This story, by Dennis Tuttle, first appeared in the Oct. 27, 1997, issue of The Sporting News under the main headline “Washington Cornerstone,” a story about D.C. icon Darrell Green and how, at age 37 at the time, the Washington DB could still run, cover and, if he got beat, recover.
Two seasons ago, when John Elway beat him with a 43-yard scoring pass on the last play of the game ... and Michael Irvin had a 23-yard catch over him that led to a Cowboys field goal ... and Tampa Bay pulled off a victory when Alvin Harper caught a TD pass on him ... and Frank Sanders of the Cardinals got past him for a 20-yard reception that set up the winning touchdown, it appeared Father Time had finally caught up with Darrell Green, the Redskins' seemingly ageless cornerback.
But Green, then 35 and in his 13th season of chasing down breakaway runners and outfoxing cocky, young receivers, never knew of the whispers among his teammates, never heard the murmurs among the Washington faithful and never read about his demise in the local papers. In fact, he was completely oblivious to the talk until a few weeks ago, when coach Norv Turner dropped by his lunch table and a visitor broached the subject.
"You probably weren't aware that people were calling me and asking if you were through," Turner said to the man who has won two Super Bowl rings, been selected to six Pro Bowls and will sprint right into the Hall of Fame if he ever decides on a retirement plan.
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"Oh, my goodness. No, they weren't," Green said, putting down his sandwich and looking at Turner in near-disbelief.
"Darrell, people were sending in questions: 'Do you think this is the beginning of the end?' There were whispers, murmurs in the community that, hey, Darrell Green, this might be it."
Green, shaking his head, still can't believe it. And that, too, is understandable when you consider that with the exception of those four games early in 1995, his career has been one of spectacular consistency. After that stretch, Green went the final 10 games of '95 without giving up a score. Last year, he had three interceptions and 78 tackles, played in 96 percent of the team's defensive plays and reached the Pro Bowl as an alternate. This year, his play has been so superb in the Redskins' vastly improved defense under new coordinator Mike Nolan that Green appears destined for another Pro Bowl.
And the man is 37 years old.
"I've known Darrell Green a long time," says Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin, who was an assistant with the Giants and Eagles in the 1980s. "I watch him on special teams, watch him chase down the run, come off the corner blitz, and he still looks sharp to me."
When the Redskins handed the Jaguars their first defeat September 28, Green was an integral reason. He tipped one pass that went for an interception and set up the go-ahead score. He nearly added to his team-record 43 interceptions on another play and teamed with the other corner, Cris Dishnan, and safeties Stanley Richard and Jesse Campbell to hold wide receivers Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell to eight receptions for 89 yards. Despite plenty of time to throw, Mark Brunell could not find his receivers open and was sacked three times and intercepted twice.
In the Redskins' 21-16 victory October 13 over the Cowboys, Green held Anthony Miller to three catches for 25 yards. The flustered Miller had so little room to maneuver that quarterback Troy Aikman threw his way only six times.
"The way Darrell Green plays, he's so quick, you're not going to shake him. He's going to be right there," says Smith, who got a dose of Green's wily experience on a crucial play with the Jaguars leading 6-0 in the second quarter
Smith had a touchdown nullified on an offensive interference call when Green went sprawling to the ground. "Darrell Green did an excellent job of acting," Smith says. "He smiled and kind of winked his eye at me."
"Oh, man. I haven't stayed in the league 15 years by being an actor," Green replies with a big grin, failing to otherwise explain his continued proficiency at stopping quarterbacks and receivers 10 to 15 years younger.
***
Since the Redskins drafted him out of Texas A&I with the last pick of the first round in 1983, the year in which John Elway, Todd Blackledge, Jim Kelly, Tony Eason, Ken O'Brien and Dan Marino provided a gold mine of quarterbacks, Green has developed a bald spot, speckles of gray in his hair, and his time in the 40-yard dash has slipped from 4.15 seconds to 4.3. "But a young guy can't look at Darrell and say, 'He's an old man and he can't hang with me. Darrell can still make the plays," Steelers wide receiver Yancey Thigpen says.
