They could hardly have given more in the biggest game of the Washington Redskins' season. And after yesterday's 20-6 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, running back Stephen Davis and linebacker LaVar Arrington shared the same feeling of disappointment and bewilderment, knowing it was a game they could have won.
Davis proved the sole reliable element of an offense that undermined itself with penalties, dropped passes and interceptions, rushing for 111 yards on 24 carries. But in the locker room afterward, he had nothing to say about the loss that dropped the Redskins to 6-7 and all but snuffed out their hopes of making the playoffs.
"It's best that way," Davis said, explaining his self-imposed silence.
Arrington, meantime, talked himself in circles as he sat in front of his locker, his white pants streaked with grass stains and his right foot aching from an unrecalled collision. Arrington spoke but stopped short of explaining exactly why the Redskins were routed so handily by an Eagles team they had handled, 13-3, three weeks earlier.
"I don't have any idea why the outcome was different," Arrington said. "We felt we prepared for everything they were going to come out with. We felt confident ? at least my side of the ball [the defense]. We felt really confident coming into this game. I can't answer for everybody else."
While there was plenty of blame to go around, the Redskins' offense bore the brunt, defaulting on numerous scoring chances. Quarterback Tony Banks threw two interceptions. Redskins receivers dropped at least eight passes. Place kicker Brett Conway missed a pair of field-goal tries. And seven penalties added up to 58 lost yards.
But from the first quarter to the fourth, Davis kept pounding the ball, averaging 4.6 yards per carry. And the defense ? once again led by Arrington (eight tackles, one interception, two passes defended and half-sack) ? refused to become dispirited, coming up with huge plays to give the offense chances.
"Not only do I have great respect for them, I like them," Coach Marty Schottenheimer said of his defense, which forced four turnovers and held the Eagles to 287 total yards. "I like them because of the energy they bring and the way they play."
After a ragged opening series by both teams, Redskins defensive tackle Dan Wilkinson sparked the home crowd of 84,936 by defying gravity, at 325 pounds, to leap over a pair of Philadelphia defenders and intercept quarterback Donovan McNabb. But the turnover ? the first of the game ? went for naught as Conway clanged the right upright on his field-goal attempt from 39 yards.
Conway made 47- and 25-yarders to give the Redskins a 6-0 lead. But the game's momentum shifted midway through the second half, when McNabb fired a four-yard touchdown pass to Freddie Mitchell.
Time and again, the Redskins' defense struck back. But each time it wrested the ball from the Eagles, the offense defaulted.
Defensive end Marco Coleman felt he was a step slow rushing McNabb on one play in the second quarter, so he fixed on McNabb's eyes, desperate to read where the quarterback intended to throw. Coleman reached up with his giant left arm, tipped the ball, and Arrington grabbed it for his third interception of the season. But the offense did nothing.
Weary of the offense's futility, hundreds of Redskins fans started heading for the exits in the fourth quarter, their team trailing 20-6. They missed two spectacular plays by the defense's senior statesmen.
With the ball at their 20 and less than eight minutes to play, the Eagles, for reasons cornerback Darrell Green couldn't understand, decided to throw despite leading by 14 points. Lined up in man-to-man coverage, Green stepped in front of wideout Na Brown for his first interception, marking the 19th consecutive season in which he has had one.
"I was just trying to stick with my guy," Green said, "and there the ball was. I wish I could say I was that great of a player or that great of a genius. But it just worked out."
The possession that followed ? starting on the Eagles 31 ? fizzled on a false-start penalty and an incompletion.
A Redskins loss seemed inevitable, but defensive end Bruce Smith had other ideas ? and ripped the ball out of running back Duce Staley's hands with less than five minutes to play. Fans roared with approval, and Smith got a huge hug on the sideline from Coleman. Less than two minutes later, the defense was back on the field.
That's how long it took the offense to squander this last scoring chance, with Banks following a 27-yard completion to Michael Westbrook with his second interception.
Arrington was asked if the defense could have done more.
He paused and said: "In my opinion, you can always do more. But in a real world, I think we played one heck of a game. Theoretically, you can always do better. You can always add to what's going on. But if you ask me, how did we play? What's my assessment of the defense? We gave it everything we had."
Given what's now a near-insurmountable road to the playoffs ? with the 10-3 Chicago Bears up next ? few in the locker room had enthusiasm for talking postseason scenarios.
"There are two things," Green said, summing up the issues in the wake of the latest loss. "Number one is: What does it look like for the playoffs? Second is: Who are we as a group of men? Obviously, I can't answer the playoff thing. But I think I can answer that we are a good, solid group, and we will be ready to come back and compete next week ? regardless of what the first answer is."
Arrington vowed to stay the course.
"I'm going to continue to do what I've done from day one," he said. "That's go out there, and whatever happens, happens. That how I've always looked at things. You can't always control what happens. This is a team sport. It's 53 guys. We've all got to play our part. So whatever happens, happens. But you know one thing: 56 is going to show up. I'm going to show up."