NFL Should Revise Redskins' Schedule After Death of Sean Taylor

The tragic death of safety Sean Taylor has undoubtedly shaken both the Washington Redskins and the NFL as a whole. This truly is a different situation than what we as fans have seen in recent memory. Normally, when an athlete such as Taylor finds himself in trouble, the situation can be directly attributed to the athlete being in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's not the case here. Taylor was doing what almost all of us would be doing around one in the morning. He was sleeping when an intruder broke into his house and gunned him down.

It goes without saying that this entire situation has rocked every fan and football player. As always goes in a situation such as this, clichés such as "what's really important" and "football is only a game" are being used by almost every media outlet. Those statements, no matter how cliché, are completely true in this case. It is for that very reason that the NFL needs to revise the schedule of the Washington Redskins.

I'm fully aware the NFL is a business and, as cruel and heartless as it may seem to say, the games must go on. Let's be serious, though. Sean Taylor was a 24-year old man with a one-year child and now he's gone.

Gone.

Would you want to play a football game this Sunday? Honestly. Could you look me in the eye and tell me that, if a teammate of yours had been gunned down at home in the manner that Taylor was, that you would be mentally and physically able to play a game five days after he passed away? Of course you couldn't. Sean Taylor's teammates aren't going to be able to do so, either.

For starters, let's look at this simply as a football fan and nothing else. An All-Pro player the caliber of Sean Taylor was taken from his team in an incident completely unrelated to the game of football. How can the Redskins be expected to replace a player like Sean Taylor? Nobody in the league can believe that the players and coaching staff of the Redskins are going to be in the right frame of mind during the week, let alone on the field on Sunday. The Buffalo Bills, Washington's opponent on December 2, cannot be asked to "take it easy" on the Redskins. They're fighting for a playoff birth as well.