ASHBURN, Va. (AP) - The Washington Redskins are playing like it's 1999.
Not since the franchise's last playoff season has the team amassed yards like this. The performance of Mark Brunell and cast in recent weeks brings back memories of Brad Johnson and company six years ago, the only time in the past decade that the offense has worked the way it should for an extended time.
``It's a lot like that year,'' said right tackle Jon Jansen, one of two players remaining from the 1999 squad. ``Because we have a lot of the same talent, but I think we have better people this time around. We had Albert Connell, Michael Westbrook that could get downfield; we've got Santana Moss and David Patten. We've got Clinton (Portis) instead of Stephen Davis. We've got Ladell Betts. We've got probably a better stable of backs than we had at that point.
``It definitely is flashbacks of that year, except I think we can be so much better because we have, I think, better character of guys, for when things get rough.''
The 1999, the Redskins went 10-6 and lost 14-13 to Tampa Bay in the second round of the playoffs. They scored 50 points against the New York Giants and 48 against Chicago. Their 443 points and 5,965 yards were the third highest totals in both categories in franchise history.
Johnson threw for 4,005 yards - No. 2 on the team's all-time list - and let Washington know what could have been when he won the Super Bowl four years later with Tampa Bay, having been essentially run out of town by owner Dan Snyder and the dubious signing of Jeff George.
The instability of the franchise means it's taken a half-dozen years for the Redskins to get back to offensive prominence. The play of Brunell, Moss and Jansen have been indispensable, but Jansen's top reason for the resurgence is the fact that coach Joe Gibbs and the bulk of the players have been together for two years in a row.
``I know Moss is new. I know David is new,'' Jansen said. ``But the majority of the guys - offensively, defensively and special teams - have been here for the two years now. And for here, that's an eternity. We haven't had that consistency for a long time.''
The raw numbers look impressive. The Redskins had 447 yards at Denver and 398 at Kansas City but lost both games because they wilted in the red zone and committed untimely turnovers. They then unleashed 457 yards in a 52-17 win Sunday against San Francisco, a needed outburst even if it came against a noncompetitive team.
As a result, Brunell - who was thought to be washed up a year ago - is the NFC's leading passer with a 98.3 rating. He has 12 touchdown passes and only two interceptions. Moss leads the NFL with 743 yards receiving. The offense is ranked No. 2 and the defense is No. 4, making Washington the only team in the NFL in the top five on both sides of the ball.
``We were one-dimensional last year,'' Brunell said. ``We ran the ball very well, I thought, but our passing game was lacking. When you can have that balance, you're more efficient.''
A year ago, Portis created a tempest when he said the offense was so predictable that other defenses knew which plays were coming. Now the offensive players see a completely different reaction when they look across the line of scrimmage.
``Frustrated and guessing,'' left tackle Chris Samuels said. ``A little bit of both. You can just look in their eyes a lot of times. You can tell when you're getting the best of them.''
For the first time in years, the Redskins are good enough to engage in legitimate scoreboard-watching. Gibbs walked to the television screen after his post-game news conference Sunday to check on the Philadelphia-San Diego game, and players let out moans in the locker room when the Eagles blocked a field goal to win the game.
The Redskins (4-2) are tied with the Eagles and Giants atop an NFC East in which every team has a winning record, and next week they visit New York in a first-place showdown. The standings have Gibbs thinking back to the last century - not 1999, but the division's heyday during his first term in the 1980s and early 1990s.
``It does bring back memories,'' Gibbs said. ``I told our guys last week, 'This is it, man, the NFC East. You're going to see black and blue when you come out of this thing.' It's just the way I remember it. Very, very physical teams that play extremely hard. I'd say it's great for a fan. It's not good for the teams that are in it.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
