The 2000 season was the Washington Redskins' 69th season in the National Football League (NFL) and their 64th in Washington, D.C. The team was looking to improve on its 10–6 mark from 1999, which saw the Redskins win the NFC East for the first time since 1991 and win a playoff game for the first time since 1992. Norv Turner returned to lead the team for a seventh season. However, he got fired after a 7–6 start.

The Redskins rolled to a 6–2 start, but they collapsed in the second half of season, going 2–6, and went 8–8 to place 3rd in the NFC East, unable to improve on their NFC East-winning 10–6 record from 1999 or qualify for the playoffs. This was the final season Eddie Murray and Irving Fryar would play in the NFL.

Background Redskins owner Dan Snyder made it a point during the off-season to stack his team with talent. The Redskins entered the 2000 NFL draft with three first-round selections, the highest of which was the second overall pick which they had acquired in the Ricky Williams trade with the New Orleans Saints. With that pick, the Redskins selected linebacker Lavar Arrington from Penn State, who would go on to be a three-time Pro Bowler for the team. The other two picks were traded to the San Francisco 49ers in order to move up to the third overall pick, which the Redskins used to select Alabama offensive tackle Chris Samuels, a six-time future Pro Bowler and multi-year starter at left tackle.

In addition to these moves, Snyder also made a push for several veteran free agents to bolster the roster, signing quarterback Jeff George from the Minnesota Vikings to compete with Brad Johnson for starting quarterback. Snyder also signed veteran guard Jay Leeuwenberg and future Pro Bowl wide receiver Andre Reed after Reed was released by the Denver Broncos.

On the defensive side, the Redskins made three major acquisitions. Longtime Buffalo Bills defensive stalwart Bruce Smith was signed to play defensive end and add more experience to the front four of the Redskins. The secondary saw the addition of safety Mark Carrier, who Snyder signed from the Detroit Lions, and multi-time All Pro cornerback Deion Sanders, who left the division-rival Dallas Cowboys after five years to join the Redskins. With the new acquisitions, expectations for the season were elevated that the Redskins would compete to represent the NFC in Super Bowl XXXV, if not to win their fourth Vince Lombardi trophy outright.

The Redskins started out winning six of their first eight games, living up to expectations with game victories. Their on-field performance, however, belied their record. In those eight games, the Redskins did not score more than 21 points aside from a 35–16 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

In their next two games before their bye week, the Redskins faced the defending AFC champion Tennessee Titans, who entered the Monday night matchup having won seven consecutive games, and the Arizona Cardinals, whose 2–5 start had led to the firing of Vince Tobin. The Redskins lost both games, dropping their record to 6–4.

Returning from their bye week, the Redskins managed to beat the defending world champion St. Louis Rams 33–20 in another Monday night matchup. After that, the Redskins lost back-to-back games to their divisional rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants, dropping their season record to 7-6 and all but eliminating them from playoff contention. After the loss to the Giants, Snyder fired head coach Norv Turner and replaced him with offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie, who immediately benched Johnson and named George the starter for the remainder of the year.

The Redskins fared no better under Robiskie or George, as they lost their first game under the new regime to the Dallas Cowboys at Texas Stadium. Washington managed to knock Troy Aikman out of the game with a concussion, which would eventually force him into retirement at the end of the season, but were beaten by Anthony Wright, his backup, 32–14 in what would be their final win of a 5–11 season. The Redskins followed this up by traveling to play the Pittsburgh Steelers in the final game played at Three Rivers Stadium, which they lost 24–3. The Redskins managed to avenge their loss to the Cardinals in the final week of the season, which brought their final record to 8-8, which was not sufficient for playoff eligibility.

Offseason

Draft

2000 Washington Redskins draft Round Selection Player Position College 1 2 LaVar Arrington Linebacker Penn State 3 Chris Samuels Tackle Alabama 3 64 Lloyd Harrison Cornerback North Carolina State 4 129 Michael Moore Guard Troy 5 155 Quincy Sanders Cornerback UNLV 6 202 Todd Husak Quarterback Stanford 7 216 Delbert Cowsette Defensive Tackle Maryland 250 Ethan Howell Wide Receiver Oklahoma State

Personnel

Staff 2000 Washington Redskins staffFront office Owner – Daniel Snyder Director of player personnel – Vinny Cerrato Assistant general manager – Bobby Mitchell

