2004 Washington Redskins season

The 2004 season was the Washington Redskins' 73rd in the National Football League (NFL). Although they improved on their 5–11 record from 2003 to 6–10, they finished bottom of their division and missed the playoffs for the fifth straight year. The season saw Joe Gibbs come out of retirement to return as head coach. The team acquired running back Clinton Portis in a trade that sent Champ Bailey to the Denver Broncos in the 2004 offseason. Week 8 marked the first time since 1932 that the U.S. presidential election went against the Redskins Rule.

2004 Washington Redskins season
OwnerDaniel Snyder
General managerVinny Cerrato
PresidentJoe Gibbs
Head coachJoe Gibbs
Offensive coordinatorJoe Bugel
Defensive coordinatorGregg Williams
Home fieldFedExField
Results
Record6–10
Division place4th NFC East
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro BowlersLB Marcus Washington
AP All-ProsCB Shawn Springs (2nd team)

Offseason

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Free agency

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Player Former team
Marcus Washington Indianapolis Colts
Shawn Springs Seattle Seahawks
Cornelius Griffin New York Giants
Phillip Daniels Chicago Bears
Player New team
Lional Dalton Kansas City Chiefs
Jeremiah Trotter Philadelphia Eagles
Peppi Zellner Arizona Cardinals
Regan Upshaw New York Giants

Trades

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March 4, 2004
To Washington Redskins
Clinton Portis
To Denver Broncos
Champ Bailey
2nd Rd. Draft Pick (2004) (Tatum Bell)

Staff

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2004 Washington Redskins staff

Front office

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

  • Special teams – Danny Smith
  • Quality control special teams/defensive assistant – Kirk Olivadotti

Strength and conditioning

  • Strength and conditioning – John Dunn
  • Assistant strength and conditioning – John Hastings
  • Assistant strength and conditioning – Bobby Crumpler


NFL Draft

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2004 Washington Redskins draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 5 Sean Taylor *  S Miami (FL)
3 81 Chris Cooley *  TE Utah State
5 151 Mark Wilson  OT California
6 180 Jim Molinaro  OT Notre Dame
      Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Final roster

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2004 Washington Redskins roster
Quarterbacks (QB)

Running backs (RB)

Wide receivers (WR)

Tight ends (TE)

Offensive linemen (OL)

Defensive linemen (DL)

Linebackers (LB)

Defensive backs (DB)

Special teams

Practice squad

Reserve

Rookies in italics
53 active, 15 reserve, 8 practice squad

Preseason

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Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue
1 August 9 Denver Broncos W 20–17 1–0 FedExField
2 August 14 Carolina Panthers L 20–23 1–1 FedExField
3 August 21 at Miami Dolphins W 17–0 2–1 Pro Player Stadium
4 August 27 at St. Louis Rams L 3–28 2–2 Edward Jones Dome
5 September 3 Atlanta Falcons W 27–0 3–2 FedExField

Regular season

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Due to the addition of the Houston Texans in 2002 and a subsequent change to the NFL's scheduling formula,[1] the 2004 season was the first time since 1991 that the Redskins played the Cincinnati Bengals; the Bengals won the game, the first time they had done so at the Redskins.[2] It was also the first time the Redskins had hosted the Green Bay Packers since 1979.[3]

Schedule

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Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 September 12 Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 16–10 1–0 FedExField 90,098
2 September 19 at New York Giants L 14–20 1–1 Giants Stadium 78,767
3 September 27 Dallas Cowboys L 18–21 1–2 FedExField 90,367
4 October 3 at Cleveland Browns L 13–17 1–3 Cleveland Browns Stadium 73,348
5 October 10 Baltimore Ravens L 10–17 1–4 FedExField 90,287
6 October 17 at Chicago Bears W 13–10 2–4 Soldier Field 61,985
7 Bye
8 October 31 Green Bay Packers L 14–28 2–5 FedExField 89,295
9 November 7 at Detroit Lions W 17–10 3–5 Ford Field 62,657
10 November 14 Cincinnati Bengals L 10–17 3–6 FedExField 87,786
11 November 21 at Philadelphia Eagles L 6–28 3–7 Lincoln Financial Field 67,720
12 November 28 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 7–16 3–8 Heinz Field 63,707
13 December 5 New York Giants W 31–7 4–8 FedExField 87,872
14 December 12 Philadelphia Eagles L 14–17 4–9 FedExField 90,089
15 December 18 at San Francisco 49ers W 26–16 5–9 Monster Park 65,710
16 December 26 at Dallas Cowboys L 10–13 5–10 Texas Stadium 63,705
17 January 2 Minnesota Vikings W 21–18 6–10 FedExField 78,876
Note: Intra-divisional opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

