The leader of those men was Joe Bugel, the fiery, energetic o-line coach, who took unheralded players such as Joe Jacoby and Jeff Bostic, and molded them with the likes of Russ Grimm, to put together one of the most dominant o-lines in NFL history.
This image, of John Riggins dragging Don McNeal to the endzone, is one of the most famous images in Redskins history, and only could happen due to perfect blocking by the hogs up front.
The Washington Post's Dan Steinberg had a great article on Joe Bugel over the summer
Amongst the highlights was this quote "That first hit, I feel great," he said, after full-contact tackling had finally returned. "That's the big explosion right there, you know what I mean? That puts you on a high. Pro football's always been the sport for me. After 32 years, I love to watch the competitiveness, the explosion, the blocking, the tackles. That's my turn on, that's my entertainment: violence."
Riggins, who had 199 yards two weeks ago against Detroit and a career-high 185 against Minnesota last week, gave the offense the power it needed early and late against a usually overpowering Dallas rush defense. The third straight 100 yard plus performance in the playoffs was an NFL record, and afterward , he was ecstatic.
"We decided to take them on, be physical and let the best man win. But we knew we had to run if we were going to win."
Joe Bugel would leave for the Phoenix Cardinals in 1989 as head coach, but he eventually returned home to the Redskins in 2004. His o-lines, in part due to injury, were never able to capture the level of play they had in the 1980s, but you could see the work he did and how much improvement there was in 2005, 2006, and how he took an o-line in 2007 that was missing its entire right side, and turned them into a dominating unit in December on the way to the playoffs.
Bugel's legacy was built though in the 1980s, on 70-chip in Superbowl 17, on Timmy Smith's 204 yard day in Superbowl 22, on players like Joe Jacoby and Jeff Bostic becoming all pros, on being the foundation of a dominant team