NFL History of the Washington

Well, being from Chicago naturally I am a Bears fan; however, I am a football fan first and I must say that I loved the "History of the Washington Redskins". The 1st disc is very comprehensive, detailing the history of the Redskins and atmosphere of the Washington, DC area in the 50's and 60's and some good insight on the racism of the times, (the owner refused to have Black men on his team, in fact, the Redskins were the last team to have Black men on their roster). The 2nd disc has interviews with prominent Redskin players, Theismann and particularly one of my all time favorite backs Mr. John Riggins!

This is a great dvd set of the Washington Redskins! Now, if NFL Networks would only produce the Minnesota Vikings, the Houston Oilers, the Buffalo Bills and the San Diego Chargers "History of", I would be in football heaven!!

Great item! Go buy!

This set includes three documentaries, one each on the '82, '87 and '91 seasons, when the Redskins won their three Super Bowls.

The first part of each documentary deals with regular season play, and features all 28 teams (pre-expansion), with no particular focus on the Redskins until the playoffs. There is particularly good coverage of the '86 Saints, '91 Falcons and the '82 and '91 Cowboys. The best and slickest presentation is reserved for the '91 season.

Highlights:
- Tremendous Cowboy sack on Joe Theismann from the '82 season.

- Darrell Green returning a punt for a touchdown in an NFC playoff against Chicago in a freezing Soldier Field. Walter Payton's last game.

- Second Quarter of Superbowl XXII, of course, when the Redskins score 35 unanswered points.

- The Lions' Barry Sanders scoring a classic TD against the Cowboys in an NFC playoff game.

- Great blocking and tackling throughout from the Redskins. See (and hear) the great Jim Kelly get manhandled and mauled in Super Bowl XXVII.

- Short ten-minute film about NFL legend Coach Joe Gibbs, the man who changed the NFC East. According to the late Will McDonough, when Bill Parcels became head coach for the New York Giants he decided to increase the size of his linemen in direct response to what Gibbs was doing in Washington. Later Dallas did the same thing, as they also had to face Washington at least twice a year. These 300 plus pound linemen helped the NFC East win eight (and counting) Super Bowls since 1983.

Lowlights (minor quibbles):

- Warning to New York fans: the Giants are probably the least visible team in this DVD set. This is strange considering they were defending Super Bowl champions in the '87 and '91 seasons.

- We don't see Jay Schroeder throw the ball at all, even though he had a great arm. We do, however, see him getting sacked four or five times as a Redskin and as a Raider.

- Cheesy 80's music in the documentary for the '82 and '87 seasons.

- Broadcast NFL games are usually seen from a high angle, but a lot of NFL films' footage is on ground level, and close-up, so that you are sometimes lost as a viewer (you don't always see down-field blocking or the play developing). On the plus side you see close-up tackles you don't always see on TV broadcasts.

- Perhaps a few too many slow-motion shots.

Regrets: I know John Madden and Pat Summerall don't work for NFL films, but it would have been great if they could have done a commentary on these discs.

Summary: 5 stars, because it's the Washington Redskins.

Excellent DVD for those who like to reminisce the glory days. Only thing I didn't like about the DVD set is that I felt there weren't enough highlights from the game nor the season. They should show more highlights from each Redskins' game of the season. Perhaps one day they should release a Superbowl series with the entire Superbowl game (from start to finish) in it, instead of just highlights.