By Michael Wilbon
Washington Post Columnist
Monday, November 2, 1998; Page D1

There was some flinching around town when Norv Turner hypothesized, after a humiliating defeat in Minneapolis two weeks ago, that the best thing his Redskins could do was get away from the anguish of a winless season for a few days.

It turns out Turner was right. Everything about the Redskins yesterday was different, from their body language to their proficiency in running, throwing, blocking and defending. The team that two weeks ago could barely snap the ball successfully played with purpose, game-long determination and, most important, effectiveness.

You don't want to make too many proclamations after one victory in eight weeks, after beating a team as crummy as the New York Giants. But, hey, nobody's played a more difficult schedule than the Redskins. And I don't want to hear one person mention the P-word (playoffs, of course), even though the schedule from here to the end is sane. But the Redskins did play awfully well in most areas of this game and didn't play badly in any phase.

Trent Green turned in the best quarterback performance this team has had this season: 21 of 31, 225 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. Skip Hicks and Terry Allen combined for 111 yards rushing and didn't fumble. The defensive line, sans Dana Stubblefield, played better than it had all season, giving up only 86 rushing yards and actually harassing the opposing passer. There was one dropped pass, but only one. There were no turnovers. The crowd, though relatively small at 67,976, at least didn't go home after the third quarter. Brian Mitchell returned five punts for 57 yards.

And Matt Turk was Ray Guy. He hit 'em long, dropped three inside the 10, nailed one for 65 yards out of his own end zone and was almost single-handedly responsible for superior field position from kickoff to final gun. His first punt was tipped at the line of scrimmage and the Giants nearly got to two others, but once the punt unit adjusted and gave Turk time, he was simply magnificent. Toward the end of the game, when Turk was in his rhythm – he punted 10 times – he wanted to land a fourth punt inside the 10 but didn't hit it just right and wound up with a 51-yarder that went into the end zone for a touchback.

The best thing, other than the victory itself, was that there was no gloating, boasting, gyrating or dancing. Every player seemed to put the victory in perfect context: It's one victory compared with seven defeats. "It's a no-nonsense-type of attitude and it should be," Darrell Green said, "because it's only one win. One."

My mind keeps going back to Labor Day weekend at Giants Stadium, which was the last time the Redskins played this well. If they had done then what they did yesterday, if they had only held on to that early lead and not turned over the ball so many times, how different things could have been. The Redskins probably were better than the Giants then, back when they weren't carrying the considerable baggage from an 0-7 season. The Redskins are definitely better halfway through the season. You can't help but playing what Bobby Ross calls "the iffing game" because if the Redskins had won that season opener, this probably wouldn't have turned into such a disastrous season. They would have beaten Philadelphia, and if nothing else that would have them at 3-5 right now and in the hunt for the NFC East title. If.

Now, all they have to do is do the same thing again this week – without the mental health days.

Don't think for a second that being given those days off, as they relate to beating the Giants, is overrated. Defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, when asked why the time off benefited the team, said: "A lot of guys traveled [home], to different surroundings where [being winless] wasn't the topic of conversation. They were able to just sit, relax and enjoy life for a couple of days."

But one thing this victory cannot do is make this latest Michael Westbrook episode go away. I talked to Westbrook Saturday evening. The details of why he was not at Saturday's walk-through will be chewed over for another couple of days, but eventually will become unimportant. The question that will remain is whether Westbrook is committed to his team, and to doing what's necessary to become a reliable and consistently productive NFL player. More than once he said: "I'm just now getting people to stop talking about my leg [which caused him to miss games early in his career]. I want to change people's perceptions of me but I can't do it if I'm not in the lineup. I'm healthy now, I'm strong, I'm running well. I don't want missing [the walk-through] to become that big an issue. . . . I think Norv is being pressured into doing this [making Westbrook inactive yesterday and fining him $4,000] because of some of the things I've done, some of which I think have been blown out of proportion. It's become like, 'Norv, why are you letting him get away with this?'

"Like the face-mask penalty earlier in the season [which negated a Redskins touchdown against the 49ers]," he continued. "People criticized me as if I did it on purpose . . . . But that, like a lot of stuff, was blown out of proportion."

Here's the larger problem, though. A history of mistakes means Westbrook gets no benefit of the doubt. He hasn't earned it. There are Redskins players and coaches who have been tolerant of Westbrook's transgressions in the past, but some of those people used language about Westbrook yesterday that is unprintable in this newspaper. They think his behavior is selfish and destructive to the team, and they weren't concerned about whether he was sick Saturday morning. Several would support Turner issuing a lot stiffer punishment.

This is not a locker room full of loose cannons. If anything, the Redskins have too many nice guys. But they are fed up now, even disgusted. What anybody else thinks is secondary to what a player's teammates and coaches think of him. If Westbrook isn't listening to them now, then when?

Green wouldn't criticize Westbrook because public criticism of teammates isn't his thing. But read between the lines of what one of the NFL's most respected players had to say to reporters following the game: "I'm not looking at who isn't here. We're looking at who is here. Whoever is here has a job to do and anybody who isn't doing his job ought to be sent home. And if that's me, send me home."

That's the only attitude to have when you've won your first game on the first day of November. And anybody not with that program had better reassess in a hurry, the sooner to turn one victory to two.