Redskins Planning to Do the Hard Hitting This Time : NFC: Eagles sidelined eight players in Nov. 12 game against Washington, which might go back to power football today.

PHILADELPHIA —  Playing Buddy Ryan’s Philadelphia Eagles has always been a survival test. Nobody knows that better than the Washington Redskins, who had a good portion of their squad knocked off in the teams’ last skirmish.

The feeble of heart--and quarterbacks who prefer to remain upright and clear of mind--need not apply.

Against the Eagles (10-6) in today’s NFC wild-card game at Veterans Stadium, Redskin quarterback Mark Rypien says he knows he must stand and deliver, or else stand and be delivered all the way to Atlantic City, N.J.

Rypien, injured at the time, had the good fortune to miss the Eagles’ 28-14 demolition of the Redskins at Philadelphia Nov. 12. Earlier, Stan Humphries and the Redskin defense led Washington to a 13-7 victory at RFK Stadium.

In the second game, the Eagles’ attacking defense, led by Pro Bowl defensive linemen Reggie White and Jerome Brown (who is hurt and probably won’t play today) sidelined starting quarterback Jeff Rutledge, Humphries and six other players. Rookie running back Brian Mitchell finished the game at quarterback.

Since that game, the Redskins (10-6) have murmured that the Eagles, who have sent six quarterbacks out of the game this season, played dirty football, that they intentionally tried to hurt people, that at least one Eagle on the field said to a Redskin, “Do you guys need any more body bags?”

Apparently, Redskin Coach Joe Gibbs has privately been using that game as prime motivation for his team.

“The last time we played, they were keyed up and they really took it to us,” Rypien said at the Redskins’ practice center in Herndon, Va. “This week, we just have to match their intensity level.”

The Redskins, since that last game, have tried to turn the focus from their quarterback and graceful set of receivers to their old style of hammering it out on the ground.

Running back Earnest Byner has emerged from several years of mediocrity to be a consistent 100-yard gainer this season, and Gerald Riggs, hurt for much of his two seasons in Washington, says he has recovered.

The Redskins have so many offensive weapons--and have hurt the Eagles so often through the years--that Eagle offensive coordinator Jeff Fisher, almost dismissing the San Francisco 49ers, said if the Eagles beat Washington, everything else will be easy.

“If we win this game, in my opinion, it’s all downhill from here, because this is the toughest matchup,” Fisher said.

Meanwhile, the Eagle offense has moved away from total dependence on quarterback Randall Cunningham, a leading contender for the league’s MVP award with nearly 4,500 combined yards rushing and passing, to a more balanced attack.

For the first time in several years, the Eagles scare people with their running game, led by second-year tailback Heath Sherman, who has gained 685 yards in 164 carries.

But perhaps the biggest drama of this matchup is that it just might be a win-or-be-fired survival test for Ryan, who has led his team into the playoffs three consecutive years but has not yet scored a postseason victory.

Last year’s 21-7 wild-card loss to the Rams left owner Norman Braman disappointed, and he has hinted ever since that if Ryan cannot win a playoff game this season, he might not be back for the next one.

Ryan, who has never cottoned to Washington to begin with, showed some signs of sensitivity on the issue this week when he was asked in a telephone news conference if he feels severe pressure to get a playoff victory.

Ryan snapped at the question, challenged the right of anybody connected with the Redskins, who are making their first playoff appearance in three years, to question his recent playoff record, then hung up.

He was laughing about it Friday.

“You can see where they’re going a mile away,” Ryan said, explaining his actions. “They just want to get me to say something controversial. I just said, ‘You guys are full of bull,’ and hung up.”

But Ryan hasn’t shied away from controversy in the weeks that led up to this game, proclaiming that Byner will “drop the ball” and implying that Rypien isn’t exactly the quarterback he most fears.

Sometimes Ryan just can’t help himself.

“Yeah, we both know everything the other team does,” Ryan said of the Redskins. “We know everything they do; they know everything we do. Hell, Joe Gibbs could probably come over here and coach this team and I could go over and coach his, we know each other so well.”

And if that happened, who would win?

“Hell,” Ryan said, “Buddy Ryan.”