The Washington Redskins are 9-7, the last NFC team to clinch a playoff berth this season, bound now for a Saturday encounter at the site where they lost their most recent postseason game, Seattle.
On the surface, they sound like just another wild-card story: squeezed their way in with a victory over a top-seeded opponent playing not to get hurt and set up a probable repeat of the game they lost to the Seahawks, 20-10, in January 2006.
Except that on Nov. 27, the Redskins defensive leader and two-time Pro Bowl safety, Sean Taylor, died of wounds suffered when he was shot by an intruder in his Palmetto Bay, Fla., home.
And on Dec. 2, the Redskins were 5-7 after losing at home to Buffalo on a last-second field goal after Coach Joe Gibbs was penalized 15 yards for calling consecutive timeouts in a confused-about-the-concept attempt to "ice" the Bills' kicker.
And on Dec. 6, the Redskins lost their starting quarterback, Jason Campbell, who was forced out of the game against Chicago because of a dislocated kneecap.
And after Chicago, the Redskins were scheduled to close their regular season against the playoff-bound New York Giants, the playoff-hopeful Minnesota Vikings and the NFC's top-seeded Dallas Cowboys.
Despite enough adversity to avalanche most teams and despite having to turn their offense over to a quarterback who went a decade between starts, the Redskins advanced -- clinching the NFC's No. 6 seeding with a 27-6 victory over Dallas.
Todd Collins, summoned from the bench to bail out the Redskins against the Bears, oversaw Washington's fourth consecutive victory by completing 22 of 31 passes for 244 yards and a touchdown against the Cowboys (13-3), who played without Terrell Owens and removed quarterback Tony Romo from the game in the third quarter.
In the other conference, another quarterback named Collins helped Tennessee wrap up another wild card. After Vince Young injured his right quadriceps in the third quarter, Kerry Collins came in to complete 10 of 13 passes for 106 yards and lead the Titans to three field goals that were the difference in a 16-10 triumph over Indianapolis.
With the victory, the Titans (10-6) earned the league's 12th and final playoff spot, setting up the following matchups for wild-card weekend:
AFC: No. 5 Jacksonville (11-5) at No. 4 Pittsburgh (10-6) on Saturday, followed by No. 6 Tennessee (10-6) at No. 3 San Diego (11-5) on Sunday.
