Ruttledge vs Collins

[Burgold]

One of the most surprising and famous games in Classic Gibbs was against the Detroit Lions. The Lions had never beaten the Redskins, but led by Barry Sanders were clobbering us... they were beating us by more than twenty. Our qb goes down and in comes Jeff Rutledge. A man whose forty time was measured in double digits. Rutledge leads a 28 point comeback and wins the game for the 'skins. Including an inspired quarterback bootleg into the endzone.

Yesterday, another career backup one with perhaps more on field experience took the field. This season has been absolutely cursed for the Redskins. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Injuries, fluky decisions, being reffed, and even off the field stuff. When you're starting your third string right tackle out of necessity... that's saying something. In this season, where any bounce hops straight into an opponents hands, Young Todd Collins, a man who had his best game in two centuries, comes in and plays almost a perfect game.

Which was more surprising. Which was better?



(Obligatory, I scanned the first page and didn't see this idea explored)

[Riggo-toni]

I'll go with Rutledge; all the young'uns will swear it was last night's game.

[what_would_joe_gibbs_do]

i remember the ruttledge game. i hit my head on the corner of a table in celebration i was going so nuts. that game was way more memorable imo.

[USS Redskins]

Burg -that is so funny - during the game my buddy and I were talking about this game too. Good old Jeff R - that TD he rushed for was awesome - as he was the slowest dude EVER. It was 1990, I believe - right before the body bags game.

Last night was sweet - it will be sweeter if they can build on this and make a run.

The team really turned it around last night. I am so happy I could bust!

[Burgold]

I'd go with Ruttledge too. That was darn well the Al Bundy game. The one game in his pro career he may always talk about because he never had another moment.

[cphil006]

Burg -that is so funny - during the game my buddy and I were talking about this game too. Good old Jeff R - that TD he rushed for was awesome - as he was the slowest dude EVER. It was 1990, I believe - right before the body bags game.

Last night was sweet - it will be sweeter if they can build on this and make a run.

The team really turned it around last night. I am so happy I could bust!

... brings back memories...

[MWCREDSKINS]

I'll go with Rutledge though the guy who won the Skins that game more than anyone was Wayne Fontes. Subborness not going with Barry Sanders but still it was a classic comeback last night Collins just stepped up when given a chance in a scoreless game, hopefully he can build off it

[SkinsHokieFan]

My dad and I brought up Jeff Rutledge last night and that game in 1990 against Detroit

Down 35-14 in the 3rd, Humphries ineffective, and winning the game 41-38 in OT was nothing short of a miracle

Last night, Collins came in and managed the game well. He didnt need to bring us back from such a large deficit in such a short amount of time

[No_Pressure]

My dad and I brought up Jeff Rutledge last night and that game in 1990 against Detroit

Down 35-14 in the 3rd, Humphries ineffective, and winning the game 41-38 in OT was nothing short of a miracle

Last night, Collins came in and managed the game well. He didnt need to bring us back from such a large deficit in such a short amount of time

Or any deficit for that matter...he put up the first points of the game :point2sky

[Burgold]

Just to give Todd some love. He played a nearly perfect game and led at least two insurance/response drives that we'd been incapable of gettng all season long. It was a very strong performance.

[Burgold]

I thought this would have been a fun debate.

[ekoch]

One of the most surprising and famous games in Classic Gibbs was against the Detroit Lions. The Lions had never beaten the Redskins, but led by Barry Sanders were clobbering us... they were beating us by more than twenty. Our qb goes down and in comes Jeff Rutledge. A man whose forty time was measured in double digits. Rutledge leads a 28 point comeback and wins the game for the 'skins. Including an inspired quarterback bootleg into the endzone.

Yesterday, another career backup one with perhaps more on field experience took the field. This season has been absolutely cursed for the Redskins. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Injuries, fluky decisions, being reffed, and even off the field stuff. When you're starting your third string right tackle out of necessity... that's saying something. In this season, where any bounce hops straight into an opponents hands, Young Todd Collins, a man who had his best game in two centuries, comes in and plays almost a perfect game.

Which was more surprising. Which was better?



(Obligatory, I scanned the first page and didn't see this idea explored)


I was at that game. It was the first Redskin game I went to with my dad, great memories!!

[scruffylookin]

Jeff Rutledge in a landslide.

He threw for over 350 yards in about the equivalent of 2 quarters.

Todd Collins had a nice game yesterday, but it was not in Rutledge's league.

I just hope he has better luck in following up his relief performance than Rutledge did.

[ECU-ALUM]

Rutledge because he was brought in for an ineffective Humphries. His coming into the game was so unexpected.

Collins was brought in because Jason got hurt. Gotta admit though he looked good out there.

[Veretax]

wow that's a stroll down memory lane. As I recall Rutledge did that more than once. He was Mr. Clutch back then :/

[HEavyJumbo85]

I'd go with Rutledge easily. Technically his only real skill was being able to hold on field goals, but for that one game he was John Elway or something. Unfortunatley, the Rutledge game was pretty much a direct precursor to the Bodybag game...hopefully we follow up Todd's game with a better performance next week.

[Burgold]

I got to say, I am pleased with how many remember this game. It was an amazing performance. The comparison however seems way to tilted. Thankfully I didn't create a poll.

[jabronijames]

Last night was good, but nothing that is going to be notable for an extended period of time...unless Collins leads us to a superbowl victory (It could happen you know...)

[hail2skins]

I'll go with Rutledge though the guy who won the Skins that game more than anyone was Wayne Fontes. Subborness not going with Barry Sanders but still it was a classic comeback last night Collins just stepped up when given a chance in a scoreless game, hopefully he can build off it

This is so accurate. You can't get too conservative with a lead, but Fontes insisted on passing on pretty much every down in the 4th quarter in a game where Sanders was effective. Incomplete passes meant stopping the clock.....if Fontes had run the ball just a little bit, the Skins wouldn't have had time to make their comeback.

Hostetler came in for us in '97 and led us to a nice win in Arizona. Then we had to go to the Meadowlands and got torched. Hope history doesn't repeat itself.

[Burgold]

I'm changing my vote. Collins' has now been officially more impressive, although Rutledge had one hell of a game.

[[[ghost]]]

I wish there was a way we could relive these original moments.

[Burgold]

]']I wish there was a way we could relive these original moments.

Here's to creating a lot more original moments. I hope this ride has many more stops :cheers:

[dposton]

I'll go with Ruttledge. When the Redskins are getting blown out, I can't always watch. It's too painful. The Patriots game was the exception. But back to the point. I left the TV for a few minutes and when I came back the game was tied. I'll never forget how we pulled victory from the jaws of defeat that day. We haven't had many, if any, moments like that since, I don't think. I'll go with Ruttledge.