# 1959 Washington Redskins season

The 1959 Washington Redskins season was the franchise's 28th season in the National Football League (NFL). The team failed to improve on their 4–7–1 record from 1958 and finished 3–9.
The Redskins continued their ongoing strategy of establishing themselves as dominant NFL franchise for the Southern United States, licensing television broadcast of their games to a network of 40 stations spread across Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. They also licensed radio broadcasts of their games to a network of 94 stations across the aforementioned eight states, as well as Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Louisiana.
The team also continued their "Days for Dixie" halftime shows, which highlighted two Southern states each year, marking "Georgia Day" on October 18 and "North Carolina Day" on December 6. Each of these dates featured a guest marching band from the featured state which provided halftime entertainment.
Related to this regional marketing appeal, the Redskins remained the last bastion of racial segregation in the NFL in 1959, with the team standing alone in not including a black player on its roster from 1955 until 1962.

## Offseason
### NFL Draft

| Round | Pick | Player | Position | School/Club Team |

## Regular season

The Redskins offered seats for $5.00 and $4.50, with very few of the premium seats remaining ahead of the season. Season tickets cost $30 for the upper and South boxes and $25 for all others.

### Schedule

| Game | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance | Recap |
| 1 | September 27 | at Chicago Cardinals | L 21–49 | 0–1 | Soldier Field | 21,892 | Recap |
| 2 | October 4 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | W 23–17 | 1–1 | Forbes Field | 26,570 | Recap |
| 3 | October 11 | Chicago Cardinals | W 23–14 | 2–1 | Griffith Stadium | 25,937 | Recap |
| 4 | October 18 | Pittsburgh Steelers | L 6–27 | 2–2 | Griffith Stadium | 28,218 | Recap |
| 5 | October 25 | at Cleveland Browns | L 7–34 | 2–3 | Cleveland Municipal Stadium | 42,732 | Recap |
| 6 | November 1 | at Philadelphia Eagles | L 23–30 | 2–4 | Franklin Field | 39,854 | Recap |
| 7 | November 8 | Baltimore Colts | W 27–24 | 3–4 | Griffith Stadium | 32,773 | Recap |
| 8 | November 15 | Cleveland Browns | L 17–31 | 3–5 | Griffith Stadium | 32,266 | Recap |
| 9 | November 22 | at Green Bay Packers | L 0–21 | 3–6 | New City Stadium | 31,853 | Recap |
| 10 | November 29 | at New York Giants | L 14–45 | 3–7 | Yankee Stadium | 60,982 | Recap |
| 11 | December 6 | Philadelphia Eagles | L 14–34 | 3–8 | Griffith Stadium | 24,325 | Recap |
| 12 | December 13 | New York Giants | L 10–24 | 3–9 | Griffith Stadium | 26,198 | Recap |
| Note: Intra-conference opponents are in bold text. |||||||||

### Standings

NFL Eastern Conference :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| New York Giants | 10 | 2 | 0 | .833 | 8–2 | 284 | 170 | W4 |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 7 | 5 | 0 | .583 | 6–4 | 268 | 278 | L1 |
| Cleveland Browns | 7 | 5 | 0 | .583 | 6–4 | 270 | 214 | W1 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 6 | 5 | 1 | .545 | 6–4 | 257 | 216 | W1 |
| Washington Redskins | 3 | 9 | 0 | .250 | 2–8 | 185 | 350 | L5 |
| Chicago Cardinals | 2 | 10 | 0 | .167 | 2–8 | 234 | 324 | L6 |
    Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
NFL Western Conference :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| Baltimore Colts | 9 | 3 | 0 | .750 | 9–1 | 374 | 251 | W5 |
| Chicago Bears | 8 | 4 | 0 | .667 | 6–4 | 252 | 196 | W7 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 7 | 5 | 0 | .583 | 5–5 | 255 | 237 | L2 |
| Green Bay Packers | 7 | 5 | 0 | .583 | 6–4 | 248 | 246 | W4 |
| Detroit Lions | 3 | 8 | 1 | .273 | 2–8 | 203 | 275 | L1 |
| Los Angeles Rams | 2 | 10 | 0 | .167 | 2–8 | 242 | 315 | L8 |
    Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

## Statistics
### Passing

| Player | Comp | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rate |
| Eddie LeBaron | 77 | 173 | 44.5% | 1,077 | 8 | 11 | 61.4 |

### Rushing

| Player | Attempts | Yards | Average | Long | Touchdowns |
| Don Bosseler | 119 | 644 | 5.4 | 41 | 3 |

### Receiving

| Player | Number | Yards | Average | Long | Touchdowns |
| Bill Anderson | 35 | 734 | 66.7 | 70 | 6 |
| Joe Walton | 21 | 317 | 35.2 | 41 | 3 |