By Michael Wilbon
Washington Post Columnist
Monday, November 23, 1998; Page C1

Well, if the Redskins are going to lose the majority of the time, at least it should be this entertaining. When there is this much to digest, rehash, dissect, praise and ultimately lament, at least you don't spend all week dwelling on any one thing.

I mean, it's not like you can spend all your time dealing with why the Redskins fell behind the Cardinals 31-0, because they did get off the floor to score 42 points afterward and make a go of it. It's tough to lock in on that blown short field goal and missed point-after attempt (a total of four points) because just as critical was that gutless non-call at the goal line by the zebras in the fourth quarter. The fact that the Redskins nearly pulled off the biggest regular season comeback in NFL history deserves discussion, but no more than the subject of allowing the Cardinals to run up the biggest lead that sorry, no-account team has had in 10 years.

Is it more important that Trent Green (382 yards passing and four touchdown throws) and Michael Westbrook (10 catches, 135 yards) had career days, or that the Redskins' defense gave up 436 yards and 45 points? Every encouraging play they made, like stopping the Cardinals on fourth down to get the ball back with 1 minute 16 seconds to play, seemed to be neutralized by something goofy like the semi-bogus penalty against Leslie Shepherd for taunting that helped Arizona score the game's decisive points, or Brian Mitchell's muffed punt return that started the Cardinals on their way in the opening minutes.

If there's one thing we can be definitive about, it's Arizona quarterback Jake Plummer's evolution from talented novice to playmaker extraordinaire. When the One and Only Bill Walsh said before the season that Plummer would soon be the league's MVP and then compared Plummer favorably with the One and Only Joe Montana, some of us thought it was time for Walsh to simply recede into the NFL backdrop. But, of course, Walsh knew what he was talking about.

All Plummer did yesterday was make every play he had to, avoiding Redskins pass rushers and scrambling madly when necessary. The best play Arizona made all day may have been on the drive that made it 45-35 when, on third and eight, Plummer danced away from at least three defenders who'd gotten into the backfield, then threw a pass good for 35 yards to Frank Sanders, keeping alive the biggest drive of the game for the visitors. "It's amazing to watch him work, as a receiver," Sanders said. "This kid can make anything happen. And the game is starting to come to him. It's all slowing down for him right now."

The Redskins' Darrell Green was even more effusive: "You know how the NBA is building things around Grant Hill? The NFL, if this can be an analogy, should do the same thing with Jake Plummer. Build it around that kid. He's a nice kid, he's hungry, he's a great competitor. I like him a lot." There aren't too many guys I'd take over Plummer right now at quarterback.

Of course, it was a play involving Plummer that will have folks around here pouting all week. When Plummer dove for a touchdown with just less than four minutes to play and lost the ball at the goal line, there were only two calls for the officials to make: touchdown or fumble. That's it. A fumble would have given the Redskins possession, trailing by only 38-35. Either call would have been understandable because we're talking about inches; you can't even tell conclusively on a replay.

Instead, the zebras invented a call, deciding that Plummer's forward progress had been stopped inside the 1-yard line. Please. Plummer tumbled into the end zone, his whole body. His forward progress was stopped only by the ground. Fumble or touchdown? That's the deal.

This year can't end quickly enough in terms of officiating. Every sport has been atrocious. Look at major league baseball, for crying out loud. The NHL refs have had a miserable season. It would be difficult for NFL officiating to get any worse. Norv Turner, on the wrong end of the day's most important call, said it was like when you're a kid playing in the backyard and nobody can figure out the right call. "So you have a do-over," he said. "You play it again. . . . They made a no-decision. There are some tough calls, some tough decisions but you have to make them."

The only problem with dragging the officials into this is that the Redskins were so dreadful in the first half. No team, for any reason imaginable, should fall behind the Arizona Cardinals, 31-0. It's an official football sin. I mean, getting bashed by the Vikings in Minnesota is one thing. But at home against the Cardinals? Arizona Coach Vince Tobin even called the game, at 31-0, "seemingly over."

So what happened? The Redskins got desperate. The Cardinals, as Simeon Rice said, "got full of ourselves."

Turner said the number one thing the Redskins did in the second half to change the tide was protect Trent Green. That allowed Green to find Westbrook often. The Redskins want days like yesterday to come along at least twice a month, not twice a season. "It's important for Michael to realize," wide receivers coach Terry Robiskie said, "that he can do this week in and week out. That's what people expect. That's what we're looking for. We hope he can understand this is why we, why I, get mad at him, fuss at him, cuss him. This is what we're trying to get accomplished."

But it's difficult to focus on Westbrook today, or on any one player, or possession, or call, or mistake or penalty because the afternoon was so bizarre. Rice, even though his team moved into the thick of the playoff race by winning, said, "This isn't the kind of victory where you pat yourself on the back and jump up and down." If a victor was this conflicted, how in the world were the losers supposed to feel?