Evening star., 1942-10-12
Way. Still Rough
For Team That
Crushed Rams
Overconfidence Must
Be Avoided as Tribe
Props for Dodgers
BY LEWIS ATCHIsON.

BY LEWIS ATCHIsON.
Back on top Of the heap In the
National Football Leagues Eastern
division, where they should have
been all along. the Redskins have
only one weakness to guard against
in their drive toward another crack
at the Chicago Bears and the cham
neutrality-suspicious..
The bully-boy manner in which
the Tribe showed Cleveland's Rams
into defeat yesterday, 1914, is indie
ative Of the Boulder Dam power
stored up in the burgundy jerseys.
Ray Flaherty's gang has what it
takes when it's in the mood for
putting out. The choir-boy com.
plexion they exhibited in the earlier
games was beginning to wear on the
fans and there were increasing signs
of doubt and anxiety. but there can
be no doubt now that the Redskins
are good ball club.
Yesterday they resembled the
team we saw on the West Coast and
against Green Bay In exhibition
games and what happened was ex-
actly what Flaherty figured would
happen, sooner or later. Everybody
clicked together. 1t wasn't merely
Baugh, or Todd, or Farkas, or Sey-
mour, or the Hare brothers in the
backf1eld. It wasn't one or two men
in the line. 1t was the Redskins
all Of 'em, hitting in unison.
Redskins Must Hold to Pace.
"We're hitting them instead Of
getting hit" Flaherty summed up.
after the fray. That's the kind of
ball we're capable Of playing" he
beamed. tits the kind of ball we've
got to play next Sunday against
Brooklyn and every Sunday from
here in to win. The boys proved
they can do it and I feel as though
we'll keep on going"
But, as we started to say, tho
Skins will have to be careful about
getting too cocky for their own
good. They've got long way to go
yet and up ahead are some tough
games with greedy clubs which re-
main to be convinced that Wash
ington is the best club in its half
of the league.
Take Brooklyn, for example,
Flaherty last week ventured the
prediction that Washington would
take both games from Mike Getto's
gang. He wasn't exercising his gums,
for the Irishman is rather close
mouthed, not given to popping of
for the sake of conversation or to
see his quotations in print. What
he meant was that the Redskins,
man for man, are a better club than
the Dodgers on almost any given
Sunday. At their best, the Skins
probably can spot Brooklyn a touch.
down or two and still beat them,
but they've got to be on the beam
to do it.
Must Respect Dodgers.
Flaherty says the Dodgers have
one good team and when it folds
they're through. But that one
team Is liable to be extra tough
Sunday after Brooklyn's TO upset
yesterday by Pittsburgh. The Skins
easy win while the Brooks were
losing may lead them to believe
they're getting another pushover,
but nothing could be farther from
the truth. Brooklyn will be one
of Washington's hardest games and
if the one team this reporter saw
against the Army Al-Stars at Bal
timore Is ready the Tribe may not
win.
If Flaherty is correct, the way Is
open for Washington to take a COM
maEding lead in the race, for tho
Giants go Westward to meet the
Bears this week and the only pos
sible way you can figure the Giants
to win that one is through major
miracle. Nobody expects New York
to take another game from the Skins
this year, least Of all the local
warriors themselves, and II they
don't do a lot better against both
Pittsburgh and the Eagles in their
return games Flaherty is going to
be one surprised pigeon.
But all this is purely conjectural
and it not only is possible for WASH
ington to lose the race, but to take
couple Of lickings it doesn't ex-
pect along the way. Pittsburgh'a
win can't possibly help the Steelers
from thinking they're lot better
than they suspected and before they
smeared the Dodgers they had little
or no repsect for the Redskins. Al
for the Eagles, you have only to
check the records to realize how
tough they are for Washington.
Wilkin Starts Scoring.
Cece Hare and Willie Wilkin
collaborated in getting the Skins
initial score yesterday. They did
1t with the best play In football
blocked punt, after the Rams had
halted the Tribes first surge on
their 8. Cece burst through q hols
to block Jack Jacobs punt and Wis
kin pounced on the ball on the !
and rolled into the end zone. =
Ray Hare started WashingtonIS
second touchdown drive with q nifty
29-yard gallop outside right tackle
to the 14-yard line and Sammy
Baugh completed 1t with q peg to
Dick Todd, who legged 1t to tbs
corner with the help Of some nice
blocking by Bob Seymour and Ed
Beinor.
Those two scores seemed sufficient
at the time, for Cleveland had less
power than a baby buggy and war
wearing a whipped-dog expression
(See REDSKINS, Page Aid ~
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