How will the team react?

The skins need to honor his memory, with an agressive and hardhitting style of play. ST was the heart and soul of the D and arguably the best player on the team. Dominate the rest of the season, even if they dont make the playoffs.. for the MEAST ST!

Still, you call them, you wake them up. You get their asses over to work. They should have prepared obit pieces on him yesterday. They should have Faulk and Woodson discussing it. Schefter ready to provide whatever info as it comes in.

But in the end it doesn't matter

NFL Network isn't alone. We're still watching the midnight Sportscenter. Comcast SportsNet is showing a college football replay. I've only scanned the "News" networks, but I've seen nothing.

As soon as the media heard this news, they should have started writing career retrospectives, in case Sean didn't make it. Casey Husband had a piece up at 7 am on Redskins.com - that's his job.

I wouldn't place high expectations on this upcoming game. I feel lost right now, and I didn't even know Taylor. I can't imagine his teammates being able to focus this week. The managing the aftermath of this tragedy will be the biggest challenge of Gibbs's NFL career.

I wouldn't place high expectations on this upcoming game. I feel lost right now, and I didn't even know Taylor. I can't imagine his teammates being able to focus this week. The managing the aftermath of this tragedy will be the biggest challenge of Gibbs's NFL career.

It's hard to care about football right now. I can't imagine what the team will be going through this week leading up to the game. Sunday is going to be a very emotional day needless to say.

This is one of those events that can swing drastically either way; it may unite the team to play hard for ST & give them a sense of purpose, or they could be overwhelmed & not at all ready to focus on their job.

It's not quite analogous, but Va. Tech's team was really slow out of the blocks this year & I think a lot had to do w/the aftermath of the April 16 shootings & all the support they got from other schools. The very nature of football makes it hard to compete w/full intensity after ceremonies in honor of the deceased. When the players know the deceased personally, I can only imagine that it's a huge "distraction" for lack of a better word.

The staff & the players are obviously going to have a tough time w/this. While it could spur an emotional burst of energy, I think it's more likely that they'll have a tough time staying in games. Maybe I'm just prepared to write the season off in light of ST's death. I almost feel that out of respect we should all just lower our expectations & not criticize the team for the rest of the year.

these guys are pros. sure, they lost a brother, but the game will be played. and every one of these guys have gigantic egos. no one, that's right, no one, wants to go out on Sunday and get embarrassed. tragedy, as awful as it is, occurs everyday to someone. you have to pick up the pieces, as best you can, and move on. its what we do. its part of what makes us great. im not trying to be cold, just realistic. i would be shocked if you don't see superior effort from the skins this weekend

Maybe I'm just prepared to write the season off in light of ST's death. I almost feel that out of respect we should all just lower our expectations & not criticize the team for the rest of the year.

Excellent point...we all gotta put what's really important over football expectations....a Redskin has tragically died, everyone is going to have a hard time dealing with that for months.

All I can say is...thank God Joe Gibbs is our coach right now....there is no one....no one better for this kind of situation.

These are sort of situations that Gibbs is needed.
His spiritual strengths will be leaned on during this difficult time.
He will put this all into perspective....yes, we may lose a bunch of games, but more importantly, lives may be impacted for the better

I know you get over something like this but how do you play a game next sunday? I remember when my father died I just shut down for a few weeks. But for guys that play and work together like the Skins how do you get up for a game in less then a week. How do coaches make game plans? It all seems so nothing after somthing like this!

I almost feel that out of respect we should all just lower our expectations & not criticize the team for the rest of the year.

I will not lower my expectations. I will change them. I expect these guys, these friends of Sean's, to honor him by playing the games their lives. I am not talking about winning games here. I am talking about effort and pride. I expect this team to display a sense of pride and emotion that we have never seen before from them. I expect them to lay everything out and show everyone how much they care about this game. If at the end of these upcoming games I can look at them and know that they did everything they could. That they did what Sean would have done then win or lose I will be proud of them.