Tantalizing 'What Ifs'

Perhaps tight end Chris Cooley saw this game most clearly. Because Green Bay's defensive backs are so strong, "We came in saying that I would be the matchup for us," said Cooley, who had nine catches for 105 yards, including a 14-yard touchdown pass from Campbell on a slick double move that resembled, both in formation and initial pattern, his hook-at-the-goal line scores the previous two weeks.

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"There were so many times we were a yard short," Cooley said. "I had a long pass go just off my fingers. I had a third-down catch where I came up a yard-and-a-half short. And we kept losing linemen the whole game. It's tough. You don't notice what's happening. Then you see guys on the sideline. After [Stephon Heyer] got hurt, we had nobody else left to play the line. If [Todd] Wade hadn't come back in for the last play, I guess [tight end] Todd Yoder would have had to play tackle."

"I was the last guy. Dire straights," said Wade, who left the game when a pre-existing injury acted up again. "I've never seen anything like this before."

The impact is obvious. On crucial plays, the Redskins must run, roll out or fake play-action to their left, where veterans are still in one piece. "We're not running the ball to the right at all any more," Cooley said. Do opponents realize it? "Definitely."

Last season, if the Redskins had faced similar injuries and narrow defeats, their reaction might have been to disintegrate. That seems unlikely now. The defense has been consistently exceptional. Campbell's development has exceeded expectations. Until his linemen started disappearing, he was outplaying Favre. "This was probably my best game," said Campbell, who completed 21 of 37 for 217 yards despite at least 75 yards of drops. "But I'm all about winning and we came up short."

No team with a stout, malicious defense, a rising quarterback and highly paid playmakers on offense has any reason to wilt. "We have a team that will fight," Cooley said. "That's a different feeling than last year. We feel like we should be winning games, not coming close. I think we are good and need to take the next step and be a great team."

Are near-misses like this one becoming a way of life, ingrained over many years? Or are these frustrations just a necessary passage from being a dismal 5-11 team to returning to the playoff form of '05? Provided that five gentlemen, average weight at least 300 pounds, can be found to play from tackle to tackle, the latter still seems more likely.