Evening star., 1940-11-27
So-CaI|ed Surprises
Becoming Common
In Loop TiIts
Odds Never Should Be
Greater Than 7 to 5,
Leaders Declare
BY BILL DISMER, Jr.


We don't mean to condone the
Redskins recent lapses which twice
have cost them a chance to clinch
the Eastern championship, but when
you look at the seasonal picture of
the entire National Football League,
there can't be much condemnation
of team which has lost only two
games.
The Redskins still are the least
defeated team in pro football and
implication of any wholesale col
lapse on their part is squashed by
their conquest of the Chicago Bears
between the two defeats.
But that's not the object OF this
piece, which is to illustrate that
Redskin defeats by the Dodgers and
the Giants is nothing unusual in
the company our pro gridmen play
in.
Look back over the season, from
the start up through last Sunday.
How about the Giants being tied
by Pittsburgh, club which twice
was slaughtered by the Redskins?
How about the Bears being beaten
by the Cardinals? Who'd have ex-
pected the Cleveland Rams to whip
the Giants? Or the Giants to trim
the Packers, when the latter needed
only to win that game to get back
into the Western title hunt?
All in Same Category.
Are the Redskins defeats by
Brooklyn and New York any more
censurable than these? And just
because they occurred twice within
a three-week period, has Washing
tons seven-game winning streak at
the start of the season been 1or-
gotten?
Once again, get us straight. II
the Redskins hadn't played ike
chumps for three-quarters OF the
game at Brooklyn and for nearly
half of the game last Sunday at
New York, they'd be 'in." But over
the early period that the Redskins
were widening their leadership OF
the East. the Giants were losing
two games, the Dodgers three, the
Bears two, the Champion Packers
three. Yet few had counted them
out, or sensed collapse"
The fact that the Redskins, heavy
favorites at both Brooklyn and New
York, were beaten there is no odder
than the scores some of the teams
turned in last Sunday. Who, for
instance, would have expected the
Iions-one of the better teams OF
the West-to absorb the 50-7 smell
lacking they got from the Packers?
Who could have foreseen the 72
points scored in the Bear-Ram
game, won 47-25, by the former?
A screwy league? To some, per-
haps. But to the closer student OF
pro football, recent developments
have been only natural. Coaches
and owners all around the circuit
will tell you that there's nothing as
absurd as the odds that are quoted
before league games each week. No
team, they insist, ever should be
more than rs favorite, even
though it's a case OF the Eagles
meeting the Bears.
Not Fearful Of Collapse.
No. we're not worried about any
wholesale collapse of the Redskins.
We confidently expect them to ccale
back Sunday, lick the tar out OF the
Eagles and gain the playoff without
a sectional playoff. AS a matter
of fact, a tie for either the Red
skins or the Brooklyn Dodgers would
slam the door in the face of the
latter, now trying to peek in for a
glimpse of the Eastern throne.
The Indians are too close to that
payoff cash to falter now, even to
the extent of backing in" by a tie
with the Eagles. They've figured
out what that extra dough will be
and it's not likely they'll trif1e with
their last chance of getting it. If
they'd lost to the Bears as well as
the Dodgers and Giants, we'd sense
they were through, just as some
seem to feel today. But they rose
to the occasion on November II be-
cause they felt they had to.
Personally, we'd hate to be in the
Eagles shoes Sunday. Even If we
were refreshed by two weeks rest,
such as the Dodgers sought to have
the Eagles by forcing postpone
ment of tomorrow's game with the
Steelers. For if there's anything
more disastrous to arouse than
woman's scorn, it must be a pro
football team whose entry into a
playoff has been thwarted until the
very last.