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It's just one loss. That was the Washington Redskins' party line yesterday in the wake of Monday's 19-16 season-opening defeat at FedEx Field to Minnesota after an atrocious 0-4 preseason that might not have been so meaningless after all.
"Don't try to overcomplicate it," running backs coach Earnest Byner said. "It's a loss at home and it hurts. It should hurt. We've got to let it go and try to find a way to bounce back."
But now the Redskins visit Dallas, where their stunning 14-13 victory in Week 2 of last season was their first win in Texas Stadium in a decade. And the Cowboys will be motivated from losing that game and the one on Sunday in Jacksonville.
Not only did none of the 14 NFL teams who started 0-2 in either of the past two seasons make the playoffs, there's the matter of tiebreakers. Every loss isn't the same. Conference losses are worse than games against AFC teams and division losses are that much more costly.
"We've put ourselves in a tough situation going down to Dallas," cornerback Shawn Springs said of facing the Cowboys. "Somebody in the NFC East is going to be 0-2, and that's not where you want to be."
The team with the highest-paid coaching staff in NFL history and one that added four expensive free agents to a 2005 NFC semifinalist scored just one touchdown against a Minnesota defense which doesn't rank high on the fear meter. Meanwhile, Washington's defense, one of the NFC's best the past two seasons, was beaten on nine of 14 third downs by a so-so Vikings offense. And it's never a good thing when your punter is your leading tackler on special teams.
No wonder coach Joe Gibbs said there was enough blame to go around in what he called an "inconsistent" performance.
"Hopefully this one game won't make our season, but who knows?" defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin said. "That's where character stands up. Guys have to take more of a serious approach. There needs to be more of a sense of urgency. Preseason is over with. Guys have to get here, break down film, watch game film more than one time."
Having played on Monday, there's less time to watch that film, but guard Randy Thomas is happy for the short week.
"I like that's it coming up fast," Thomas said. "You learn from what happened last night and you have to bounce back."
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