"Everything about me is the same," Green says, mindful that whether you're 27 or 37, he's playing a position where being successful 50 percent of the time will get you released. "What I probably do a little more is study myself more. At this point of my career, the game preparation is really about me, my ability to do my job. I go back every three or four games and look at myself. I know what I've got to do. I know what I can do. So when I start to fall out of what I'm good at, then I go back and look at what I've done good for years."
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Specifically, Green is still among the best at bumping and running, using his feet and his sprinter's speed, which has won him the NFL's fastest man contest (a 60-yard event) four times. As a senior at Texas A&I, he ran a 10.08 in the 100 meters, second in the country only to Olympic legend Carl Lewis. When Green clocked a 4.31 in the 40 last spring, he moaned, "Hey, I'm not getting old. The timers are getting old."
Whenever opponents are asked about Green, they inevitably mention his speed. Of course, he wasted little time to make it his hallmark. In his first pro game, on "Monday Night Football" against Dallas, Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett got free and was sprinting up the sideline for a score.
"I'm sitting at home watching as a fan and an athlete when Dorsett breaks it," says former Cardinals receiver Roy Green, whom Darrell considers his favorite one-on-one rival because of their sportsmanship. "I remember thinking, 'OK, that's over, he's gone,' when all of a sudden from the bottom of the screen comes this guy who chases him down. I think, 'Uh-oh. Who is this guy?'"
Since that time, Green has added a similar play to his highlight films almost every season. Last year, he saved a touchdown by chasing down the Patriots' Curtis Martin. It was reminiscent of a 1986 playoff game against the Rams when he saved a TD by snagging Eric Dickerson from behind. A year later, against Chicago in the playoffs, Green had a 52-yard punt return for a score in which he hurdled one tackler, tore ribcage cartilage and finished the sprint by clutching his side.
"I'm looking at Darrell Green, myself, and I'm looking at him just like you are, just like all those critical fans are, and I'm a couch potato just like everyone else," Darrell says. "I'm making a judgment that what I see is a 37-year-old man, and I'm saying, 'Boy, can he run, can he cover. That's incredible.'"
But at 5 feet 8 "and three-quarters, man," he's still the NFL's most disadvantaged, and advantaged, cornerback. Bigger, more physical receivers such as the Cowboys' Michael Irvin can give him trouble. For most others, however, "he overcomes any disadvantage because of the way he plays," Thigpen says.
"Darrell's level of play evens things out quickly."
Green's game is perfectly honed to his quickness. He calls it "playing at high RPMs." The truth is he's a sly old fox. Most cornerbacks are taught to watch a receiver's shoulders, but Green looks at his hips. Once the hips turn, Green reasons, the receiver can't do anything but go in or out.
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"He watches a play (on tape) eight or nine times," says Dishman, who came from the Oilers as a free agent last spring and marvels at Green's practice and film-room habits. "He's constantly looking at how the guy comes off the line. Then he runs it back looking at the quarterback at the time of the release of the ball. He'll run it back to look at the guy down the field, then run it back ..."
When the Redskins and Steelers scrimmaged during training camp last summer, Thigpen ran an out route and believed he had Green turned around, looking for the fade.
"I felt I had the upper hand," Thigpen says. "Darrell thought I was going a lot deeper than I went. I relaxed a little, ran out my route, and me and the quarterback were on the same page. The throw was on time and when I caught the ball I thought I had room to turn. But as soon as I caught it — it wasn't even a split second later — Darrell had knocked it down. I had never seen a guy recover that quickly."
"He's got great, great feet and switches direction so well," says Redskins teammate Alvin Harper, who faced off against Green when he played for the Cowboys and the Buccaneers, and sees way too much of him in practices now. "When you come out of a cut and if you fake one way and he closes that way and you go another, he whirls around so fast that it's like he never went the other way. It's like he was on the same path the whole time."
***
Depending on whom you ask, there are those who believe Green's success and longevity are equally attributed to his competitiveness and gamesmanship. Over the years, he has had classic confrontations against Tony Hill and Irvin of the Cowboys, Green of the Cardinals, Mike Quick of the Eagles and Jerry Rice of the 49ers. "I laugh. I enjoy. I have a good time out there," Green says. "lf you hit me hard, I enjoy it. If I hit you hard, I enjoy it. I play for the enjoyment of the game. Some players don't appreciate that."
