Darrell Green

WASHINGTON -- You ask about a unique show of courage, and you leave thinking it was nothing special. The Washington Redskins brainwash you that way. They convince you what Darrell Green did yesterday was routine.It wasn't, but these are the Redskins, and they're going to the Super Bowl, and just leave it at that. "You're trying to make me a hero," Green told one reporter yesterday. Only in the Redskins' locker room does that qualify as a sin.The Redskins don't do heroes. If they did, they'd be just another gifted team, not the brutally efficient unit that pounded Detroit 41-10 in the NFC championship game yesterday at RFK Stadium.

WASHINGTON -- Don't tell Washington Redskins cornerback Darrell Green he's a hero.He brushed it off that he played the second half of yesterday's NFC title game against the Detroit Lions with bruised ribs.Asked how he played despite the pain, he said: "You're trying to make me a hero. It's hard to not play in a game like this. You look at Jerry Ball [Detroit's nose tackle]. He hasn't been able to play [because of a knee injury]. That's a real tough thing to do. You've been there all year.

ASHBURN, Va. - Likely Hall of Fame Washington Redskins cornerback Darrell Green, who hinted last week that his decision to retire after the season may have been influenced by the lack of respect new coach Marty Schottenheimer showed him in training camp, announced yesterday that he will "unretire" and play his 20th season in 2002. "After discussing it with my wife, Jewell, and our family [Sunday night], I decided it was premature to retire this year," Green, 41, said in a prepared statement.

When Darrell Green was asked about the perils of trying to repeat as Super Bowl champions, he launched into a story about how he wound up on a downtown Washington street with a dead battery in his truck.It took two hours and four charges before he could finally get the truck started, he said, and he wound up causing a mini traffic jam because so many fans were crowding around him trying to get autographs."I was telling the folks: 'Look, I'm normal. Y'all are the ones who are crazy. I'm just here with a car that won't start and you're out here blocking the street.

ASHBURN, Va. - Darrell Green is not being deceptive about his status for the Washington Redskins' Monday night game against the Super Bowl-champion St. Louis Rams. Truth is, he really does not know. The 18-year NFL veteran cornerback wants to play, but to declare he will do so would be a bit premature. Green is still recovering from a calf injury sustained in the first quarter of the game against the Ravens on Oct. 30. Rarely have his services been more in need than against the Rams, the league's most prolific passing team.

ASHBURN, Va. -- As coach Joe Gibbs walked toward the press room at Redskin Park to begin his news conference yesterday, he spotted cornerback Darrell Green walking out of the front door.Gibbs sprinted to the door and asked, "Is that thing doing any better?""So-so," Green replied.That was the question of the day for the Washington Redskins. They all wanted to know the condition of Darrell Green's bruised left heel.Green didn't make the trip to Minnesota last Saturday so he could stay off his feet, but he still doesn't know how well he'll be able to play Saturday against the San Francisco 49ers in an NFC divisional playoff game.

ASHBURN, Va. -- Fifteen years after he burst into national consciousness with speed that chills, Darrell Green still chases down running backs and wide receivers with uncommon verve for the Washington Redskins.The first chase, in which Green caught Tony Dorsett from behind on "Monday Night Football," may have been the most tantalizing, however.Green, a 23-year-old rookie cornerback at the time, was making his Redskins debut. Dorsett was in the prime of his Hall of Fame career with the Dallas Cowboys.

Three months after winning their first Super Bowl in 1983, the Washington Redskins received another reward. With the 28th and final selection in the first round of the 1983 NFL draft, and one pick after the Miami Dolphins grabbed a strong-armed quarterback from Pittsburgh named Dan Marino, the Redskins settled on an undersized but lightning-quick cornerback out of Texas A&M-Kingsville. Darrell Green played 20 seasons with the Redskins, earned two Super Bowl rings, appeared in seven Pro Bowls and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008.

TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Washington Redskins like to think the have a grip on this repeating thing.As they start their second season today at Sun Devil Stadium against the Phoenix Cardinals, they figure they don't have to worry about repeating because they're not being treated as defending Super Bowl champions."

HERNDON, Va. -- The strong safety is on the injured reserve list. The free safety, the right cornerback and the middle linebacker were signed when they were left unprotected on Plan B. The left linebacker was put on the trading block during training camp and no takers were found.Welcome to the defense of the Washington Redskins.It may not look too impressive on paper, but it has recorded two shutouts in the first three games.The Redskins, ranked No. 2 on defense in the NFL and No. 1 on pass defense, are off to a 3-0 start.