1985 Washington Redskins season

NFL team season

1985 Washington Redskins season

Owner| Jack Kent Cooke
General manager| Bobby Beathard
President| John Kent Cooke
Head coach| Joe Gibbs
Offensive coordinator| Joe Bugel
Defensive coordinator| Richie Petitbon
Home field| RFK Stadium
Results
Record| 10–6
Division place| 3rd NFC East
Playoff finish| Did not qualify

* <- 1984
* Redskins seasons
* 1986 ->

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.

During the December 15 game against Cincinnati, 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

[edit]

### NFL Draft

[edit]

Main article: 1985 NFL draft

1985 Washington Redskins Draft  Round | Selection | Player | Position | College

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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

[edit]

### Staff

[edit]

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

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### Roster

[edit]

1985 Washington Redskins roster Quarterbacks (QB)

* 10 Jay Schroeder

* 7 Joe Theismann

Running backs (RB)

* 35 Keith Griffin PR

* 31 Ken Jenkins PR

* 44 John Riggins

* 38 George Rogers

Wide receivers (WR)

* 84 Gary Clark

* 83 Mark McGrath

* 81 Art Monk

* 89 Calvin Muhammad

* 80 Joker Phillips

Tight ends (TE)

* 86 Clint Didier

* 85 Don Warren

|  | Offensive linemen (OL)

* 53 Jeff Bostic C

* 68 Russ Grimm C

* 61 Ken Huff G

* 66 Joe Jacoby T

* 73 Mark May T

* 63 Raleigh McKenzie G

* 60 Dan McQuaid T

Defensive linemen (DL)

* 65 Dave Butz DT

* 77 Darryl Grant DT

* 78 Dean Hamel DT

* 64 Steve Hamilton DE

* 79 Todd Liebenstein DE

* 72 Dexter Manley DE

* 71 Charles Mann DE

|  | Linebackers (LB)

* 58 Stuart Anderson

* 51 Monte Coleman

* 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

Special teams

* 12 Steve Cox P

* 3 Mark Moseley K

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Reserve

* 48 Ken Coffey SS (IR)

* \-- Danzell Lee TE (IR)

* 87 Terry Orr TE

Rookies in italics

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## Regular season

[edit]

### Schedule

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Week  | Date  | Opponent  | Result  | Record  | Venue  | Attendance  | Recap

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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

[edit]

#### Week 1: at Dallas Cowboys

[edit]

Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys  |  | 1 | 2| 3| 4| Total

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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

[edit]

Houston Oilers at Washington Redskins  |  | 1 | 2| 3| 4| Total

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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

[edit]

|  | 1 | 2| 3| 4| Total

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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

[edit]

|  | 1 | 2| 3| 4| Total

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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

[edit]

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

[edit]

* Operation Flagship

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Redskins Ticket Sting Nets 101 Fugitives". AP NEWS. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
2. ^ "National Football League: NFL Draft History". NFL.com. Archived from the original on September 16, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
3. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com

* v
* t
* e

Washington Commanders

* Formerly the Boston Braves (1932), Boston Redskins (1933–1936), Washington Redskins (1937–2019), and Washington Football Team (2020–2021)
* Based in Landover, Maryland
* Headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia

Franchise|

* History
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* Head coaches
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Stadiums|

* Braves Field
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Key personnel|

* Managing partner: Josh Harris
* Prominent limited partners: Mitchell Rales, Magic Johnson, Mark Ein
* General manager: Adam Peters
* Head coach: Dan Quinn

Culture and lore|

* "Hail to the Commanders"
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Rivalries|

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Division championships (15)|

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Retired numbers|

* 9
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Hall of Famers|

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Affiliations|

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* Division: East Division

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Washington Commanders seasons

Formerly the Boston Braves (1932), Boston Redskins (1933–1936), Washington Redskins (1937–2019), and Washington Football Team (2020–2021)

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Italics indicates NFL Championship or Super Bowl appearance

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Lore televised by ABC|

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Music|

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Website: ABC News - NFL News

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1985 NFL season

| AFC| East | Central| West| East| Central| West | NFC

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Buffalo | Cincinnati| Denver| Dallas| Chicago| Atlanta
Indianapolis | Cleveland| Kansas City| NY Giants| Detroit| LA Rams
Miami | Houston| LA Raiders| Philadelphia| Green Bay| New Orleans
New England | Pittsburgh| San Diego| St. Louis| Minnesota| San Francisco
NY Jets | | Seattle| Washington| Tampa Bay|

* 1985 NFL Draft
* NFL playoffs
* Pro Bowl
* Super Bowl XX

*[PR]: Punt returner
*[C]: Center
*[G]: Offensive guard
*[T]: Ties
*[DT]: Defensive tackle
*[DE]: Defensive end
*[MLB]: Middle linebacker
*[SS]: Strong safety
*[CB]: Cornerback
*[FS]: Free safety
*[P]: Punter
*[K]: Kicker
*[TE]: Tight end
*[W]: Wins
*[L]: Losses
*[PCT]: Winning percentage
*[DIV]: Win–Loss record within their division
*[CONF]: Win–Loss record within their conference
*[PF]: Points For (Total points scored)
*[PA]: Points Against (Total points allowed)
*[STK]: Current Winning or Losing Streak
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template