For the Washington Redskins, the 2005 regular season was an unpredictable series of dizzy highs and swampy valleys as the team went from looking like a playoff shoo-in to an NFL also-ran. With only the thinnest post-season hopes remaining, however, the Skins made Tony Kornheiser look like a genius and rattled off December wins even as critical competitors – the Falcons, the Vikings, the Cowboys – hit the skids. It all culminated in yesterday afternoon’s game against the Eagles, a stomach-knotting, tension-filled affair that saw Washington put forth a superhuman effort in the fourth quarter to secure a 31-20 win.

If you are a big Redskins fan, it’s okay if at some point during the first half, you lowered your head and snapped, to no one in particular, “They’re gonna give this game away!” We feel you. Groans of mounting, hopeless disgust were heard all over the Lyon Village apartment complex as fans watched the Redskins offense sputter and the defense do their best to turn Eagles Mike McMahon and Reggie Brown into folk heroes. Washington’s 2005 scoring machine, Mike Sellers, was pretty much solely responsible for our only first half touchdown, recovering a muffed punt and then catching the touchdown pass at the end of the short-field drive.