By Michael Wilbon
Washington Post Columnist
Monday, November 9, 1998; Page C1

TEMPE, Ariz. – Coaches and players say every loss is the same, they all hurt the same, that winning is the only thing, blah, blah, blah. Well, that depends on your circumstances. There's gray area, even in professional football. When you've been as sorry and no-account as the Washington Redskins were just a few weeks ago, when you've gone through a big chunk of the season without even being competitive, a dagger in the heart at the buzzer – strange as it sounds – is probably a step in the right direction.

There was no stench to the Redskins' 29-27 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at Sun Devil Stadium. Nobody could be accused of quitting or embarrassing themselves; in fact, scoring those 10 points in the final 1 minute 39 seconds to take the lead was pretty gutsy. They played evenly on the road with a team that will play next week for the NFC East lead. Hey, sometimes improvement comes in small increments.

The pain of seeing an opponent's field goal sail through the uprights with two seconds left is a whole lot better than the numbness the Redskins were feeling after non-competitive collapses against the 49ers and Cowboys. And even that humiliating loss to the Eagles in Philly. And after a 41-7 loss in Minnesota, players said they were too embarrassed to go to the grocery store.

This wasn't that. Do the Redskins still have a long, long way to go before anybody confuses them with a good football team? Yes. Do they still sabotage themselves with the worst mistakes imaginable? Of course. I'm thinking – in order – of Patrise Alexander's illegal block that nullified Brian Mitchell's game-opening, 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and punter Matt Turk's fielding error that allowed a safety in a two-point defeat. Oh sure, the Redskins still have trouble protecting their quarterback and they still can't stop the run – the Cardinals rushed for 187 yards – but given the number of train-wreck losses the Redskins had been involved in, a fender bender isn't so bad.

There's nothing to really second-guess about those crazy final two minutes. Coach Norv Turner and defensive coordinator Mike Nolan didn't sit back passively and wait for Jake Plummer to mess up; they rushed six guys, but Plummer created some space and completed one great throw for 18 yards to Frank Sanders, which set up the Cardinals' winning, 47-yard field goal. The Redskins played it about as well as a team that isn't a great one could. They scored a touchdown, recovered the onside kick, then got a 54-yard field goal from Cary Blanchard that would have been good from 63, and they used various means in an attempt to get to Plummer in those final 35 seconds. On the whole, they were functional, which is something you couldn't say three weeks ago when they couldn't recall the snap count on successive plays.

The subject of moral victories isn't one you bring up in an NFL locker room unless you're wearing full body armor. Usually calm men will explode at the very mention of the concept. The Redskins are in trouble if anybody accepts this defeat as okay, but they're not helping the situation if they can't be encouraged by the way they played in the bigger context of this season.

"The only bad thing about today," Darrell Green said, "is that we didn't win. The concept of moral victories is something nobody discusses in professional sports because obviously we're judged by wins and losses. It's difficult for me to be very analytical after losing, but I do feel this is a different group of people in here today than in previous weeks. I do feel a higher level of commitment and togetherness than I felt a few weeks ago. I can be proud today of what we've done and who I've done it with. If there is such a thing as 'moral victory' – and I'm not sure there is – it belongs to the family. It's just too crazy to go ask an outsider to celebrate in that. I guess you'd call it a flawed concept. But the way we played here counts for something, even if the fruit is not on the tree today. Spring's coming, though, I can feel it."

Darryl Pounds, who did a textbook-perfect job of keeping the onside kick alive said: "I feel like we've gotten some life back in here. I don't like losing, no matter how close the score is because you can start saying 'we only lost by this much' every week. But there's a lot more energy in here now. We've got to use this as a building block."

Really, it's the kind of game the Redskins will have to play in each of their final seven. They'll have to come up with something every week that can compensate for weaknesses that cannot be shored up during this season. Blanchard will have to hit the occasional long, pressure field goal because the offense is simply going to have stretches where it can't gain even a yard, like the third quarter-plus Sunday, when it was stuck at minus-10. Mitchell will have to do everything – run, return, pass – because the offensive personnel is inadequate and the defense can't force enough turnovers to give the offense a short field in which to work. Seriously, the offense is bad. Would Michael Westbrook have made a difference? Maybe. But Turner establishing a zero-tolerance policy toward foolishness the past two weeks may be more important than the difference between 1-8 and 2-7.

I hope there aren't many people out there foolish enough to suggest that, had the Redskins won, they were ready to run the table. The NFC East, remember, is dreadful.

The Cardinals, likewise, don't frighten the Denvers and Jacksonvilles and Minnesotas, but they do have big-time players on defense and a quarterback who can turn around a game almost by himself with his running and passing. You can hang in there and challenge people this season with a defense and a quarterback. That's why the Cardinals are 5-4 and will play the biggest game of their 10 years in Arizona next week against the Cowboys.

The Redskins aren't playing for anybody's division title. They don't have any more big games this season in the context of the overall NFL picture. They're playing to catch the ball, to sustain blocks, to pressure the other guy's quarterback and protect their own. Forget one game at a time, the Redskins are trying to improve from one play to the next. Though they ultimately keep count of only W's and L's, anybody who thinks the Redskins weren't better Sunday than they were three weeks ago has an exceptionally short memory.