"I love playing against Darrell," says Irving Fryar, who beat Green on a 33-yard reception to the 1 that set up the put-away points in the Eagles' 24-10 victory in Week 6. "Defensive backs and receivers will talk and cuss and fuss to get you out of your game. But he's not that way. He plays the game. He's not a dirty guy. You'll be walking back to the huddle, and he'll be smiling and say, 'Good route. Good play. But I'll get you next time.'"
Green has no use for taunts or arrogant celebrations. "I'm talking about the sincere enjoyment and respect for the competition," he says. "You understand the opportunity. You feel the opportunity, the history — I got him, he got me. When I'm all done, Hall of Fame or not, I will be able to laugh and appreciate it. If you don't have that — hey, the career of a pro football player is too short, you've wasted your time here."
Even at 37. Green's time in the NFL is not running short. Last spring, the Redskins gave him a five-year, $12.5 million contract extension that will expire in 2001, when he's 41. In 1999, at the age of 39, he would become the oldest cornerback to play in the NFL, a distinction currently shared by Jimmy Johnson and Pat Fischer. Few doubt that Green will last until the end of the deal — especially the way he has played the past two seasons. He had 17 passes defensed last year, despite most offenses concentrating on Tom Carter, the other corner. But this year, with the aggressive, in-your-face Dishman in Carter's place, teams have come back to testing Green's side of the field. They're finding nothing there, either. He had 11 passes defensed through Week 7.
But the contract also had a lot to do with Green the person, the lifelong Redskin. Whenever there's a birthday, wedding or special need on the team or in the front office, he's one of the first to step forward. When Michael Westbrook punched teammate Stephen Davis during training camp this season, an act that could have splintered the team, Green was a voice of reason. He also sets an example with his work ethic, creating football like a 9-to-5 job except that he arrives no later than 7:45 a.m. to lift weights, study film and run sprints before the regular practice.
"The guys who stick around one organization a long time, well, that's not a mistake," says tackle Ed Simmons, second on the team in seniority to Green with 11 years. "It comes down to the character of the person."
Since Green was drafted, the Redskins have brought in 44 rookie or first-year, free-agent cornerbacks. None has unseated Green. Of the quarterbacks in that great Class of '83, only Elway and Marino remain, and Green likely will outlast them, too. If Green stays healthy, he will break linebacker Monte Coleman's team record of 216 games played on December 13 against the Giants. He has every intention of adding to the record by four seasons.
"I'm out there busting my butt every day," Green says, "and as long as you've got me out there, going head to head with some guy, I'm going to have fun. Now, if they're killing me over a course of a year, that wouldn't be fun. But that hasn't happened."
Sidebar: Up close and personal
In his 15 NFL seasons, Redskins cornerback Darrell Green has covered some of the best receivers in history. And through the years, he has developed good one-on-one rivalries with some of his counterparts. A list of his most memorable duels:
1. Roy Green, Cardinals. "That was the funnest rivalry of all. He'd go in motion, back and forth, and then stop behind the quarterback and laugh at me. I used to keep score: 'OK, he got me that game, but I got him this game.’ This was good, wholesome football."
2. Mike Quick, Eagles. "We didn't talk as much, and it wasn't as jovial as some of the other guys. Mike was more intense, and a big guy to cover. He gave me some problems."
3. Tony Hill, Cowboys. "He would catch a pass two inches from the out-of-bounds line and then he'd be gone. I used to get frustrated with all the short routes he ran. We didn't have that great relationship like with some of the other guys. But I think that had a lot to do with it being the Cowboys."
4. Michael Irvin, Cowboys. "This rivalry is big and will always be big because of the Redskins and Cowboys. But there's always that individual confrontation because of the one-on-one talents. And there's not been too many better one-on-one than Irvin."
5. Jerry Rice, 49ers. "Even when he scores on me, he doesn't seem like he's enjoying it. One time me and Rice had a good battle. He had a big catch, in 'Frisco, and then I had an interception where I had only (Joe) Montana and Rice in front of me, straight up. Ain't that something? Three potential Hall of Famers. Afterward, it really hurt me when (Rice) didn't say, 'D. Green, good game.'"