In honor of Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and Managing Partner of the Washington Commanders Josh Harris announcing a deal to bring the team home and activate 180 acres of opportunity at the RFK campus, Commanders.com is looking back at some of the team's greatest moments at its former stadium. Today, we're highlighting one of the most memorable games in franchise history, when Washington's fans celebrated their team taking down the Atlanta Falcons in the Divisional round of the 1991 playoffs by hurling their seat cushions onto the field.
The remnants of the game are still stashed away by Carol Smith, a lifelong Washington fan who remembers fondly the rain-soaked day she saw her team win in dominating fashion and collected some extra free giveaways, too.
Over three decades ago, the game known only as the "Seat Cushion Game" took place inside a soggy RFK Stadium between Washington and the Atlanta Falcons in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs.
"One of my favorite Redskins memories was the rainy game against Atlanta at RFK," Smith said of the day when thousands of gold seat cushions rained down onto the field.
With just more than six minutes left in the fourth quarter, running back Gerald Riggs rumbled up the middle for a one-yard touchdown, capping off a 13-play drive to extend Washington's 17-7 lead and effectively seal up the victory over Atlanta. Washington would go on to beat the Detroit Lions and then the Buffalo Bills to win the franchise's third Lombardi Trophy.
In the midst of Riggs' celebration, fans could sense the game was all but over and tossed their free gold seat cushions up in jubilation, many of which floated down into the end zone, where police officers, staff members and referees quickly kicked them out of bounds for the extra point attempt.
"It was the most magical sight to see -- hundreds and hundreds of those bright gold cushions flying and soaring through the stadium," Smith said. "We were lucky to have seats in the lower bowl because we ended up with an unbelievable amount of cushions. I used those cushions for years and years and years and may still have one or two tucked away somewhere."
"The crowd was in a very festive mood, and all it took was one seat cushion coming from the upper deck," said then-Washington public address announcer Phil Hochberg. "The whole field was littered with them."
The "huge confetti," as former Washington left tackle Jim Lachey described it, was one of a number of storylines from that game. Atlanta's players did a lot of pre-game trash talking, singing "To Hell With the Redskins," to mock "Hail to the Redskins," and sent 47 players out to midfield for the opening coin toss.
Washington's players didn't retaliate, but they spoke up when it counted. Washington jumped out to a 14-0 lead over the Falcons and put up 332 yards compared to Atlanta's 193. The Falcons' running game was limited to 43 yards, while Ricky Ervins paced Washington with 104 yards and a score. Falcons quarterback Chris Miller threw four interceptions that afternoon and was sacked four times.
"I never heard anybody say they were bothered or that we had to pay them back for that," former Washington linebacker Andre Collins said of the Falcons' intimidation tactics. "We were a great team. We had won 14 regular-season ball games, and the two we lost were by a total of five points. We just wanted to take care of business and finish out the season the right way."
The seat cushions coming down seemed to be the proper send-off, a final accent to a convincing victory.
"It looks like somebody spilled mustard," Verne Lundquist said with a laugh.
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