The past decade almost made Washingtonians yearn for the ’60s.
The Redskins managed only two wild card seasons. There were six coaches with another likely coming a few days into January. Worst of all, the team’s best player was murdered.
It wasn’t the Decade of the Ohs. It was the Decade of the Oh Nos. Couldn’t anybody play this game?
Actually, there were some good individual efforts over the past 10 years. After consulting with two other longtime Redskins writers, here’s my abbreviated All-Redskins Decade Team:
QB » Mark Brunell
RB » Clinton Portis
FB » Mike Sellers
TE » Chris Cooley
WR » Santana Moss
OL » Chris Samuels
DL » Andre Carter
LB » LaVar Arrington
CB » Champ Bailey
ST » Rock Cartwright
That 7 of 10 players are on a roster with a current record of 4-10 shows how badly the decade went. Portis, Sellers, Cooley, Moss and Samuels were easy picks, though.
It’s hard to become passionate when arguing over who lost less, but the toughest position to pick was quarterback. Jason Campbell might have played better than Mark Brunell, but the latter led the team to the playoffs once. While Todd Collins may have been the hottest passer over five games in the decade, it was his only real stretch.
Arrington’s three Pro Bowls were the edge over Marcus Washington and London Fletcher. Andre Carter was slightly better than Cornelius Griffin on the defensive line. Bailey proved better than Shawn Springs. Cartwright was a touch more productive than James Thrash on special teams.
Joe Gibbs was often criticized in his second stretch in Washington, but he was still the team’s best coach over the decade. That may not be saying much, but Gibbs’ effort to rally the Redskins to the playoffs after Taylor’s death was why the coach is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Ironically, the best player over one season isn’t on the list. Tackle Daryl Gardener was a one-year wonder in Washington. His 52 tackles and four sacks seem modest, but no one disrupted play on the line like him, not even Albert Haynesworth this season. Gardener scared even his own teammates, one reason why he wasn’t re-signed.
There are too few great wins and too many bad losses to rank them, but my favorite moment may have come in 2002 in Osaka, Japan. Steve Spurrier’s debut half a world away came before an audience so politely quiet you could hear the quarterback’s line call from the upper deck. The Redskinettes danced to Lenny Kravitz’s “American Woman” on the sidelines. It was just so different.
Ballcoach chuckled over the ease of the runaway 38-7 victory, ignoring that San Francisco pulled its starters early. It showed how clueless Spurrier was over two seasons before resigning from a golf course.
“Not the best, but not the worst, either,” said Spurrier after his final season.
Pretty much sums up the decade.
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com and Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail [email protected].
