1985 Washington Redskins season

The 1985 Washington Redskins season was the franchise's 54th season in the National Football League (NFL) and their 49th in Washington, D.C. The team failed to improve on their 11–5 record from 1984 and finished 10–6. The biggest moment of the year occurred on a November 18 Monday Night Football game, which witnessed Joe Theismann's career-ending injury after a sack by New York Giants outside linebacker Lawrence Taylor. The tackle resulted in a serious leg injury, and Theismann never played in the NFL again. Though the team failed to make the playoffs, they remained in contention for the entire regular season.

1985 Washington Redskins season
Owner	Jack Kent Cooke
President	John Kent Cooke
General manager	Bobby Beathard
Head coach	Joe Gibbs
Offensive coordinator	Joe Bugel
Defensive coordinator	Richie Petitbon
Home stadium	RFK Stadium
Results
Record	10–6
Division place	3rd NFC East
Playoffs	Did not qualify
← 1984 Redskins seasons 1986 →

During the December 15 game against the Cincinnati Bengals, law authorities conducted a successful sting operation which resulted in the arrest of 101 fugitives who thought they had received free tickets to the game.^[1]

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 1985 NFL draft

1985 Washington Redskins draft

Round	Selection	Player	Position	College
2	33	Tory Nixon	DB	San Diego State
5	122	Raphel Cherry	DB	Hawaii
6	163	Danzell Lee	TE	Lamar
8	219	Barry Wilburn	DB	Mississippi
10	263	Terry Orr	TE	Texas
11	290	Raleigh McKenzie	C	Tennessee

^[2]

Personnel

Staff

1985 Washington Redskins staff

Front office Owner – Jack Kent Cooke General Manager – Bobby Beathard Head coaches Head Coach – Joe Gibbs Assistant Head Coach – Richie Petitbon Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator – Joe Bugel Quarterbacks – Jerry Rhome Running Backs – Don Breaux Wide Receivers – Charley Taylor Tight Ends – Rennie Simmons Offensive Line – Joe Bugel

Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – Larry Peccatiello Defensive Coordinator – Richie Petitbon Defensive Line – LaVern Torgeson Special teams coaches Special Teams – Wayne Sevier Strength and conditioning Strength and Conditioning Coordinator – Dan Riley

Roster

1985 Washington Redskins roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 17 Steve Bartkowski 16 Babe Laufenberg 10 Jay Schroeder Running backs (RB) 30 Reggie Branch 35 Keith Griffin 44 John Riggins 38 George Rogers 39 Otis Wonsley Wide receivers (WR) 84 Gary Clark 83 Mark McGrath 81 Art Monk 80 Joker Phillips Tight ends (TE) 86 Clint Didier 82 Anthony Jones 88 Rick Walker 85 Don Warren

Offensive linemen (OL) 53 Jeff Bostic C/G 68 Russ Grimm G 61 Ken Huff G 66 Joe Jacoby T 73 Mark May T 63 Raleigh McKenzie C/G 60 Dan McQuaid T Defensive linemen (DL) 67 Tom Beasley DE/DT 65 Dave Butz DT 78 Dean Hamel DT 64 Steve Hamilton DE 72 Dexter Manley DE 71 Charles Mann DE

Linebackers (LB) 58 Stuart Anderson MLB 51 Monte Coleman OLB 55 Mel Kaufman 57 Rich Milot 52 Neal Olkewicz MLB Defensive backs (DB) 37 Raphel Cherry SS 32 Vernon Dean CB 28 Darrell Green CB 25 Curtis Jordan FS 23 Tony Peters SS 45 Barry Wilburn CB 47 Greg Williams FS 34 Kevin Williams CB Special teams (ST) 12 Steve Cox P  3 Mark Moseley K

