[Editor’s Note: This column was penned before Sean Taylor died Tuesday morning. For updates on the tragedy, click here.]
Near the end of his statement, Redskins defensive boss Gregg Williams reached the point at which he said he no longer cared about watching Sean Taylor play football again.
“I just want him to be …” Williams said.
And then he had to stop, his voice cracking. For the next five seconds, he could not manage any words.
“I just want him to be all right,” he said, fighting back tears.
His emotions matched others at Redskins Park. A group of players and coaches used to talking about tough times wasn’t always sure what to say Monday, after teammate Sean Taylor was shot by an intruder at his Miami home earlier that morning. By early evening, Taylor squeezed a doctor’s hand and showed facial expressions.
“They told us they were hoping for a miracle,” said Vinny Cerrato, Redskins vice president of football operations who was part of a small contingent that traveled to the hospital in Miami, “and I think that positive news we got was extremely good news.”
His Redskins teammates were shocked by the day’s events. Santana Moss, one of Taylor’s closest friends, left the facility in tears as did others such as Rock Cartwright.
Coach Joe Gibbs spoke to the team at noon for several minutes, then was followed by team chaplain Brett Fuller.
“Everyone’s just stunned,” Redskins receiver Keenan McCardell said. “We’re numb right now. We don’t know what to do right now.”
What they did is try to reveal the Taylor they got to know since he was drafted in 2004. And to point out how much more mature Taylor was than as a rookie. Taylor was on the team’s leadership council, a group of veterans that met with Gibbs every so often.
“That man changed his life,” Redskins running back Clinton Portis, one of Taylor’s closest friends, said. “That man changed his mentality, changed his attitude. He’s one of the best teammates you could have. The media did not know a lot about him because they lost his trust. But at the same time any of his teammates would speak highly of him.”
Many pointed to the birth of his daughter, Jackie, in May 2006 as a turning point in his life. And this past offseason there was an even more noticeable difference in his approach and demeanor, others have said — yesterday and in the past.
“From 2005 to now, I’ve seen leaps and bounds of growth that are unimaginable for any player I’ve been with,” safety Pierson Prioleau said. “You started to see it carry over in his personality as well as on the field.”
Gibbs said, “With Sean, I always respected how much he loved football. It’s what he felt like he was made to do. What I’ve noticed in the last year and a half is … he matured. His baby had a huge impact on him.”
Nearly three dozen Redskins fans gathered in a light rain outside the parking lot here to hold a vigil. The players continued to ask for prayers.
“It’s hard,” Portis said. “There’s nothing we can do. You can’t jump in front of a bullet for him. We can’t go back and change time. … You can’t divert or change God’s plans. Sean’s a tough guy; hopefully he’ll pull through this.”
“Here he was at his home at 2 in the morning,” linebacker London Fletcher said. “He wasn’t out in a club; he was at home. It’s a sad, sad situation.”
