This one hurts

Thirty minutes after the latest home disappointment, Phillip Daniels remained in full uniform with his back facing the Washington Redskins’ locker room. The look on his face was a mixture of anger and disbelief.

“I never expected this,” Daniels said. “We shouldn’t be at this point with the people we’ve added and the way we played last year.”

Last season is only a memory as this season continues to develop into a train wreck. The Redskins fell to 2-4 yesterday with a 25-22 loss to the Tennessee Titans, who entered winless and without a road victory in nearly a year.

The way the Redskins are playing, only an improbable turnaround next month will salvage the season.

“At 2-4, you can’t let yourself think this thing is a lost cause because the second you do that, you’re in trouble,” quarterback Mark Brunell said. “We find ourselves in a tough situation, but I think we can dig ourselves out.”

Up 11 points early in the second quarter, the Redskins allowed Tennessee to score the next 19 points. The Redskins tied it at 22-22 early in the fourth quarter on Clinton Portis’ 4-yard touchdown run and Santana Moss’ two-point conversion reception.

But after Tennessee’s Rob Bironas’ 30-yard field goal with 5:11 remaining, the Redskins’ hopes ended when Brunell’s throw fluttered into the hands of the Titans’ Lamont Thompson with 56 seconds remaining.

“I can’t figure this out,” defensive end Renaldo Wynn said. “This is a humbling experience, and we can’t go anywhere but up from here. We’ve got problems to fix, period.”

The Titans came to FedEx Field with basically nothing going for them but left 1-5 thanks to Travis Henry’s career-high 178 yards rushing, three field goals by Bironas and a blocked punt by Casey Cramer that resulted in a safety.

Did the Redskins take the Titans lightly?

“I think our guys understood what they were up against,” Gibbs said.

Added Portis: “We knew they were going to be a dangerous team, and I guess we let our guard down.”

Tennessee linebacker Keith Bulluck was critical of the Redskins’ approach.

“They weren’t out there playing football,” he said. “They were more trying to trick us with all those reverses. When they had to sit down and run plays and play football, we had a great game plan for that. For all those people in that locker room who talked crazy — tell them to have fun this week at practice.”

This week will be anything but fun for the Redskins. Coach Joe Gibbs said “the good thing is, it’s all of us.” But how can team-wide problems be a positive?

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