Head coaches Head coach – Norv Turner

Offensive coaches Pass game coordinator – Terry Robiskie Quarterbacks – Rich Olson Running backs – Kirby Wilson Tight ends – Pat Flaherty Offensive line – Russ Grimm Offensive assistant – Jason Verduzco Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Ray Rhodes Defensive line – Rubin Carter Defensive line – Mike Trgovac Linebackers – Foge Fazio Defensive backs – Ron Meeks Defensive assistant – Kirk Olivadotti

Special teams coaches Special teams – LeCharls McDaniel

Strength and conditioning Strength – Dan Riley Conditioning director – Jason Arapoff

Roster

Preseason Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap 1 August 4 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 12–13 0–1 Raymond James StadiumRecap 2 August 11 New England Patriots W 30–20 1–1 FedExField Recap 3 August 19 at Cleveland Browns W 24–0 2–1 Cleveland Browns Stadium Recap 4 August 25 Pittsburgh Steelers W 17–10 3–1FedExFieldRecap

Regular season

Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance 1 September 3 Carolina Panthers W 20–17 1–0 FedExField 80,257 2 September 10 at Detroit Lions L 10–15 1–1 Pontiac Silverdome 74,159 3 Dallas Cowboys L 21–27 1–2 FedExField 84,431 4 September 24 at New York Giants W 16–6 2–2 Giants Stadium 78,216 5 October 1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 20–17 (OT) 3–2 FedExField 83,532 6 October 8 at Philadelphia Eagles W 17–14 4–2 Veterans Stadium 65,491 7 October 15 Baltimore Ravens W 10–3 5–2 FedExField 83,252 8 October 22 at Jacksonville Jaguars W 35–16 6–2 Alltel Stadium 69,061 9 October 30 Tennessee Titans L 21–27 6–3 FedExField 83,472 10 November 5 at Arizona Cardinals L 15–16 6–4 Sun Devil Stadium 52,244 11 Bye 12 at St. Louis Rams W 33–20 7–4 Trans World Dome 66,087 13 November 26 Philadelphia Eagles L 20–23 7–5 FedExField 83,284 14 December 3 New York Giants L 7–9 7–6 FedExField 83,485 15 December 10 at Dallas Cowboys L 13–32 7–7 Texas Stadium 63,467 16 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 3–24 7–8 Three Rivers Stadium 58,183 17 December 24 Arizona Cardinals W 20–3 8–8 FedExField 65,711

Standings

Best performances Marco Coleman, Week 1, 2.5 Quarterback Sacks vs. Carolina Panthers NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, NY, , p. 209 Marco Coleman, Week 5, 3.0 Quarterback Sacks vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Albert Connell, 3rd Best Receiving Performance of Season, 211 Receiving Yards vs. Jacksonville Jaguars, October 22 NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, NY, , p. 207 Bruce Smith, Week 12, 3.0 Quarterback Sacks vs. St. Louis Rams

Player stats

Passing Player Comp Att Pct Yds TD Int Rate Brad Johnson 228 365 62.5 2,505 11 15 75.7 Jeff George 113 194 58.2 1,389 7 6 79.6

Rushing Player Attempts Yards Average Long Touchdowns Stephen Davis 332 1318 4.0 50 11 Larry Centers 19 103 5.4 14 0 James Thrash 10 82 8.2 34 0 Skip Hicks 29 78 2.7 12 1 Brad Johnson 22 58 2.6 21 1 Jeff George 7 24 3.4 14 0NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, NY, , p. 151

Receiving Player Receptions Yards Average Long Touchdowns Larry Centers 81 600 7.4 26 3 James Thrash 50 653 13.1 50 2 Stephen Alexander 47 510 10.9 30 2 Irving Fryar 41 548 13.4 34 5 Albert Connell 39 762 19.5 77 3 Stephen Davis 33 313 9.5 39 0 Adrian Murrell 16 93 5.8 12 0 Andre Reed 10 103 10.3 21 1 Michael Westbrook 9 103 11.4 21 0

Sacks Player Number Marco Coleman 12.0 Bruce Smith 10.0 LaVar Arrington 4.0 Dan Wilkinson 3.5

Awards and records LaVar Arrington, PFW/Pro Football Writers of America All-Rookie Team Marco Coleman, NFC Defensive Player of the Week, week 5 NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, NY, , p. 202 Albert Connell, NFC Offensive Player of the Week, week 8 Deion Sanders, NFL Defensive Player of the Week, week 5 Chris Samuels, PFW/Pro Football Writers of America All-Rookie Team Bruce Smith, NFC Defensive Player of the Week, week 12

References

External links Redskins on Pro Football Reference 2000 NFC Passing Stats