Evening star., 1947-11-17
Edwards Plans Shifts
In Line After Fifth
Straight Defeat
By Lewis F. Atehison


result of yesterdays 38-to-21 loss to
the Lions at Detroit, the Redskins
will begin rebuilding Immediately
for 1948. Coach Turk Edwards made
the first move today by transposing
Tackle Erred Boensch and Guard
Henry Harris, moving Center Jade
Sommers to defensive guard and
making Bill Gray line backer.
The next move will be the release
Of two backs and the recall from the
Wilmington Clippers of Quarterback
Tommy Mont and Center Len Nc
Cormick. who started with the Tribe
in training camp, but were farmed
for seasoning. More changes will
follow, but Edwards intends to go
slow, carefully planning for next
year. Mont and Mccormick will not
rejoin the club. until next week and
will be available for the last three
games.
1--WE intend to make some changes
for next year." the coach said, "but
there won't be wholesale turnover
in personnel. That would put us
back where we were at the start of
this season with a lot of green mate
rial and we wouldn't gain anything
by bringing in Is or 20 new players.
Besides I think some Of our rockies
will be much better and play the
kind of ball we expect of them.
Will Concentrate on Line.
take our ends, for example," he
continued. "A rookie end next year
will have a tough time beating out
kids like Paul Mckee or Joe Tere-
shinski. I think our backs are the
best we've had since the Redskins
have been in Washington, but we
haven't looked as good as the other
teams because of our blocking. A
rookie back will have to show real
class to beat out any of our present
backs for a job
Edwards NATURALLY is disappointed
by the Tribes poor showing, but is
taking it philosophically-and get
ting ready for '48.
This week he's mot even going to
look at the backf1eld," but will con-
centrate on coaching the line. Ed
wards thinks Boensch, because of
his speed and aggressiveness, will be
able to bring some pressure to bear
on the opposition passer. The
Lions yesterday-and you can go
back to the beginning of the season
and find. the same conditions in
previous games-had plenty of time
to launch their passes because the
Redskin line couldn't hurry the
thrower. That in turn made the
Washington defense look inordi-
nately bad. Boensch, plus couple
of changes in tactics, may help cor
rect that situation.
Harris is going back to the posi-
ton he played at Texas. Rolypoly
"Demp' was too slow at guard yes
terday, but at tackle may be able to
throw his 260 pounds around with
more authority.
New Loss Record for Skins.
While the last four games of the
season will be used more or less as
an experimental laboratory for next
season, Edwards viii shoot the works
trying to win them. Yesterdays de-
feat--the fifth in row-was new
record for the Skins and at their
present pace they're certain to hit
an all-time low. Turk shudders-
at the very thought and Is ready tol
do almost anything to ward 1t of. !.
Meanwhile, President George
Marshall gave Edwards and his en-
tire staff q vote of confidence, point
ing out c.st after II years on top
Of the Eastern Division or within
reach Of it until the final game, the
law Of averages was bound to over
take the Redskins.
"Shaughnessy needs no apologies
for the offense he has, given us" said
Marshall. We've averaged Is
points game and nobody can COM
plain about that. If only we were
as tough defensively as we have
been in the past we'd be way out in
front of the race. It used to be
rare when a team got more than
two touchdowns against U.s." he
added.
A check of the records shows that
In only IL games out Of 100 have
opponents scored more than three
touchdowns against the Redskins
until this year and in only 28 games
did they score more than two six
pointers. This year the Skins have
played doormat for their lowliest
rivals. Even the broken-down New
York Giants, who have yet to win
a game, chalked up three touch
downs against the weak Washing
ton defense. It's Just real bad
of year.
Tribes Errors Costly.
Two bad breaks started the Skins
down yesterday. Eddie Saenz inter-
cepted Clyde LIE Forces pass-after
Bob De Fruiter had grabbed one of
Sammy Baugh's for Detroit-Lut
Tereshinski was offside and Detroit
kept the ball. Two plays later, after
a 15-yard penalty for holding, LIE
Force tossed screen pass to Kelley
Mote for Al yards and touchdown.
Three Baugh passes, to Hugh
Taylor, Saenz and Bob Nussbaumer,
got it back, but scarcely five minutes
later Saenz fumbled when hit hard
running back punt and Tppy
Madarik recovered for Detroit on
Washington's "A. lie Force, who
completed Is passes out of "a for
317 yards, threw to Ted Cremer for
q first down on the IS, and Madarik
ended the drive with smash from
the 4.
Roy Zimmerman booted q 20-yard
field goal for Detroit's next 3
(see REDSKINS, Page A-16.)