A Solid Building Block

Most amazing, when Miami had a serious chance to win, getting a first down at the Redskins 8-yard line with less than four minutes to play, the Dolphins immediately got holding and grounding penalties, driving them back 20 yards. In a final attempt to lose in regulation, Miami put its great defensive end Jason Taylor back deep in its prevent defense with just seconds to play. Instead of batting down Campbell's heave, the out-of-position Taylor batted it directly to Antwaan Randle El for a 54-yard gain to the Miami 3, where Taylor, to prevent complete humiliation, made the saving tackle.

The Redskins can now ignore the Miami largesse and simply crow: We won. And they can also bask in the praise of the lowly Dolphins, who were 6-10 last year and now have a new coach and quarterback. "They've got a good blocking team. They did a great job up front. I'll give them that," Miami's star linebacker Zach Thomas said. "They are an aggressive team. We got momentum and they took it right out of us."

"We pride ourselves on stopping the run," defensive tackle Vonnie Holliday said. Yet Clinton Portis (98 yards on 17 carries) and Betts (59 on 17) grew more successful as the sweltering afternoon went on.

"Our offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage," Williams said. "You could see their defense taking a knee between plays, even before overtime."

There are few sadder moments than seeing an injury to a veteran leader as respected as Jansen. "Jon was hollering. I couldn't even look at it any more," Campbell said. However, Heyer's rookie energy and bulk may provide a spark.

"Look at everybody talking to Stephon. I don't give a rookie any credit at all. It's a long season," said veteran guard Randy Thomas, raising his voice to tease Heyer.

"People criticized us all preseason saying we couldn't run the ball," Thomas added. "We showed that we can get this train going."

For teams like the Redskins that are good enough to contend, but also flawed enough to fail, every year is a kind of train ride. If you start with a win, even if a modest one, the trip becomes smoother and the track suddenly seems to slope a bit downhill.