2005 Washington Redskins season

"at FedEx Field, Landover, Maryland"

The Washington Redskins defeated the Seattle Seahawks by the score of 20-17. The Seahawks led early but the Redskins came back to lead by 7. With 1:23 left, Matt Hasselback threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Darrell Jackson to tie the game. The Redskins won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball. They converted three third downs to get to Seattle's 22-yardline. Nick Novak kicked a 39-yard field goal to win the game for Washington. The Redskins were 3-0 for the first time since the 1991 Regular Season which led them to their latest Super Bowl victory to date. [http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/gamebook/NFL_20051002_SEA@WAS Stats]

Week 5: at Denver Broncos

After two close, consecutive, and heartbreaking AFC losses in the last two weeks, the Redskins returned home to welcome the lowly 49ers to town and unleashed a scoring barrage, winning 52-17. After failing to score on their opening drive in each of their first five games, Washington scored first on a 6-play, 61-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown pass from Mark Brunell to Mike Sellers. After forcing another San Francisco punt, the Redskins drove another 60 yards for another score, this time a 5-yard run from Clinton Portis. After two more touchdown passes by Brunell, one each to Sellers and Santana Moss, combined with two more 1-yard touchdown runs by Portis and a Nick Novak field goal, the Redskins led 45-7 after three quarters. Washington finished their blowout with a 4-yard touchdown run by Rock Cartwright to make it 52-7. San Francisco did score twice on a 72-yard run by Frank Gore and a 47-yard field goal by Joe Nedney. With the win, Washington improved to 4-2.

Week 8: at New York Giants

At the halfway point of the season, the Redskins' record stood at 5-3, tied for second in the NFC East with Dallas. On Week 10, the Redskins marched to Tampa Bay for a matchup against the |Buccaneers. Tampa Bay struck first with two touchdown runs by Mike Alstott. This made the score 14-3, with the only Washington points coming on a John Hall field goal. After Alstott's second touchdown, Ladell Betts returned the ensuing kickoff 94 yards to bring the score to 14-10. Tampa Bay would respond with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Chris Simms to Joey Galloway, making the score 21-10. Washington would get another John Hall field goal to make the score 21-13 at halftime.

After halftime, Washington took their first drive of the second half into the endzone on a 7-yard pass from Mark Brunell to Mike Sellers, followed by a converted 2-point conversion on a pass to Clinton Portis, tying the game. Washington also scored on a 17-yard touchdown pass to Ladell Betts, giving the Redskins a 28-21 lead. As the third quarter winded down, Simms completed a 4-yard pass to Ike Hilliard to tie the game at 28-28 entering the fourth quarter. Portis added a 5-yard touchdown run to give the Redskins a 35-28 lead. With the game on the line, Simms led Tampa Bay to a game-winning touchdown drive with a 30-yard pass to Edell Shepherd. The Redskins appeared to have blocked the extra point attempt, but were ruled offsides. As a result, Tampa Bay elected to go for two, and successfully converted on a controversial run by Alstott, handing the Redskins a 36-35 loss and dropping them to 5-4 on the season.