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Sean Taylor Closure
Authored by Jeff Risdon - 7th January, 2008 - 11:23 am
With John Herrera standing to his right dressed in black and appearing not unlike an undertaker, Lane Kiffin sat down at the podium for Sunday's postgame news conference.
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The Wild Card winners move on, but so must one of the weekend’s losing teams. The Washington Ethnic Slurs lost in Seattle, thus ending the fantastic, emotional ride of the last 6 weeks they’ve been riding.
The 2007 season in Washington will forever be remembered as the “Sean Taylor” year. Losing a beloved teammate to such a tragic, untimely death brought a whole new meaning to their season. They harnessed that emotional intensity into positive momentum to salvage what was quickly becoming another lost season. But in martyring Taylor a few things might be lost for them, and the Skins really need to bring closure to the flag-waving emotion that sustained them down the stretch. There is a fine line between honor and overkill, and to some people the Skins are perilously close to crossing that line.
I'm proud of how the Skins honored their fallen brother and chose to soldier on instead of taking the easy way and letting the season rot. I think Joe Gibbs did a masterful job rallying the team and maintaining focus, and nothing any Washington player said or did direcetly disrespected Taylor or the impact he had on the team. I hope they retire #21, put it in the ring of honor, wear the awesome decal next season, and have a wonderful, honorful ceremony next season, and then go out and destroy the Giants. But I don't want them sporting Taylor jerseys at every media event or wearing t-shirts next summer that base their entire training camp on building off the emotion of his loss. I don’t want Taylor’s death to become a sad caricature for them in the way that incorporating 9/11 into everything has become for Rudy Giuliani. That would be overkill, like taking the Stanley Cup to a beach volleyball tournament. I've seen that; it was disgusting and humiliating, and I don't want Taylor remembered that way.
I’m afraid so many of the positives achieved down the stretch will be overlooked or forgotten by all the Taylor inertia. Todd Collins came off the bench and played splendidly. A patchwork OL congealed, fighting through injuries and playing consistently better than they had in years. Laron Landry emerged as a star in the making, and several lightly regarded youngsters flashed promise that eases the chronic depth concerns of the roster. All those factors were the reason why the Skins rallied from 5-7 to make the playoffs while playing in the toughest division in football. Certainly the emotional unity brought by Taylor’s death was a major factor as well, but improved execution and better gameplans are what ultimately won those games.
One of my favorite songs, and the song I want played at my own funeral, is “The Spirit Carries On” by Dream Theater (note: I prefer the live version from the “XX:Score” album). There’s a verse in the song that the Skins' players need to embrace:
Move on, be brave, don’t weep in my grave
Because I am no longer here
Please never let your memory of me disappear
Don’t let Taylor disappear, but embrace the literal of the phrase “Rest In Peace”. Look at how the Broncos handled the tragic deaths of two players last offseason as a blueprint. Darrent Williams and Damien Nash were still a part of their season, but it wasn’t the overriding factor or emotional glue of the team. They respectfully honored their fallen mates, and I urge the Skins' family to do the same with Sean Taylor.
