Curtains Fall: Redskins 2007 Season in Review - Part Five

When football ceased to matter

After a hot start, the Redskins went three up and three down in a six game stretch that featured blowouts and close games both won and lost. What was this team made of? Sadly things were about to get worse and the worst part had nothing to do with football. Curly R's Redskins 2007 Season in Review continues.

Part One: 2006 Season, 2007 Offseason
Part Two: 2007 Training Camp, Preseason
Part Three: 2-0 Hot Start
Part Four: 3-3 Sawtooth
Part Five: 0-4 Slump, Tragedy
Part Six: Tonight
Part Seven: Tomorrow Morning
Part Eight: Tomorrow Afternoon
Part Nine: Tomorrow Night
Part Ten: Thursday Morning

Other Curly R Redskins Seasons in Review: 2006

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The 2007 season was at midpoint. Washington was sitting at 5-3, third place in the NFC Beast, two games behind the Cowboys, one game behind the Giants and two games ahead of the Eagles. The two game win streak to start the season was a memory. The depth chart was updated. Eight games into the season and no Redskins receiver had caught a touchdown pass. Then it was Eagles Week all over again.

Game nine: The Eagles traveled down to Washington for game nine, the Eagles were a desperate team with a history of success against the Redskins, familiarity between these teams ensured continued contempt as Washington surrendered another second half lead on the way to losing to the Eagles 33-25, penalties, injuries and bad coaching decisions overshadowed solid performances from Jason Campbell, Clinton Portis and the (gasp) receivers. Lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery and I attended this game, the 17th of the past 18 Eagles-Redskins games for us and the 15th straight for me in a tradition that dates back to the last century.

After building a 12-7 first half lead and playing close through three quarters, the Redskins extended their lead to 22-13 on a Keenan McCardell touchdown catch early in the fourth. Then the floodgates opened. Linebacker Randall Godfrey dropped a sure interception, Eagles receiver Reggie Brown burned replacement safety Pierson Prioleau 45 yards for a touchdown, 22-20 Redskins, then tailback Ladell Betts fumbled the ball again, coach Joe Gibbs wasted a timeout with a failed challenge. The football gods turned the ball back over to the Redskins when Andre Carter mashed Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, that possession only resulted in a field goal, 25-20 Redskins. Three plays later Philadelphia scored on a 57 yard screen pass to tailback Brian Westbrook, a failed two point conversion made it 26-25 Eagles. Jason Campbell fumbled on the next possession and Brian Westbrook went in for the backbreaker to cap the day at 33-25 Eagles. Poor decisions and poor execution, Washington was 5-4 and the postseason was looking further away.

Safety Sean Taylor left the game early in the third quarter with a knee sprain, walking off on his own power. It was the last time he would leave the field.
(Curly R preview / gamewrap / game journal | Washington Post recap | NFL box score / photos)


Throughout the week after there was some soul searching, with players being honest and taking the blame for losing another winnable game. Curly R compared Washington's famous fumbler Ladell Betts to Cleveland's famous fumbler, Earnest Byner.

Sadly the rumors of the Redskins piping crowd noise over the stadium PA while the opponent has the ball turned out to be true. Another recent high profile stadium noise incident keeps this story in the news.

It started to become obvious Jason Campbell was our quarterback. David Wagner at Riggo's Rag scored an interview with receiver Antwaan Randle El. Fred Smoot debuted his energy bar, Snack on a Smack. Flop receiver Brandon Lloyd broke his collarbone in practice and, all but finishing him for the season and in Washington.

Sean Taylor traveled to Dallas with the team but did not play.


Game ten: Washington travels to Dallas for game ten, the Redskins entered the game injured and reeling with little confidence and seemingly little chance of beating the 8-1 Cowboys, only tailback Clinton Portis and quarterback Jason Campbell, newly running a no huddle look, inspired hope. While note the beating it could have been, Washington gave its fourth halftime lead as the Cowboys hang on to win 28-23.

With Sean Taylor out of the game Dallas quarterback Tony Romo and Terrell Owens hooked up for four touchdown passes, two of them in the fourth quarter. London Fletcher pulled in an interception, Jason Campbell threw for 348 yards, Reed Doughty gave up a 51 yard pass interference penalty, Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Ware easily handled left tackle Chris Samuels, receiver Santana Moss played through his persistent heel injury to catch nine passes for 121 yards. It really all came down to six plays as the Redskins re-learn the value of Sean Taylor, falling to 5-5.
(Curly R preview / gamewrap | Washington Post recap | NFL box score / photos)


In the week between games the Redskins fan base started to tear itself apart, again. Dan Snyder's retinue in Dallas included five bodyguards. Thanksgiving came and much football was watched.

Sean Taylor receives medical clearance to stay in Washington for treatment of his knee. Sean does not stay in Washington.


