2012's Best: RGIII and the Redskins' resurrection

Via USA Today

By Jason Bacaj

It was only one season, but boy, what a season. The RGIII-led Redskins engineered the turnaround of the year and surged into the playoffs. Part of a short series on the best moments of 2012.

I wish I had a picture of the faces on all the people at my house when the Redskins won the NFC East. I wish I could take that feeling, bottle it up and take a sip any time I’m feeling down. I’d keep a little vial of it around my neck so emergency personnel could inject it directly into my aorta and bring me back to life, if need be.

Watching the Redskins capture the division for the third time in my life while surrounded by Dallas fans was glorious and amazing and easily one of the best sports moments of 2012. And because I can’t help but gloat a little bit more… to all the Cowboys fans still clinging to that “America’s Team” moniker: Child, please. You must not have seen this. Forget America’s Team, Robert Griffin III is America’s quarterback.

This year marked the complete turnaround of an NFL franchise that had seen so little success for so long. The Redskins went from worst to first, and while a significant portion of the credit goes to our Black Jesus under center, more encouraging was that much of what the team built over the past two years started to pay off.

The decrepit roster with a losing mentality was broken down and rebuilt, better piece by better piece. Head coach Mike Shanahan has cut 150 players since he came in, and only one (Carlos Rogers) is starting for another team. Over the course of those two years, the Redskins grew up right before our eyes.

Or at least my eyes, since it seems no one else has given them a chance since the late 1990s. I’m looking at you, ESPN the Magazine, with your 2-14 preseason prediction. And you, Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com, with your 3-13 prediction. Despite key early-season injuries and a dreadful 3-6 start, Washington refused to fold where it certainly would have in the past. Then suddenly they were owners of a seven-game winning streak, a division title, and a home playoff game.

Who knows what will happen next year. Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan appears interested in a head coaching gig (Don’t do it, Kyle! There’s a succesion plan in place and RGIII is your play-calling muse), the team will lose out on another $18 million in cap space and it’s already without a first round draft pick.* Not to mention Griffin’s wobbly knee, which swayed and then collapsed on the torn-up FedEx Field turf, dragging D.C.’s playoff dreams with it.

Even so, what happened this season was glorious. The pack-it-in attitude is gone. In its place is a franchise quarterback, a talented running back, and the kind of skill at each position that comes from a multiyear dedication to rebuilding. We’ve seen one of the finest franchise turnarounds in recent memory, and I can only hope that this year lives up to the new standard that the Redskins set in 2012.

Jason Bacaj is Began in '96's Out West correspondent and an appropriately optimistic Redskins fan.

*Article amended to reflect that the 'Skins do indeed have a second round draft pick. Hooray!