A Disney movie wouldn’t do the Washington Redskins’ 2007 season justice. In fact, if you wrote a script about the team’s improbable journey and handed it to a director in Hollywood, they’d laugh at you and hand in back.

A month ago the Redskins were left for dead, and maybe rightfully so. At 5-7 and coming off of a devastating loss to a mediocre-at-best Buffalo Bills team, Washington was just days removed from the funeral of pro-bowl safety Sean Taylor. 

In the team’s loss to the Bills two days before Taylor’s funeral service was held, head-coach Joe Gibbs was hit with a 15-yard penalty after calling back-to-back timeouts at the end of regulation. That flag allowed Buffalo kicker Ryan Lindell to end the game with a 36-yard kick, rather than a 51-yard attempt, on a rainy day at FedEx Field.

Then in a Thursday night game, just three days after the Redskins said their final good bye’s to Taylor, who was gunned-down in his own-home during what is being called a botched burglary attempt, Washington began what would become a magical four-game winning-streak to end it’s season, with a 24-16 win over a fellow playoff-contender at the time in the Chicago Bears.

“We took our biggest step forward after the funeral,” Redskins defensive-end Phillip Daniels would later tell me. “The closure we got from going to Miami that day, and from talking to Sean’s parents again definitely helped us to move on.”

Spoiling what could have been a season-lifting win over Chicago though was a serious knee-injury to starting quarterback Jason Campbell. Backup Todd Collins came off the bench to perform well in the team’s home-win over the Bears, but little was expected of him in the coming weeks.

It had been 10-years since Collins, a Michigan product and former Kansas City Chief, had last made an NFL start. Worse than that though, the Redskins were headed on the road for back-to-back games against conference opponents ranked ahead of them in the playoff-race. But this team - a team that has overcome more than any team should ever have to - was determined to continue to battle.

Two prolific showings - both nationally televised as the NBC’s game-of-the-week - resulted in impressive wins. Propelled by a 126-yard effort from Clinton Portis, the Redskins grounded the Giants 22-10 in a game in which the Skins’ defense forced Eli Manning to throw a record-setting 34 incompletions.

One week later Washington mauled Minnesota, shutting down the Vikings’ top-ranked rushing attack in a 32-21 thriller. Collins, who has been the team’s offensive MVP during it’s unlikely four-game winning streak, threw for 254-yards and two-touchdowns.

But not even that inspiring road effort in the Metrodome could compare to Sunday’s victory over the Dallas Cowboys, which clinched the Redskins a playoff spot for just the third time in fifteen years.

Collins again impressed, passing for 244 more yards and another touchdown, and Portis rushed for a game-high 104-yards. Wide receiver Santana Moss - who like Portis and the late Taylor, attended the University of Miami - led Washington with eight-receptions and 115 receiving yards. The team’s exceptional offensive performance, coupled with a suffocating defensive effort resulted in a 27-6 blowout. 

“We just kept on pushing. We did it for Sean and for or fans and ourselves and our coach’s,” middle-linebacker London Fletcher said. “We earned our way into the playoffs. The Bears were in the Super Bowl last year and we beat them. The Giants were fighting for the playoffs and New York is a tough place to play and we beat them. Minnesota was ahead of us and we were in their house. We earned our spot in the playoffs.”

The only thing more fitting for the Redskins than the fact that it was the rival Cowboys who they beat to clinch a spot in the postseason, was the fact that they beat Dallas by 21-points. Taylor - you’ll remember - wore the number-21.

What better way to end the regular season? After he scores - even on each of his touchdowns today - Portis lifts up his jersey to advertise a tee-shirt with Taylor’s picture on it. After every big catch Moss makes, and every long return Rock Cartwright musters, both of the players flash the number-21 with their fingers, then point sky-ward.  

“Twenty-one is our favorite number and it’s neat that it worked out like that,” said defensive-end Andre Carter about his team winning by 21-points on Sunday. “Sean’s been watching over us since he left us, and we’re still alive because of the strength he’s given us. It’s just fitting that we could win it by 21 like that.”

Demetric Evans, a reserve defensive-lineman, felt the same way about the final score. “Sean is a powerful guy. There’s just something about him. I always felt like he was able to do anything, and I think he had something to do with this.”

Taylor’s death isn’t the only setback the team’s suffered this year - just the most tragic. Like Campbell - a first-year, full-time quarterback, offensive-lineman Jon Jansen and Randy Thomas both suffered bad leg injuries. Each missed all but a couple games with season-ending injuries. Jansen’s backup Todd Wade has since been hurt, thrusting undrafted-rookie Stephon Heyer into the starting lineup at right-tackle.

Wide-receiver Brandon Lloyd broke his collar-bone in an early-November practice and top-receivers Santana Moss and Antwan Randle El were both in-and-out of the lineups throughout much of the middle portion of the season with lingering hamstring and leg ailments. 

Defensively, the team hasn’t been as battered-and-bruised but that isn’t to say that the bite of the injury bug wasn’t felt. Cornerback Carlos Rogers suffered a season-ending ACL tear back in October, and outside-linebacker Rocky McIntosh suffered a similar injury in the win over the Giants earlier this month.

But yet somehow, despite all of the injuries and in the wake of a wake and a funeral, the Redskins were able to pull it together. Tears were shed and pain was felt, but Washington - led by its Hall-of-fame head-coach - persevered.  

“I think Coach Gibbs should be the Coach of the Year,” said the Redskins’ leading-tackler in 2007, London Fletcher. “I mean, [Bill] Billicheck from New England went undefeated and that’s great, but look what Gibbs did here.”

“After that Buffalo game with the two-timeouts, people wanted coach out of here and out of here quickly. But he kept us together.”

“For me [the turning point of the season] came the day after the funeral, when Coach talked to us in the locker room. He told us that most great things that happen in life come after bad and hard times.”

Fletcher isn’t the only believer in Coach-Gibbs in the nation’s capital. After the finishing touches were put on the team’s second late-season push for the playoffs in three-years (the Redskins won five-straight games to make the postseason in 2005), doubters are tough to come by.

“This last month has been un-real, and I will remember it for a long time, but we’re not done yet,” said offensive-tackle Chris Samuels. “We’ve got Seattle next, and we’re feeling real good about ourselves, and we’ve got to go out there this weekend and play our best football to win.”

As if Washington’s season hasn’t already encompassed enough coincidence and irony, Seattle is where the Redskins’ 2005-season ended. They’ll look for a different result against the Seahawks this Saturday evening, and yet again they’ll be counted-out and considered the under-dog.

“We got written off weeks ago,” said defensive-tackle Cornelius Griffin. “Nobody thinks that we can keep this up and nobody thought we’d be here right now. But that doesn’t matter. Games are played on the field, and the only thing that matters is what happens between the lines.”

So don’t worry about circling the Redskins in your office pick’em pool this week. Griffin doesn’t want you to. But don’t be surprised to see the Redskins keep playing well, because they’re not done writing a script that’s already worthy of finding its way to the big screen.