Hail, Hail Redskins: The Gang’s All Here

Mark Rypien sat on the staircase lacing up his practice cleats, humming softly. “Everybody’s in, huh?” He grinned, then jogged out toward the field.

Raleigh McKenzie was following him out, and somebody called to him, “Hey, Rollo, Jim’s in.” McKenzie turned back, beaming -- grateful he could go back to left guard -- and said, “He’s answering my prayers.”

Just then Darrell Green popped out of the locker-room door, on his way to the field, and Brian Mitchell spotted him, whooping, “Mr. Green!”

Meanwhile, John Brandes was prowling around, having fun with the reporters who camped in the lobby waiting for a Desmond Howard sighting. Every so often a Redskin would pass and Brandes would yell out excitedly, “Desmond!” only to have reporters turn suddenly, and be facing some 300-pounder like Ed Simmons.

So perhaps it’s just serendipity that the truck parked right in front of the new Redskin Park Tuesday -- the day the prodigal sons returned -- belonged to a company called Eureka. Yes, Eureka.

They all found their way in:

The all-pro CB.

The all-pro LT.

The Heisman Trophy winner WR.

Those letters might not help you out in Scrabble, but you put them together on a football field, you’ve got a triple word score.

This week, for the first time, the Redskins were able to put Darrell Green, Jim Lachey and Desmond Howard on the same field -- even if it was just a practice.

“I’m as happy as I’ve ever been,” Jack Kent Cooke said, jauntily striding through the front door with his cocker spaniel, Coco. “And I’m so proud that Jim Lachey and Darrell Green both came in to thank me.”

“Cute dog,” someone said.

“And she loves me,” The Squire said. “Watch this.”

“Sit, Coco,” The Squire said. “Now, stay.”

And Coco did, and The Squire went off smiling.

Happy day. Happy day.

The defending Super Bowl champions are whole. Their offensive line has its best player back. Their defensive backfield has its best player back. And the game breaker they’ve been wishing for all these years showed up too -- a skinny kid with a couple of earring holes and the acrobatics of Mary Lou Retton.

“It gives us a complete feeling,” a noticeably comfortable Joe Gibbs said after practice. “It’s like when you go to church, and certain guys sit in certain pews. You look in those pews, and you expect to see those faces. When they’re not there, you notice the holes.”

On paper anyway the holes are filled. So it looks like a Super Bowl team again. And it walks like a Super Bowl team again.

Does it quack like a Super Bowl team?

We’ll see. That’s why they play 16.

For all the anxiety about when the Redskins would be all together, for all the pronouncements about how this day was critical, or that day was critical, the fact is that the Redskins are ahead of the curve.

Only Minnesota and the New York Jets had their whole teams signed before Washington.

Tuesday’s trifecta here had to feel like a sharp stick in Cowboys Coach Jimmy Johnson’s eye. Getting back Darrell Green gives the Redskins the opportunity to put him and A.J. Johnson at the corners, and play man-to-man in the opener. Everybody remembers Michael Irvin drumming Green last season. But Irvin isn’t in Dallas yet. And if the corners can play man, Wilber Marshall is free to blitz at his whim. Oh doctor!

On offense, Desmond Howard gives the Redskins the tantalizing option of using that no-huddle offense with four wide receivers -- two of whom have gone to the Pro Bowl, one of whom had the best training camp of his career, and the other of whom has a Heisman Trophy.

Much has been said about how tough it is to walk in and be ready to play in just a couple of weeks. Howard might not make it; he’s new to the NFL, and new to the daunting Redskins playbook. But Lachey and Green were confident they could.

As a rookie with San Diego, Lachey missed four weeks of camp with an injury, and still started all 16 games, so he’s been through this before: “I know what happens next. I just have to get used to the contact and the soreness.” And Green said, “I don’t anticipate anything other than No. 28 out on that corner, doing the job he’s always done.” How much rust was there? After this one practice, Raleigh McKenzie said admiringly, “Jimmy can be ready by this weekend, and Darrell was out there calling plays already.”

Walking off the steamy field, drenched in sweat like all their teammates, Lachey and Green seemed as if they’d never been away. Oh sure, there was some kidding. Mark Rypien was asked if he was happy Lachey and Green were back. He waited for Lachey to get within earshot, then said, “Actually, no.” And the Hogs teased Lachey by lining up 40 yards away from him on the first play, like he had morning breath. But Lachey teased right back, harrumphing, “That’s the best you could come up with after 29 days?”

I did find one Redskin who was unequivocally happy to have all three in. “Now I can get a loan without going to a bank,” Terry Orr said.