Redskins Struggle With Home Inequity
Emotional Day of Tribute Ends With Another Defeat

By Les Carpenter
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 1, 2008

Inside the bowl of empty orange, yellow and burgundy seats a cold rain fell late yesterday afternoon, flooding the aisles and washing with it playoff dreams. Below on the sodden FedEx Field turf the Washington Redskins marched through the final pantomime of a 23-7 defeat to the New York Giants, suffering the odd indignity of finishing a game against a rival with few of their fans in the stands and the roar of an opponent's crowd echoing through the concourses.

The Redskins tried vainly to score a final touchdown that would do nothing to bring victory closer but would make defeat appear a little less one-sided. Yet even that attempt fell short on a day when nothing seemed to go right. Wide receiver Santana Moss caught one last pass, dropped his head and charged toward the end zone only to be pounded by Giants cornerback Terrell Thomas, who managed to jar the ball from Moss's arms before teammate James Butler leapt on the fumble with delight.

The Redskins were left with a sloppy, discouraging message that they might not be as good as they once assumed.

"We're a playoff team but we got to beat some teams that are playoff teams too, otherwise we are fooling ourselves," linebacker London Fletcher said as he stood in Washington's deserted locker room -- the lone player still dressed in his uniform pants an hour after the game ended. "I mean, what's our record at home?"

He didn't need to ask. The Redskins are 3-4 at their stadium and have lost three home games in a row. At 7-5 they have dropped deep into the muddle of potential National Football Conference playoff teams and likely will have to win at least three of their last four games -- if not all four -- to make the postseason.

All this on an afternoon the Redskins had reserved for celebration. For days the organization promised a stirring pregame ceremony to honor Sean Taylor, its star safety who was slain a year ago last week at his Miami area home. A plaque bearing Taylor's name and a drawing of a Redskins helmet would be placed in the team's Ring of Fame, a list of elite players' names affixed to the façade of FedEx Field's top deck that serves as the franchise's hall of fame.

But the rain seemed to dampen the festivities. The stadium was only slightly more than half-filled and there was an awkward pause after Taylor's father, Pedro, spoke to the crowd when both teams came onto the field and a faint anti-Giants chant wafted in the air. Even the unveiling of Taylor's plaque, the sight of his former University of Miami teammate Clinton Portis running onto the field holding a flag bearing Taylor's jersey number "21" and Pedro Taylor's exhortations of "Redskins, are you ready to rumble? Come on, let's go!" failed to inspire much euphoria.

The game started, many seats were still empty and Washington looked flat.

As the Redskins flopped, Coach Jim Zorn raged. He has shown flashes of fire in games before; shouting at punters, linemen and even Portis, the team's top offensive player. Yet those were often short bursts of anger. Yesterday his frustration spilled all along the team's sideline. At one point he turned toward the stands and threw his clipboard at the bench with all the might his left arm could muster. At another he screamed at a ball boy when the dry ball reserved for kickers and punters was not delivered to the field and the Redskins were left to punt with a wet ball.

"I just started whining about everything, believe me," Zorn said. "I was on everybody. I was even on myself."

Later he smiled and sheepishly conceded, "I probably need to not get so mad."

But Redskins coaches seemed to see this game as the perfect chance to win a critical game against a division opponent, especially given the fact it was being played at home, on the day of the Taylor ceremony and at a time when the Giants were distracted by an incident Friday night in which wide receiver Plaxico Burress was shot himself in the leg at a Manhattan nightclub. Burress is expected to be charged today for criminal possession of a weapon and several reports said the police investigation had expanded to his teammate, linebacker Antonio Pierce, who reportedly was with him at the club.

Burress's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said the wide receiver would plead not guilty.

Still the Giants played as if they were unfazed by all that raged around them, often moving the ball at will against the Redskins and squelching much of Washington's offense.

"They were better than us," Moss said. "That's all you pretty much can say."

And so at halftime, with the Redskins down 13-7, a small portion of the announced crowd of 85,912 left. Most of the rest spilled out when Portis was stopped on a fourth down midway through the fourth quarter, and after the Giants' final field goal, the final 6 minutes 20 seconds were played in a virtually empty stadium, save for the 2,000 or 3,000 Giants fans who had somehow come to ring the lower few rows. They roared at every Redskins failure and Giants success.

Then when the game was over, most of the Redskins raced toward the tunnel toward the warmth, toward someplace other than the field that has become their home of horrors. As they ran the stadium announcer's voice blared over the speakers reminding whatever fans were left about public balloting for the Pro Bowl.

"Don't forget, vote the Redskins ticket this week," he implored.

Given the circumstances, the plea seemed as empty as the stadium in which it was delivered.