Even before the team won on Sunday, it felt to me like there was a sense in the air of setting things right and balancing accounts, like a much-less-violent version of the end of the Godfather. The changing of the sign policy, for example, putting an end to that long-simmering frustration.

But a less-remembered bit of 2009 Redskins awkwardness was revisited on the pregame sidelines, and set just as solidly to rest. Before the Redskins/Patriots preseason contest this year, Mike Sellers carried the American flag during player introductions and unthinkingly threw it aside. This caused a bit of a stir, Sellers apologized, and that seemed to be that.

Sunday, lifelong Redskins fan U.S. Army Staff Sargeant Brian Havens presented the Redskins organization with a flag that his unit flew during their deployment in Afghanistan, and it was Sellers that accepted. Somewhere in my head, that drew the final line under any negative associations between the words "Sellers" and "pregame" and "American flag."

And for Sgt. Havens, it was just a complete thrill.