By Rich Tandler
On this date in 2006, the Redskins played the second playoff game of the Gibbs II era. The previous week they had beaten the Bucs to advance to the divisional round where they faced the top-seeded Seahawks. Here is my account from the pages of The Redskins Chronicle.
Qwest Field--The Seattle Seahawks will spend the next week preparing for the NFC Championship Game. The Redskins will spend the week—and probably many more after it—ruing the opportunities they missed in their 20-10 playoff loss to the Seahawks. Seattle starting out the game playing like the favorites they were. A drive to the Washington 11, however, ended when NFL MVP Sean Alexander fumbled and Lemar Marshall recovered. The Seattle offense stalled after that, going three and out four straight times. Late in the first quarter they lost Alexander to a concussion. They appeared to be on the ropes.
But the Redskins did not deliver any punches. They one-upped their opponents by reeling off five consecutive three-and-out series. After the fifth, they got the break they needed. The punt was muffed and Pierson Prioleau recovered at the Seattle 41.
The Redskins did string together a couple of first downs but failed to take full advantage of the turnover. The drive died at the seven and John Hall’s 26-yard field goal gave Washington a 3-0 lead. Soon after that from the Seattle 26, Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck threw a pass right into the hands of Carlos Rogers. The rookie cornerback had nothing but empty field turn between himself and the goal line and, for a moment, it looked like the Redskins would take control of the game.
But the ball bounced off of Rogers’ hands. Seattle continued the drive that culminated in a 26-yard touchdown pass from Hasselbeck to Darrell Jackson. That made it 7-3 and the score held until halftime. The Washington offense remained in the deep freeze and the Seahawks stretched their lead to 17-3 on a six-yard Hasselbeck touchdown run and a Josh Brown field goal. When the Redskins finally cranked out a sustained drive into Seattle territory, it died when Brunell was sacked and fumbled on fourth down from the 33 with 1:55 left in the third quarter.
The Redskins, however, managed to create one last chance. After Brown’s field goal with 14:20 left to play, Chris Cooley grabbed a Brunell pass and rumbled 52 yards to the Seattle 24. On third down from the 20, Brunell’s pass was knocked away by cornerback Andre Dyson. But the ball hung in the air long enough for Moss to seize it out of the air for a touchdown and suddenly, it was 17-10.
As if that wasn’t enough good fortune, Josh Scobey fumbled the ensuing kickoff. The Redskins moved from the Seattle 40 down to the 18 but couldn’t seal the deal. Brunell misfired while trying to hit Moss on third down and Hall pushed his 36-yard field goal attempt wide left. Seattle then burned off all but the last three minutes and Brown’s 31-yard field goal put it out of reach at 20-10.
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