The replacement player who claimed the Washington Commanders’ single-game receiving record in 1987, then vanished

The Washington Commanders franchise has boasted some great wide receivers.

Explosive playmakers such as Terry McLaurin, Santana Moss, and Pierre Garcon have all been major contributors to the team.

But the single-game receiving record belongs to somebody else, with less than 1,000 career receiving yards.

NFL Analysis recently compiled an entire list of all 32 NFL teams single-game receiving record holders .

Some were obvious, while others came as quite a surprise.

This is the story of the Washington Commanders obscure record holder.

A 255-yard debut for a sixth-round draft pick Two weeks into the 1987 NFL season, all players went on strike.

That strike would last a total of 24 days, but the NFL wasnt about to cancel all of the games on the schedule.

The Week 3 slate was wiped off the board.

There were no NFL games that week, shortening the typical 16-game season down to 15 games, but from Week 4 onwards, the league had decided the games would be played no matter who was wearing the uniforms.

The Washington Redskins assistant general manager at the time, Charley Casserly, was tasked with building a football team out of thin air to cover for the players on strike.

The franchises Week 4 matchup came against the St.

Louis Cardinals , with a group of misfit players from all over the U.S.

and Canada banding together to fill the void.

One of those players was a wide receiver named Anthony Allen, who had been drafted in the 6th round of the 1983 NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons .

He was also selected in the third round of the USFL draft, by the Tampa Bay Bandits.

The Los Angeles Express acquired his rights in exchange for a fourth-round pick, and he spent the 1983 season playing for the USFL franchise, catching 37 passes for 613 yards and three touchdowns.

He spent the 1984 season with the Michigan Panthers and 1985 with the Portland Breakers, before he got his shot in the NFL that same year.

Allen returned to the Atlanta Falcons, catching 14 passes for 207 receiving yards and two touchdowns in the 1985 season.

He had another two touchdowns on just 10 catches in 1986, having only featured in the first five games of the regular season.

When the strike came around in 1987, Allen was one of the receivers the Redskins called to cover the starting offense.

In his very first game for the franchise, he broke the teams record for single-game receiving yards.

On October 4, 1987, Anthony Allen set the franchise record for most receiving yards in a single-game with 255 yards and 3 TDs in Redskins' 28-21 win over the St.

Louis Cardinals at RFK Stadium.

#HTTR #TBT pic.twitter.com/ZefCQoNgj4 Allen had originally told the Redskins no, twice.

When Casserly called on the Monday night of gameweek, he politely declined the offer.

It wasnt until Tuesday night that his former coach from Atlanta, Dan Henning, called to make the same plea, that he accepted.

Henning was the offensive coordinator for the Redskins in that 1987 season, but had been the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons from 1983 to 1986.

He knew Allen, and encouraged him to come and feature for the Redskins by way of earning his way back into the league.

Allen arrived at practice on Wednesday, and suited up to play on the Sunday.

In that game, he caught eight passes for 255 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

His second touchdown was an 88-yard strike down the right sideline, that found Allen between coverage before he raced the rest of the way for the score.

That performance is still the single-game record for the Redskins franchise, and it earned Anthony Allen a spot on the roster for the 1988 season.

The Redskins went on to win Super Bowl XXII After the three-game strike, the NFL rosters returned to play without the new plea deal theyd been seeking.

The replacement players had won all three games they played, and the team ended up with an 11-4 record for the season.

Legendary head coach Joe Gibbs took the team to the Super Bowl with starting quarterback Doug Williams.

In that game against the Denver Broncos, the Redskins exploded for 35 points in the second quarter, a record that still stands today as the most points scored in a single quarter of a Super Bowl.

Timmy Smith Super Bowl XXII Making his first career NFL start, the Redskins rookie rushes for a Super Bowl record 204 yards the only player to rush for over 200 yards in a Super Bowl.

He also scores his first two career touchdowns.

#HTTR #RaiseHail January 31, 1988 pic.twitter.com/gVLAKLhpIc They won the game 42-10, marking the second of three Super Bowl titles in the franchises history.

In 2018, the franchise awarded Super Bowl rings to their replacement players from that 1987 season.

Anthony Allen was among them, now a Super Bowl champion for his efforts during that three-game stint.

In his NFL career, Anthony Allen totaled 44 receptions for 767 receiving yards and eight touchdowns.

He recorded more than a third of his total yards in that one game against the St.

Louis Cardinals , and nearly half of his career touchdowns.

This article first appeared on NFL Analysis Network and was syndicated with permission..

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