Bob Cook

It would be wonderful and uplifting to see the Washington Redskins uniting in the wake of teammate Sean Taylor’s death to launch a spectacular and inspirational playoff run.

But the reality is that with the players not knowing how they will ultimately deal with the safety’s killing at the tragically young age of 24, expecting more than a win or two in the last five games of the regular season is probably too much to ask.

Players, coaches and everyone else in the Washington organization don’t have the time to begin to deal with their emotions about Taylor’s death and the mystery of who was responsible and why it happened — and for the athletes in particular, whether they could become a victim of a killing themselves.

As much as the Redskins would like to do well in Taylor’s memory, this win-one-for-the-Gipper stuff was pure Hollywood hokum even before it became immortalized in the 1940 movie "Knute Rockne, All-American."

After all, Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne didn’t deliver the gold standard for inspirational, death-related speeches until eight years after George Gipp had passed, with that 1928 Notre Dame squad having never met the man struck down by illness while still an Irish football player.

Loyola Marymount had an inspirational run to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament quarterfinals in 1990 following the on-court, heart-related death of Hank Gathers late in the season. But Loyola Marymount had 12 days between Gathers’ death and its next game, enough time to attend his funeral and begin to come to terms with his passing. The 2002 St. Louis Cardinals in the immediate aftermath of pitcher Daryl Kile’s death from his own heart ailment is a more applicable example — a 2-5 slide by a first-place team.

Redskins' Taylor dies after shooting Alleged teen gunman wants plea deal Spotlight: Tragedy weighs heavily on Gibbs NBC Sports: Heartbreak and perspective Open Mike: Don't be knee-jerk about this Opinion: Tragedy could derail playoff hopes   Sound off on NFL discussion boards Complete NFL coverage

Like those Cardinals, the Redskins have no time to grasp their feelings to the point they can start worrying again about what’s happening on the field.

Taylor died Tuesday, and the team was scheduled to practice Wednesday. They host Buffalo Sunday, and then play host to Chicago next Thursday. Sometime, the team will squeeze in time to travel to Miami for Taylor’s funeral, as yet unscheduled.

The quotes from Redskins players in the immediate aftermath of Taylor’s death went beyond mere shock into almost total discombobulation. Even Coach Joe Gibbs was not sure what to make of things.

"I have never dealt with this," various reports quoted Gibbs as saying on Tuesday, mere hours after Taylor died of injuries after being shot in the leg at his Miami-area home. "We're going one hour at a time here."

This straining to fit grief into an NFL season goes beyond the Redskins, hitting every member of the tight University of Miami program from which Taylor sprung, and every player who knew Taylor. Or fears for his personal safety, as Taylor did.

That Taylor died on the wrong end of a gun is likely to shake up his teammates even more than the in-season deaths of Gathers and Kile — or even someone such as Josh Hancock, the Cardinals pitcher who died in a car wreck last season — shook up their teammates.

After all, athletes, or any human being, can rationalize that they are immune from a heart problem, or that they aren’t going to lose control behind the wheel. But the circumstances of Taylor’s death hit way too close to home for too many athletes.

First is that homicide is the most common way, since forever — for a black male between the ages of 15 and 29 to die. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics on Nov. 20 released figures from 2004 showing that the rate of homicide death for black males ages 20-24 was 101.8 per 100,000, nearly three times the rate of Hispanic males the same age, and more than 10 times the rate of white and Asian males ages 20-24.

For whatever talk there is of Taylor’s past run-ins with the law — which might be less a result of so-called thug life than it is the feeling of power of being a cop’s kid, the son of Florida City, Fla.’s police chief — the threat of homicide is a reality for black males no matter whether or not they seek out a criminal life. Darrent Williams of the Denver Broncos was just sitting in his limousine when he was fatally shot in the neck Jan. 1, the day after the Broncos ended their 2006 season. No one has been arrested.

Video   Gibbs speaks out about Taylor Nov. 26: Redskin coach Joe Gibbs talks about the Sean Taylor shooting NBC Sports

But for athletes of any race, the scarier thought is the recent brazenness in which they are being targeted by violent criminals, as aware as anyone else to pro players’ money and status.

Minnesota’s Antoine Walker and New York’s Eddy Curry in July were bound by home invaders who then burgled their Chicago-area homes. Police have arrested gang members in each case, and said they specifically targeted Walker and Curry, though there was no relation between the two incidents.

Taylor himself was the victim of a break-in eight days before his Nov. 25 shooting, during which the perpetrator placed a knife in the house as an apparent warning signal. When Taylor and his fiancée awoke to noise in his house the night of his shooting, Taylor grabbed a machete he kept under his bed for protection.

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Football frenzy, surfing sensation, misery for Cubs fans, and more. more photos

Police are releasing few details about Taylor’s shooting, and no suspects are identified. The lack of resolution in Taylor’s case is only going to add to the unease and confusion among the Redskins, and much of the NFL.

Perhaps, like the 2002 Cardinals did with Kile, the Redskins can overcome any initial torpor after Taylor’s death to get hot and go to the postseason. But St. Louis already was in first place and had about half the season remaining when Kile died.

Washington is 5-6, in contention but in no position to drop games for any reason if it wants to be playoff-bound. At this point, you can’t blame the Redskins for having their minds more on their fallen teammate than on their already marginal postseason chances. To borrow Gibbs’ phrasing, for a while Washington’s players are naturally going to focus on the next hour, rather than the next level.

Don't miss this on MSNBC.com Pass it on: Sons of infertile men may be next The eight biggest Olympic marketing debacles Secrets of 'Survivor' revealed Cosmic Log: Is this your jetpack? Century after first fatality, safety is in the air

MORE FROM NFL

NFL Section Front

Uncovering NFL's paper tigers, sleeping lions Novacek's picks: Ravens to drop Colts below .500 Madden's previews: Cards have shot to beat 'Boys Madden Mailbag: Big Ben now among the elite QBs Chiefs’ Gonzalez on trade block Hospitalized Winslow might be out Monday Browns brace for Giants, NFL’s road kings Middle name for Mangini's baby: Favre Bengals’ Palmer won’t start against Jets Eagles' Westbrook ruled out of Sunday's game NFL Section Front   Add NFL headlines to your news reader: