As Shawn Taylor's swan dive into the end zone iced the game, and the Redskins nation collectively exhaled, the 2005 team fittingly won its way into the playoffs in the fashion that so many of us expected when the season started.

A sputtering offense was bailed out late in the game by a defense that forced turnovers and big plays. For much of the season, the knock on the defense was that despite being solid in so many aspects, it was not getting the takeaways that could position the offense for easy scores. That stigma has been erased in the last five games, and its no coincidence that the same period has seen the longest winning streak in years. Our defense has seen aggressiveness finally pay off with momentum-changing plays, and the resulting change in the team's overall personality has the rest of the playoff field not so eager to face us.

It remains to seen whether we will be more than a playoff doormat and whether this season will truly be a stepping stone to better things. But for now we should all just savor the way the pieces have come together to give us the most exciting December in a long time, and be glad that we finally have a reason we can actually point to to start dreaming of glory for the Skins again.