NFL Wire Notes | Emotional finish for Washington

ASHBURN, Va. — Sean Taylor's father left Redskins Park with a book written by Joe Gibbs tucked under his arm and an appreciation for all that has been accomplished in the name of his son.

"It's priceless," Pedro Taylor said. "Life is priceless, but when you give love and you receive it back, it's amazing. And we just say thank you."

Sunday was wrap-up day for the Washington Redskins, featuring the team meeting that always follows the last game of the season. Beforehand, Taylor had his own season-ending visits with several coaches. He received a copy of "Racing to Win" from Gibbs and gave updates on his son's family, including the late safety's 1-year-old daughter, Jackie.

"She's doing great," Taylor said. "We'll continue to get memorabilia and things to remind her of her father and who he was."

There was the usual assortment of great performances, close wins, agonizing losses, great catches, lousy throws and questionable calls during the last four months, but this Washington season will be remembered first and foremost for No. 21. It was the margin of victory in the final regular-season win over Dallas and the margin of defeat in the playoff loss to the Seahawks. It was seen everywhere, all in memory of the player who wore that number on his jersey, the talented defensive back who was shot at his Miami home Nov. 26 and died a day later at the age of 24.

"I'm feeling like the season ended too early," running back Clinton Portis said. "But I think there was something greater maybe this season than winning the Super Bowl. You win Super Bowls, your team splits up and goes their separate ways. From what this team went through and endured this year, I doubt if anybody will ever split up and go their separate ways. I think there was a bond formed that will last forever."

Notes

• When Vince Young took the field for Tennessee on Sunday, he became the youngest quarterback in franchise history to start a playoff game.

His playoff debut came at 24 years, 233 days, topping Gifford Nielsen's franchise mark of 25 years, 65 days old when he started for the then-Houston Oilers on Dec. 29, 1979, against San Diego.

• Rex Ryan made his bid to become the Ravens' third head coach, interviewing for several hours with the team's search committee.

Baltimore's former defensive coordinator was the fourth candidate to meet with the Ravens, after Colts assistant head coach Jim Caldwell, Cowboys assistant head coach Tony Sparano and Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett.

Ryan, 45, and the rest of the coaching staff were fired last week along with coach Brian Billick following a 5-11 season. The son of former NFL head coach Buddy Ryan, he coached the Ravens' defense to rankings of fifth, first and sixth over the past three seasons.

Ryan is also expected to interview with Atlanta and Miami this week.

Meanwhile, the Ravens are expected to meet with other candidates this week during the second phase of their search, including Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and Browns offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski.