Om Field: Remembering the 2008 Washington Redskins

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Remembering the 2008 Washington Redskins
Jan. 26, 2009

It has only been four weeks since the Washington Redskins wrapped up their 2008 season. And yet, even as the ups and downs of a season both energizing and exhausting begins to recede in the rear view mirror, it has already begun to crystallize in memory.

Trailing in the fourth quarter of the home opener, in danger of falling to 0-2 and perhaps sending rookie head coach Jim Zorn's debut season spiraling out of control before it even gets started, QB Jason Campbell avoids a fierce New Orleans Saints pass rush and unloads deep to a streaking WR Santana Moss, turning the game around and launching Washington on an unexpected, eye-opening four-game win streak.

As time passes, some football seasons get reduced to a few lasting impressions, a few indelible images. Others just sort of ... fade away ... not so much lost as relegated to dusty boxes tucked away in a dark corner of the mind’s attic.

Today I found myself wondering how, or even if, I will remember the 2008 Redskins. And not surprisingly, doing so triggered a mental movie reel of seasons past against which they might some day be compared.

The surging Redskins go on the road and beat Dallas and Philadelphia, in consecutive weeks, on the strength of a brutal running game, an emerging Jason Campbell and an opportunistic, inspired defense. No single specific play really stands out, with the possible exception of rookie safety Chris Horton’s brilliantly choreographed game-clinching interception against Tony Romo in Dallas.

More, what emerges is the sense that this is a different Redskins team; quite possibly the first in a generation capable of reclaiming a proud organizations' rightful place among the NFL elite. What may well carry on in memory about the two week stretch is boyish owner Dan Snyder, just after the Eagles win, unselfconsciously expressing what every Redskins fan with a heartbeat felt that day.

Since trips down memory lane can easily slip from pleasant jaunts to marathon treks, I’ll begin, arbitrarily, at the dawn of The Glory Years, and offer here just a few thumbnail mental snapshots of seasons past that stand out, and alongside which 2008 may, or may not, someday take its place ...

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