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Week 2

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1 234Total
Redskins 7 007 14
• Giants 0 2000 20

[4]

Standings

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NFC East
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
(1) Philadelphia Eagles 13 3 0 .813 6–0 11–1 386 260 L2
New York Giants 6 10 0 .375 3–3 5–7 303 347 W1
Dallas Cowboys 6 10 0 .375 2–4 5–7 293 405 L1
Washington Redskins 6 10 0 .375 1–5 6–6 240 265 W1
# Team Division W L T PCT DIV CONF SOS SOV STK
Division leaders
1 Philadelphia Eagles East 13 3 0 .813 6–0 11–1 .453 .409 L2
2 Atlanta Falcons South 11 5 0 .688 4–2 8–4 .420 .432 L2
3 Green Bay Packers North 10 6 0 .625 5–1 9–3 .457 .419 W2
4 Seattle Seahawks West 9 7 0 .563 3–3 8–4 .445 .368 W2
Wild cards
5[a] St. Louis Rams West 8 8 0 .500 5–1 7–5 .488 .438 W2
6[a][b] Minnesota Vikings North 8 8 0 .500 3–3 5–7 .480 .406 L2
Did not qualify for the postseason
7[a][b] New Orleans Saints South 8 8 0 .500 3–3 6–6 .465 .427 W4
8 Carolina Panthers South 7 9 0 .438 3–3 6–6 .496 .366 L1
9[c] Detroit Lions North 6 10 0 .375 2–4 5–7 .496 .417 L2
10[c] Arizona Cardinals West 6 10 0 .375 2–4 5–7 .461 .417 W1
11[c][d] New York Giants East 6 10 0 .375 3–3 5–7 .516 .417 W1
12[c][d][e] Dallas Cowboys East 6 10 0 .375 2–4 5–7 .516 .375 L1
13[c][d][e] Washington Redskins East 6 10 0 .375 1–5 6–6 .477 .333 W1
14[f] Tampa Bay Buccaneers South 5 11 0 .313 2–4 4–8 .477 .413 L4
15[f] Chicago Bears North 5 11 0 .313 2–4 4–8 .465 .388 L4
16 San Francisco 49ers West 2 14 0 .125 2–4 2–10 .488 .375 L3
Tiebreakers[g]
  1. ^ a b c St. Louis clinched the NFC #5 seed instead of Minnesota or New Orleans based on better conference record (7–5 to Minnesota’s 5–7 to New Orleans’ 6–6).
  2. ^ a b Minnesota clinched the NFC #6 seed instead of New Orleans based on head-to-head victory.
  3. ^ a b c d e Detroit finished ahead of Arizona and New York Giants based upon head-to-head record (2–0 versus Arizona’s 1–1 and New York Giants’ 0–2). Division tiebreak was initially used to eliminate Dallas and Washington.
  4. ^ a b c New York Giants finished ahead of Dallas and Washington in the NFC East based on better head-to-head record (3–1 to Dallas‘ 2–2 to Washington’s 1–3).
  5. ^ a b Dallas finished ahead of Washington in the NFC East based on head-to-head sweep.
  6. ^ a b Tampa Bay finished ahead of Chicago based upon head-to-head victory.
  7. ^ When breaking ties for three or more teams under the NFL's rules, they are first broken within divisions, then comparing only the highest-ranked remaining team from each division.

References

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  1. ^ "History of the NFL's Structure and Formats". Archived from the original on June 22, 2018. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
  2. ^ Cincinnati Bengals v Washington Redskins
  3. ^ Urena, Ivan (2014). Pro Football Schedules: A Comple Historical Guide from 1933 to the Present. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co. pp. 15, 17. ISBN 9780786473519.
  4. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  5. ^ "2004 Conference Standings". NFL.com. Retrieved April 6, 2024.