Game eleven: The Redskins travel to Tampa Bay, the scene of their last playoff victory, for game eleven against the Buccaneers, Tampa Bay is only one game better than Washington and leading the NFC South, replacement right tackle Todd Wade could not go with his sprained knee, giving undrafted rookie Stephon Heyer his first NFL start. Turnovers, game mismanagement, poor offensive execution and a single bad decision to go for it on fourth down negated a solid performance down the stretch as the Redskins lose in Tampa Bay 19-13.

Too much sun or something as the Redskins first five possessions went fumble>fumble>punt>fumble>fumble, throw in two Jason Campbell interceptions and one might wonder how the Buccaneers only scored 19 points. Most of that has to do with an epic half of defensive football as the Washington defense held the Tampa Bay offense to fifteen total yards offense and zero first downs, allowing the recovering offense to hold the ball for twenty-five of the half's thirty minutes. Too bad the offense only could produce ten points in that time. Sadly the play of the game was another bad coaching decision, the Redskins opted to go for it on fourth down trailing by nine in the third quarter, too early to start gambling, the team should have taken the field goal and let the defense keep doing its job, a show of defensive domination is squandered as the Redskins lose their third straight game to fall to 5-6.
(Curly R preview / gamewrap | Washington Post recap | NFL box score / photos)


In the wee hours of Sunday night four intruders break into Sean Taylor's Miami home. Startled that he is there with his fiancee and eighteen month old daughter and appearing in the doorway with a machete in his hand, one of them shoots Sean, the bullet passing through the femoral artery in his leg. The intruders fled, Sean was taken to the hospital where he underwent seven hours of surgery, flatlined at least twice and displayed some signs of consciousness before lapsing into a coma.

Within hours the public would learn the team did not know Sean was at his home in Florida, he had been cleared not to travel to Tampa but had not filed a plan to go to Miami. It also would come to light that there had been a break in at Sean's house the week earlier, on 18 November, the house was empty at the time.

Approximately twenty-six and a half hours after being shot, Sean Taylor died. The loss devastated Sean's large circle of friends, family and admirers, from his pee wee football teammates to the University of Miami community to Redskinsland and NFL fans. The tributes began to appear immediately. As the week marched on no one was ready for football.

With so much national scrutiny, the police were under pressure to come up with a case and suspects. Despite other possibilities a botched burglary seemed like the most plausible story. The media tripped over itself trying to keep up with the story, becoming a story that was reported, and corrected in real time.

Arrests were made four days after the murder, four men with the possibility of a fifth getaway driver. According to the police the perpetrators did not expect anyone to be home, perhaps knowing Sean played for the Redskins and surmising that Sean would be in Tampa or on his way back to Washington. A connection emerges between the perpetrators and Sean: one of them dates Sean's stepsister, and may have been at a party at Sean's house over Thanksgiving weekend, a party which Sean did not attend. The alleged perpetrator in question could have cased the place and hatched the plan to break in the following weekend.

Although no one was ready for it and rescheduling or canceling of the game were discussed, ultimately the day of the next football game arrived.


Game twelve: the Buffalo Bills came to Washington for a somber game twelve, there was very little in the way of football happening that week, the coaches said they knew they had to move on, there was a notion bordering on consensus that Sean's commitment to football meant to the team that they needed to play this game, in reality the only way the Redskins prepared for this game was emotionally, and it showed as Washington blew another halftime lead and the Bills beat the Redskins 17-16.

The game opened with a Redskins drive that was poised to score a touchdown when the home crowd caused left tackle Chris Samuels to false start, the drive ended with a field goal. On the ensuing and first Bills drive, the Redskins lined up in the rumored missing man formation, sending ten men to the field to honor Sean. The Bills did not honor the gesture, sending tailback Fred Jackson around the end for 22 yards, only LaRon Landry playing Sean's center field position saved the touchdown.

The teams traded turnovers as Jason Campbell fumbled again and threw an interception, his season tally for turnovers through twelve games was now thirteen interceptions plus fumbles. As the game neared completion in a low scoring conservative affair in a chill rain, the Bills drove down to the Redskins 33 yard line with eight seconds left and the Redskins leading 16-14, coach Joe Gibbs called a Shanahan timeout on Bills kicker Rian Lindell, waiting until the instant before the snap to call the timeout, the not-kick was up and good but did not count. As the timeout wound down and the Bills lined up for another kick, Joe inexplicably called another timeout, in this situation that is an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, the 15 yard walkoff dropped the kick in the rain from 51 yards to 36. Joe Gibbs had committed a fundamental procedural violation in a vain attempt to pull together a win for Sean Taylor. Instead the Redskins 5-7 and all but eliminated from the playoffs.
(Curly R preview #1 / preview #2 / gamewrap | Washington Post recap | NFL box score / photos)

Four weeks left in the regular season, and still Sean Taylor to bury.


Curtains Fall: Redskins 2007 Season in Review continues tonight with part six, 4-0 Sprint.



Sean Taylor's empty parking space: uncredited AP photo from here.