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A week past his 43rd birthday, Ray Brown officially
returned to Washington's starting lineup when fellow guard Randy Thomas was
placed on injured reserve with a season-ending fractured right fibula.
Brown, who is expected to retire after the season, has
played primarily in goal-line situations - the first time since 1992 he hasn't
been a starter.
"I've prepared myself as a starter, and now I get an
opportunity for it," Brown said. "What I do with it and how I
perform is going to be the key.
"I just happen to be a 20-year veteran who's filling
in for a guy who has been playing well. That's how I have to look at it. I
know the big story will be this cat who is 43 years old and playing in the
NFL. I laugh at it, too. I'm going to enjoy it."
Saturday's test against the NFC East-leading New York
Giants will be Brown's 268th game and 212th start, including eight playoff
games. He started 14 games at right tackle last year in place of the injured
Jon Jansen.
"Ray's been through it all, seen it all and pretty
much done it all, and that takes the worries away from you instead of having a
rookie or young guy coming in," center Casey Rabach said. "We'll
obviously miss Randy, but we have no concern about putting Ray in there."
The Redskins' offensive line had stayed healthy all
season until Thomas was hurt in the fourth quarter of last Sunday's 35-7 rout
of Dallas.
Brown broke in with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1986.
After moving to Arizona with that franchise, he signed with Washington as a
Plan B free agent in 1989.
That year, like this one, the Redskins tried to turn a
5-6 start into a playoff finish. Washington won its final five games to wind
up 10-6 in 1989 but missed the playoffs. These Redskins have won three in a
row and if they extend that streak to five to finish 10-6, they'll be in the
postseason.
Brown hasn't been there since 2001, his sixth and final
season with San Francisco. He played the next two years with Detroit - before
returning to the Redskins for what was supposed to be a swan song in 2004.
Thomas' roster spot was taken by Ikechuku Ndukwe, a
rookie guard from Northwestern who was four when Brown made his NFL debut.
Player
Notes
--QB Mark Brunell's four touchdowns and no interceptions
added up to a 125.6 passer rating against Dallas last week, moving him into
third in the NFC in that category at 87.0 for the season. Brunell's fourth
score gave him 20 for the year, making him the first Redskin to reach that
level since Brad Johnson in 1999.
--RB Clinton Portis's 112 yards on 23 carries against the
Cowboys made him the first Redskin with three straight 100-yard games since
Stephen Davis in 2001. That's the year that Davis set the team record with
1,432 yards, a mark that Portis is on pace to break in the season finale at
Philadelphia.
--RB Ladell Betts carried 12 times for 44 yards against
Dallas and scored Washington's fifth touchdown on a 1-yard run.
--WR Santana Moss caught just two passes against Dallas,
but one was a 42-yard bomb and the other was a screen that he took 31 yards.
Both set up touchdowns. Moss is tied for third in the NFL in receiving yardage
and is fifth in the NFC in catches.
--H-back Chris Cooley had a career day with three
touchdowns on his six catches for 71 yards against the Cowboys and is on the
verge of surpassing the late Jerry Smith's Redskins record of 67 catches by a
TE or H-back.
--H-back Mike Sellers scored on a 3-yard catch against
Dallas. It was his seventh TD on just 12 touches this season.
--K John Hall was 5-for-5 on extra points against Dallas.
He didn't try a field goal.
--DE Phillip Daniels won NFC Defensive Player of The Week
honors by tying Diron Talbert (1975 against the Giants) and Dexter Manley
(1988 against the Giants) with a team-record four sacks against Dallas.
Daniels also recovered a fumble and batted a pass that was intercepted.
--SLB Marcus Washington had two sacks, forced a fumble
and intercepted a pass against the Cowboys.
--DT Cornelius Griffin intercepted the first pass of his
six-year career against Dallas and helped hold the Cowboys to 36 yards on 16
carries before the final 16 minutes of garbage time.
