Former Redskins Relish History

When the Redskins are losing, Theismann said: "People avoid you and have no questions for you. When you win, people want to find you and congratulate you. In this city, if the Redskins are losing, people don't want to talk about the team. If you're winning, you're the topic of every conversation, up on the Hill, around the water cooler, at the grocery store.

"I bought gas yesterday and went inside to pay and a guy says to me, 'We're not scoring a lot.' The guy next to him jumps in and says 'They're scoring enough.' That's what I mean. When the Redskins are winning, everybody is talking about them."

Charlie Brotman, a Washington sports publicist for more than 50 years, has seen the town's love affair with the Redskins most of his life.

"When they win, it unifies everything," he said. "It makes friends out of strangers and everyone feels like part of the family because we're all rooting for the same people. No one wants to be associated with a loser."

Longtime broadcasting executive Andy Ockershausen, now with Comcast SportsNet and a native Washingtonian, also pointed out that Redskins mania began long before Gibbs (in 1981) or even Allen arrived in town in 1971. The team's original owner, George Preston Marshall, was a master at promoting and marketing the team and always said he wanted to make a Redskins game a family affair. With that in mind, he started the NFL's first marching band, commissioned the "Hail to the Redskins" fight song and often offered up entertaining pregame and halftime shows.

"I can remember 10,000 people getting on a train with the marching band and going up to New York to see them play the Giants," Ockershausen said. "I think if this team can do something this year, it'll be wild around here, especially with the younger people. It's just been so long since they had any success. I thought there was some euphoria when the Capitals made it to the Stanley Cup finals [in 1998], but no one really understood hockey.

"Nothing in this town ever matched the excitement when the Redskins were winning."

Other than several members of Gibbs's staff, only one of the Redskins' current players remains on the active roster from that '91 Super Bowl team.

Ray Brown, now 42 and a reserve lineman, was on injured reserve with an elbow problem that year. "I remember that old stadium was just howling," Brown said this week. "Anywhere you'd go around town, people would pat you on the back, even if you weren't playing. I think the guys here now understand what it can be like. Right now, we're in first place, and there's nothing bad about that.

"But we also have to respond to that challenge."

Chris Samuels, who arrived here in 2000, has never played on a winning Washington team, but knows how fans will react when the Redskins start having significant success.

"It's an unbelievable city," he said. "They love us when we lose. Right now everybody is excited. I can be riding around in the car and people will wave at you. Just this week, a lot of people have been coming up to me and saying, 'Thanks, thanks for beating Dallas.' "

Redskins Notes: With starting cornerback Walt Harris and safety Pierson Prioleau expected to miss today's game against Seattle with injuries, the Redskins activated defensive back Dimitri Patterson from the practice squad yesterday. The team had been carrying only three healthy cornerbacks.

Patterson, 22, played at Tuskegee. To make room for Patterson on the active roster, the club released rookie linebacker Zak Keasey, who made the team as an undrafted free agent and played on special teams in Week 1.

Staff writer Jason La Canfora contributed to this report.