Reserve 48 Ken Coffey S (IR) -- Darnell Dailey LB (IR) 76 Rick Donnalley C (IR) 77 Darryl Grant DT (IR)  5 Jeff Hayes P (IR) 31 Ken Jenkins RB (IR) -- Bruce Kimball G (IR) 94 Danzell Lee TE (IR) -- Mike McClearn T (IR) 89 Calvin Muhammad WR (IR) -- Mike Newton RB (IR) 87 Terry Orr TE (IR) 56 Chris Osswald C/G (IR) 75 Bob Slater DT (PUP)  7 Joe Theismann QB (IR) 69 R. C. Thielemann G (IR) 20 Lionel Vital RB (IR) Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 9	at Dallas Cowboys	L 14–44	0–1	Texas Stadium	62,292	Recap
2	September 15	Houston Oilers	W 16–13	1–1	RFK Stadium	53,553	Recap
3	September 22	Philadelphia Eagles	L 6–19	1–2	RFK Stadium	53,748	Recap
4	September 29	at Chicago Bears	L 10–45	1–3	Soldier Field	63,708	Recap
5	October 7	St. Louis Cardinals	W 27–10	2–3	RFK Stadium	53,134	Recap
6	October 13	Detroit Lions	W 24–3	3–3	RFK Stadium	52,845	Recap
7	October 20	at New York Giants	L 3–17	3–4	Giants Stadium	74,389	Recap
8	October 27	at Cleveland Browns	W 14–7	4–4	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	78,540	Recap
9	November 3	at Atlanta Falcons	W 44–10	5–4	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium	42,209	Recap
10	November 10	Dallas Cowboys	L 7–13	5–5	RFK Stadium	55,750	Recap
11	November 18	New York Giants	W 23–21	6–5	RFK Stadium	53,371	Recap
12	November 24	at Pittsburgh Steelers	W 30–23	7–5	Three Rivers Stadium	59,293	Recap
13	December 1	San Francisco 49ers	L 8–35	7–6	RFK Stadium	51,321	Recap
14	December 8	at Philadelphia Eagles	W 17–12	8–6	Veterans Stadium	60,737	Recap
15	December 15	Cincinnati Bengals	W 27–24	9–6	RFK Stadium	50,544	Recap
16	December 21	at St. Louis Cardinals	W 27–16	10–6	Busch Memorial Stadium	28,090	Recap

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: at Dallas Cowboys

Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Redskins	0	7	0	7	14
• Cowboys	3	14	13	14	44

• Date: Monday, September 9
• Location: Texas Stadium • Irving, Texas
• Game start: 8:00 p.m. CST
• Game weather: 88 °F (31 °C), wind 10 mph (16 km/h)
• Referee: Jerry Markbreit
• TV announcers (ABC): Frank Gifford O. J. Simpson Joe Namath

• Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com

Scoring summary

1		Cowboys	Rafael Septién 53-yard field goal	Cowboys 3–0
2		Cowboys	Timmy Newsome 1-yard run (Rafael Septien kick)	Cowboys 10–0
2		Redskins	John Riggins 1-yard run (Mark Moseley kick)	Cowboys 10–7
2		Cowboys	Mike Renfro 55-yard pass from Danny White (Rafael Septien kick)	Cowboys 17–7
3		Cowboys	Rafael Septien 39-yard field goal	Cowboys 20–7
3		Cowboys	Rafael Septien 43-yard field goal	Cowboys 23–7
3		Cowboys	Tony Dorsett 9-yard run (Rafael Septien kick)	Cowboys 30–7
4		Cowboys	Victor Scott 26-yard interception return (Rafael Septien kick)	Cowboys 37–7
4		Redskins	Clint Didier 19-yard pass from Joe Theismann (Mark Moseley kick)	Cowboys 37–14
4		Cowboys	Dennis Thurman 21-yard interception return (Rafael Septien kick)	Cowboys 44–14

Week 2: vs. Houston Oilers

Houston Oilers at Washington Redskins

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Oilers	0	10	3	0	13
• Redskins	13	3	0	0	16

• Date: Sunday, September 15
• Location: RFK Stadium • Washington, D.C.
• Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST
• Game weather: 62 °F (17 °C), wind 8 mph (13 km/h)
• Referee: Gordon McCarter

• Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com

Scoring summary

1		Redskins	Calvin Muhammad 17-yard pass from Joe Theismann (Mark Moseley kick)	Redskins 7–0
1		Redskins	George Rogers 31-yard run (kick failed)	Redskins 13–0
2		Redskins	Mark Moseley 34-yard field goal	Redskins 16–0
2		Oilers	Tony Zendejas 44-yard field goal	Redskins 16–3
2		Oilers	Drew Hill 2-yard pass from Warren Moon (Tony Zendejas kick)	Redskins 16–10
3		Oilers	Tony Zendejas 35-yard field goal	Redskins 16–13

Week 7

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Redskins	0	0	0	3	3
• Giants	0	7	7	3	17

• Date: October 20
• Location: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey
• Game start: 1:00 p.m.
• Game weather: 60 °F (15.6 °C); wind 14 miles per hour (23 km/h; 12 kn)
• Referee: Gene Barth

^[3]

Week 11

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Giants	7	0	14	0	21
• Redskins	7	0	7	9	23

• Date: November 18
• Location: RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.
• Game start: 9:00 p.m. EST
• Game weather: 52 °F (11.1 °C); wind 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h; 5.2 kn)
• Referee: Fred Wyant
• Television network: ABC

Standings

NFC East
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Dallas Cowboys(3)	10	6	0	.625	6–2	7–5	357	333	L1
New York Giants(4)	10	6	0	.625	5–3	8–4	399	283	W1
Washington Redskins	10	6	0	.625	4–4	6–6	297	312	W3
Philadelphia Eagles	7	9	0	.438	4–4	6–8	286	310	W1
St. Louis Cardinals	5	11	0	.313	1–7	3–9	278	414	L2

See also

• Operation Flagship