bigger receivers on their turf. He would not engage in hand fighting or trying to get in a jam to throw a man who may have been 40 pounds heavier off stride. Instead, he would often play the outside coverage technique that would give the opposing quarterback the belief that the receiver was open. Then when the ball was in the air, Green would swoop in and either knock the pass down or steal it away.

Green’s talents were not lost on opposing cornerbacks. Former Eagles, Saints, and Raiders corner Eric Allen competed against Green for 14 years and got to know how Green did his job.

“He used his speed to be able to see the quarterback through the receiver,” Allen said. “That gave him an advantage because if the pressure was getting there fast, and the quarterback was going to have to throw early, he could see that ball and break on it.”

Despite his lack of size, Green played a very physical game. He knew how to jump on receivers who were running short routes over the middle and if they hit him with a double move he had the speed to catch up and make the play. He was especially strong at handling the screen pass because he was far too quick for offensive linemen who were trying to create a lane for the running back. He easily darted through them and brought the play to a standstill for little or no gain.

In Washington’s championship season of 1987, Green was instrumental in the Redskins’ playoff wins over the Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings. Chicago still had an overpowering defense that season and few thought the Redskins stood a chance at coming into Soldier Field and coming away with the win. But with the scored tied 14–14 in the third quarter, Green returned a punt 52 yards for a touchdown—even though he was playing with a broken rib.

“I could really feel it about the last 30 yards of that run,” Green recalled. “But you could see the end zone and see how the blocking had developed. I was not thinking about the pain. I was thinking about not getting hit and getting into the end zone.”

The Redskins held on for a 21–17 win.

A week later, Green forced a key fumble in the NFC Championship Game against Minnesota’s Darrin Nelson that helped cement Washington’s 17–10 victory. From there, the Redskins easily defeated the Denver Broncos, 42–10, in Super Bowl XXII. “We were a confident group that day,” Green said. “We had been beaten pretty good when we played the Raiders in the Super Bowl [after the 1983 season] and I think coach Gibbs had us prepared as well as any team could have been. They got off to a lead but we overwhelmed them in the second quarter. That was it and we won the title.”

The Redskins would add another championship following the 1991 season, when they defeated the Buffalo Bills, 37–14, in Super Bowl XXVI. Green’s career would become a hallmark for consistency as he played through the 2002 season and finished with 54 interceptions and won the respect of two decades’ worth of NFL receivers for the way he played the game.