For Many of the Redskins, Game Day Often Ends With a Sleepless Night

Fred Smoot's postgame routine Sunday night was unique for a few reasons. For one thing, unlike many of his teammates, on his way out of FedEx Field following the loss to the Cowboys, Smoot bought 20 boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts from children doing a fundraiser. He's not a big sugar eater, though, and didn't end up eating a single doughnut, which leaves him with approximately 240 doughnuts at his Great Falls home.

"Anybody wants a doughnut, just stop through," Smoot said. "Just bring your own cup for coffee."

For another thing, Smoot said after he arrived home shortly around 1 a.m. this morning, he watched a few sports highlights and then went to sleep.

"Just pass out," he explained. "Fade away. Fade to black."

Other Redskins had a less immediate trip to the land of playoff dreams and jumping sheep, or jumping sheep-like towel-waving fans, or whatever.

"I never fall asleep," Chris Cooley said. "It doesn't matter if it's a 1 o'clock game. I get home, and I'm up all night."

Media members are the same way, and stories of 3 or 4 a.m. bedtimes were legion today. I whiled away the hours reading Redskins message boards. The players had other tactics.

· Chris Wilson ate two steak sandwiches around 2 a.m. "You know, I can do that," he said. "I've got the body type. It's not gonna damage me."

· Casey Rabach watched his TiVo programs, including "Xtreme 4X4," "Two Guys Garage" and "Midwest Outdoors." In this week's episode, the "Midwest Outdoors" guys went fishing for walleye in Green Bay.