Sean Taylor's Backup Recalls Teammate, Friend

Sean Taylor, Washington Redskins, homicide

Sean was always positive and encouraging.

When I came in as a rookie, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Sean, but he was never anything but positive and encouraging with me.

By Citizen Correspondent Matt Lubich

Date Posted: 11/30/07

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By this time of the week, Reed Doughty should only have to worry about getting his game face on, preparing to play the Buffalo Bills this Sunday at FedExField. Under normal circumstances, this would be a week of intense focus for the second-year free safety with the Washington Redskins, who stepped into a starting role about three weeks ago following a knee injury to first-string free safety Sean Taylor. This week, however, circumstances are far from normal. Early Monday morning, Taylor, 24, was shot in his Miami home by an apparent intruder. He died Tuesday.

Wednesday morning, Doughty spoke on the telephone from the Redskins practice facility in Ashburn, Va., about Taylor, this week’s shocking and sad news, and how the team will now try to go on and get ready for Sunday’s game.

“Right now, I’m not really sure how we’ll play a game,” Doughty said. “Everyone is in shock. This is the first person I’ve known to be lost to something like this. This morning (Wednesday), we had a team meeting and just shared our memories of Sean. We’ll practice this afternoon, and we’ll just have to see how the mood carries out.”

Following Sunday’s game against Buffalo, the team will likely travel to Florida on Monday for Taylor’s funeral, then be faced with again preparing on a short week for a game December 6 at home against the Chicago Bears.

But Wednesday morning, football games were almost the furthest thing from Doughty’s mind. His thoughts were of Taylor, his teammate and friend.

“When I came in as a rookie, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Sean, but he was never anything but positive and encouraging with me,” Doughty said. “This year, when I took over for him, he was always encouraging. He’d tell me, ‘Just go out there and have fun. That’s what this game is supposed to be about.’”

Doughty recalled a teammate who didn’t fit the prima donna perception of a starter and Pro Bowler.

“Last year, he took practice reps for me when I was hurt,” he said. “As the back-up, it’s my job to take the reps against the offense, and he did mine as well as his so I could rest up.