Contending Is Bonus For Revived Redskins
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By DERON SNYDER
The won-lost column doesn’t include moral victories, which allegedly are nonexistent if you ask coaches and players. But most of us can find some satisfaction in defeats, especially when your team exceeds expectations. If it plays well and remains competitive throughout a game against a championship-caliber opponent, that often suffices if it’s more than you imagined.
The Washington Redskins were in that position Monday night, playing on the NFL’s prime-time stage, facing the defending Super Bowl champions in a December game with postseason implications. Only the wildly optimistic could have envisioned those circumstances three weeks ago, let alone three months ago when the season began.
In that sense, the Mike Shanahan era was vindicated before kickoff at FedEx Field. Entering his 44th game as Washington’s coach and grand pooh bah, Shanahan had led the Redskins to late-season relevance for the first time in his tenure and the first time since they 2008, when they finished 8-8 under Jim Zorn.
So beating the New York Giants and moving into the thick of the playoff race was gravy. The 80,246 fans who chanted “RG3!” throughout the game were able to carry the cheer into the parking lot after Robert Griffin III engineered a 17-16 victory
