"It wasn't so long ago you could make the argument - and a convincing one at that - that the Redskins were one of the worst teams in the league, card-carrying members of the NFL Underclass. This was back when they were just skating by the Rams, losing to the Lions and Chiefs and blowing a 15-point second-half lead against the Panthers.

But you can't say that about them anymore - as their 34-13 win over the wretched Raiders on Sunday amply illustrated. The Redskins aren't nearly as bad as Oakland, even though both clubs are now 4-9. And they haven't totally packed it in the way St. Louis (47-7 losers to Tennessee earlier in the day) and Detroit (48-3 losers to Baltimore) have.

No, the Redskins are at least one cut - and possibly two - above awful, and that's encouraging given the casualties they've suffered. In the last six games, in fact, they've been a thoroughly respectable outfit, giving themselves a chance to win every week. Maybe they won't require the total makeover in the offseason that they looked like they might in October. Maybe there's more here that's worth saving than we thought.

"These last few weeks have been building up to this," said Santana Moss, who had four catches for 58 yards - both team highs - at drizzly, sparsely populated Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. "Every week we've been playing better and better."

This game could so easily have been a travesty of a mockery of a sham. The Raiders, after all, were 4-8 coming in, and the Redskins were 3-9. It was the Irrelevant Bowl - and the wet, slippery conditions could have led to real slapstick.

On the Oakland side, things did get a bit comical - to the tune of 14 penalties and eight sacks allowed. Indeed, when quarterback Bruce Gradkowski got knocked out with an ankle injury and JaMarcus Russell, the eternally disappointing first pick of the 2007 draft, replaced him, the Raiders' offense became something of a joke. Russell got sacked six times - and Oakland gained just 39 yards - in the second half. "