Taylor Remembered

It’s a bracelet on Phillip Daniels’ wrist a room in Rock Cartwright’s basement; a T-shirt under Clinton Portis’ pads. The list, undoubtedly, could go on. But the point is this: the Redskins continue to keep Sean Taylor in their thoughts, seeking daily reminders of the teammate, and friend, that they lost a year ago.

Taylor was murdered Nov. 27, 2007 and will be inducted into the Redskins Ring of Fame before the Redskins play the Giants Sunday. His name will forever be viewed by those who attend Redskins games. And his memory will be kept alive by his former teammates.

In the week leading up to the Giants game, they were inundated with questions about Taylor. This much was clear: they miss him immensely – more so as a person than as a player. The phrase, "Not a day goes by …" was used by numerous coaches or players when asked how often they think of Taylor.

"Time hasn’t healed us," Portis said. "In time it makes you miss people more. The realization that you won’t see that person, they’re not coming back. It gets tougher in time. Early on it’s like you’ve got the memories and then all of a sudden you start repeating the memories and you’re thinking about it and you can’t create any more."

They cling to different memories, showing how Taylor had grown as a person and as a teammate. There was the time after the Green Bay loss in 2007 when Taylor, who intercepted two passes and could have had a couple more, stood outside the locker room and greeted each player as they entered.

"He was high-fiving everybody and saying it will be OK and we’ll get through it fine," Daniels said.

A couple weeks later, with Taylor sidelined by a knee injury, the team sat in the locker room of their practice facility awaiting departure to Tampa Bay. Taylor would not be accompanying the team.

"He came over and shook everyone’s hand and told everyone good luck and he’d see us Monday," Daniels said. "He went out of his way to shake some people’s hands, like Cornelius [Griffin] was walking around and he ran over and shook his hand. Maybe that was his way of saying goodbye….Everyone will remember Sean."

Cartwright will have a hard time forgetting, if only because of how his basement is decorated. He has a painting of Taylor on his wall, where he’s blocking a field goal against Dallas – his arms are waving and his sleeves are hanging down. He has a picture of his name that hangs in FedEx Field.

And he also has his own jersey that he wore in the Buffalo game, with the No. 21 towels handed out that night as well as the ticket stub from the Chicago game with Taylor’s picture.

"I have all of that framed," Cartwright said. "I miss him dearly."