In District, Taylor's Death Hits Home

Craig Jefferies, the head football coach of the D.C. city champion Dunbar Crimson Tide, knows the statistics: 171 homicides in D.C. as of Nov. 29 -- already two more than all of 2006.

And when he talked to his players this week about the murder of Sean Taylor, Jefferies knew he had their attention. "Because kids in this town see death all he time," he told me on Friday. "Unfortunately, what happened to Sean Taylor happens a lot here. This visibly affected our kids more than most because of what they see every day."

Sean Taylor, No. 21 -- maybe the best safety in the NFL. A star at the University of Miami, a Pro Bowl player. A millionaire. Only 24 years old when he died in Miami on Tuesday morning. A few years older than Craig Jefferies's Dunbar kids.

If you'd have asked any player on either the Dunbar or H.D. Woodson team in last week's Turkey Bowl if he would some day want to be Sean Taylor, every one would have said yes.

Most of these kids knew about Taylor's scrapes with the law over the years, but they also knew, as the Redskins coaches maintain, that he was maturing and doing better. Some of these kids and their friends have been in trouble, too, and they admired how Taylor seemed to be trying to become a better person.

"Sean had made some maturing decisions," said Gregg Williams, the Redskins' assistant head coach-defense who seemed so very touched by Taylor's death. "Sean was always full speed, full throttle."

Jefferies, on the day Miami-Dade police announced the arrest of four men in connection with the shooting, said: "I told our kids don't make any judgments about this until you know the facts. But be careful who your friends are.

"Young people," he added, "think they're invincible."

Business Not as Usual

Practice at Redskins Park on Thursday seemed normal. Players stretched in the sun, assistant coaches moved between them, bantering with some, playfully chiding others. Players ran hard as the team practiced kickoffs. A public relations staffer announced the activation of one player and release of another.

It all appeared normal. But it wasn't.

"We're going one hour at a time here," Coach Joe Gibbs said Tuesday. "I think each person here probably had to deal with it in his own way."

That seemed to be the Redskins' strategy all week.