2005 Washington Redskins season The 2005 Washington Redskins began with the team trying to improve on their 6 - 10 record from 2004 . The Redskins placed 2nd in the NFC East . Washington earned their first playoff berth since 1999 . Offseason . The Redskins started the offseason by adding a new Quarterbacks Coach , Bill Musgrave . Musgrave was the former offensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars and had worked with quarterback Mark Brunell before . Musgrave added the shotgun formation to Washington ' s playbook . During the offseason , the Redskins lost cornerback Fred Smoot and starting linebacker Antonio Pierce to free agency . The Redskins signed the following free agents : center Casey Rabach , wide receiver David Patten , and strong safety Pierson Prioleau . The Redskins also traded wide receiver Laveranues Coles to the New York Jets for wide receiver Santana Moss . Most sports writers thought that this was a lopsided deal and that the Redskins were getting the worse end of the trade . In the 2005 NFL Draft , the Redskins drafted Auburn cornerback Carlos Rogers with the ninth pick . Later in the 1st round , they traded their third round pick in the 2005 draft and their first and fourth round picks in the 2006 draft to the Denver Broncos for the 25th overall pick . With the 25th overall pick , the Redskins selected Auburn quarterback Jason Campbell . The Redskins used their remaining picks to draft UCLA fullback Manuel White , Louisville linebacker Robert McCune , Stanford linebacker Jared Newberry , and Citadel fullback Nehemiah Broughton . The Redskins finished the 2005 preseason with a record of 1 - 3 , losing to the Carolina Panthers 28 - 10 , losing to the Cincinnati Bengals 24 - 17 , defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers 17 - 10 , and losing to the Baltimore Ravens 26 - 20 . 2005 Preseason . Date / Opponent / Time / Score 8 / 13 @ Panthers 8pm ET L 10 - 28 8 / 19 vs . Bengals 8pm ET L 17 - 24 8 / 26 vs . Steelers 8pm ET W 17 - 10 9 / 1 @ Ravens 8pm ET L 20 - 26 Regular season . Week 1 : vs . Chicago Bears . " at FedExField , Landover , Maryland " The Redskins started the regular season against the Chicago Bears at home on September 11 . The Redskins defense allowed only 41 rushing yards and 125 passing yards . The only score they allowed was a 1 - yard Thomas Jones run . On one crucial drive for the Bears , when they needed a field goal to win , the Redskins forced three false starts and a sack to make it third - and - 38 . The Bears couldn ' t convert and the Redskins went on to win their first game in the 2005 season . Stats Week 2 : at Dallas Cowboys . " at Texas Stadium , Dallas , Texas " The Redskins traveled to Texas Stadium in Irving , Texas to take on one of their NFC East rivals , the Dallas Cowboys in a Monday Night match - up . The Redskins trailed the entire game up until 3 : 46 left in the game . Dallas kicker Jose Cortez completed a 33 - yard field goal in the second quarter . In the third quarter , quarterback Drew Bledsoe threw a 70 - yard pass to Terry Glenn on a flea flicker . With 5 : 58 left to go in the game , Cortez completed another field goal of 41 - yards . It looked as there was not a single hope left for Washington . On fourth - and - 15 , Mark Brunell threw a 39 - yard touchdown pass to Santana Moss with 3 : 46 to go . Washington forced a three - and - out and got the ball back at their 20 yardline . On first down , Brunell threw another 70 - yard pass to Moss who caught it in stride and went into the endzone . The Cowboys would make one final push to win the game , but the Redskins would stop them on fourth down . With the win , the Redskins moved to 2 - 0 . Stats Week 4 : vs . Seattle Seahawks . " 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 . Stats Week 5 : at Denver Broncos . " at Invesco Field , Denver , Colorado " Despite having 447 net yards , the Redskins were defeated by the Broncos , 21 - 19 . Down 21 - 10 in the fourth quarter , the Redskins made a push to tie the game . Nick Novak kicked a field goal from 36 yards with 6 : 27 left . Washington got the ball back and drove down the field . On second - and - 5 , Mark Brunell passed to Chris Cooley for a touchdown . The Redskins would try for the 2 - point conversion but fail . Denver would recover the onside kick and win the game . With their first loss of the season , the Redskins dropped to 3 - 1 . Stats Week 6 : at Kansas City Chiefs . The game was close at the half with the Redskins leading 7 - 6 . That would soon disappear as the Chiefs took a 14 - 7 lead on a 6 - yard touchdown run by Priest Holmes . After Mark Brunell was sacked for a 9 - yard loss , Santana Moss tied the game on a quick pass to the left flat as he ran 78 - yards for a touchdown . The Chiefs would retake a 21 - 14 lead on a Sammy Knight fumble recovery for an 80 - yard touchdown along with a successful two - point conversion . In the final seconds of the third quarter , Brunell hit Chris Cooley with an 11 - yard touchdown catch to tie the game once again at 21 - 21 . Trent Green hit Holmes on a 60 - yard touchdown catch to seal the deal for the Chiefs as Brunell and the Redskins would fail in a comeback in the final seconds of the fourth quarter . With the loss , the Redskins dropped to 3 - 2 . Week 7 : vs San Francisco 49ers . 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 . Following their lopsided blowout win over the 49ers , the Redskins headed to the Meadowlands for an NFC East duel with the New York Giants . Looking to follow up with another impressive win , the afternoon turned out to be a miserable one for the Redskins , getting shut out 36 - 0 . The Giants , playing with heavy hearts after the death of owner Wellington Mara , got off to a fast start with a 57 - yard run on the game ' s first play , leading to a Jay Feely field goal . Barber finished with 206 rushing yards on 24 carries . The 36 - 0 shutout dropped the Redskins to 4 - 3 . Week 9 : vs Philadelphia Eagles . Looking to rebound from a 36 - 0 shutout against the Giants , Washington returned home for a second consecutive NFC East matchup , this time against the Philadelphia Eagles . Earlier in the week , Eagles WR Terrell Owens was suspended for conduct detrimental to the team . During the game , Philadelphia drew first blood with a 56 - yard touchdown pass from Donovan McNabb to Reggie Brown that put Philadelphia up 7 - 0 after the first quarter . Washington responded with a John Hall field goal and a Mike Sellers touchdown run to lead 10 - 7 at the half . In the third , the Eagles added a David Akers field goal , and the Redskins responded with a Clinton Portis touchdown run to make the score 17 - 10 . In the fourth quarter , with time winding down , the Eagles driving , safety Ryan Clark intercepted a McNabb pass with 1 : 25 remaining , sealing the win and improving the Redskins to 5 - 3 at the halfway point in the season . Week 10 : at Tampa Bay Buccaneers . 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 . Playoffs . Summary . The Redskins earned a playoff berth on the back of a 5 - game winning streak to end the season . They beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card round before losing to the Seattle Seahawks in the Divisional round . It was the Redskins ' first trip to the playoffs and first playoff win since the 1999 – 2000 NFL playoffs .