ASHBURN, Va. -- Sean Taylor's father urged the Washington
Redskins to make a playoff push, while Miami police asked for the
public's help to solve the safety's death in what they suspect was
a random burglary.
Miami-Dade police director Robert Parker said Wednesday there
were no indications the slain 24-year-old was targeted or knew his
assailant.
"There's nothing that indicates thus far that there's some kind
of involvement on the victim's part," said Parker, adding it was
"more like a random event."
Police have no suspects in the fatal shooting.
"We have no reason to think this was anything other than a
burglary or a robbery involving an intruder," Parker said.
Police are still investigating, however, a possible link to a
Nov. 17 break-in at Taylor's home, in which police said someone
pried open a front window, rifled through drawers and left a
kitchen knife on a bed.
Evidence at Taylor's home indicates one or more intruders barged
into the house early Monday in an attempted burglary, Parker said.
After a confrontation inside the home, Taylor was shot once in the
upper leg and died early Tuesday after losing a tremendous amount
of blood.
Taylor's family has scheduled a funeral service for 11 a.m.
Monday at Pharmed Arena at Florida International University in
Miami. Redskins owner Dan Snyder is arranging for the entire
football organization to attend.
At Redskins Park on Wednesday, Taylor's family and teammates
came together to privately share tears and memories.
"Many of these guys were wondering, 'How in the world am I
going to go out and do this on Sunday?" said Brett Fuller, the
team chaplain. "And when Mr. Taylor stood up and said go out and
win these next five and make it to the playoffs, we felt a surge in
the room, that he almost gave us permission to play well."
Fuller said Pedro Taylor's 10-minute speech was followed by 10
minutes of "hugs and thank yous."
Sean Taylor's brother, sister and uncle were also in attendance,
in addition to his girlfriend, Jackie Garcia, who also addressed
the team.
"Both of them, they kind of echoed Sean's passion for things,"
coach Joe Gibbs said. "And the way he cared about things."
The team then began to attempt to focus on its preparations for
Sunday's home game against the Buffalo Bills. Players went to their
game-planning meetings -- which were shorter than normal -- and later
held a quieter-than-usual afternoon practice.
"Nothing was normal about today," linebacker London Fletcher
said. "We had the meetings, but it wasn't the normal type of
meetings. Practice, it was practice, but it just wasn't the same
type of feeling, so to speak. We tried to make it feel the same,
but I found myself thinking about Sean and imagining him out on the
football field playing free safety for us."
Taylor's locker remained untouched, but the Redskins made the
uncomfortably necessary move of dropping him from the official
roster as part of a series of personnel moves.
The NFL announced every player in the league will wear a No. 21
decal on his helmet at this weekend's games to honor Taylor.
Redskins players will wear the decal for the remainder of the
season.
Defensive lineman Andre Carter was having to cope with the loss
of a teammate for the second time in three years. He played for the
San Francisco 49ers when offensive lineman Thomas Herrion died of a
heart attack after a preseason game in September 2005.
"I've experienced the death of two teammates," Carter said.
"No person wants to say that."
Carter said he was drawing on his experiences in San Francisco
to help him through the week. Also, Gibbs received a call from
49ers coach Mike Nolan, who offered advice.
Players found it difficult to stay focused on Xs and Os in the
meetings, while the physical nature of the practice was somewhat
therapeutic. Even so, many players did not wish to speak to
reporters, including Clinton Portis and Santana Moss, Taylor's
closest friends on the team.
"The mentality of it all is you really want to do nothing,"
Carter said. "You just have these moments of sadness. ... The
focus level is tough. But your teammates up in the sky looking down
on you, they would want you to keep on pushing, keep on moving
forward."
The Redskins are 5-6 and remain in contention for a playoff
berth despite three straight losses. Fuller said Taylor's father
didn't explicitly say the team should win and make the playoffs for
his son, but many of the players took the field with that feeling.
"Win for Sean," Carter said. "But win for us."
Game notes
WR Jimmy Farris was signed, LB Matt Sinclair was promoted
from the practice squad, and OL Kevin Sampson was cut. WR Burl
Toler was signed to the practice squad. ... The Washington Capitals
planned a moment of silence for Taylor before the Wednesday night's
home game against the Florida Panthers. ... G Randy Thomas, who
hasn't played since September because of an arm injury, took part
in practice but said he remained unsure when he would be able to
play.
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Associated Press Writer Matt Sedensky in Miami contributed to
this report.