Sunday is the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on Washington, D.C. and New York City. In the days leading up to Sunday's Redskins-Giants game at FedExField, Redskins coaches and players shared their personal memories and reflections from that tragic day:
-- MIKE SHANAHAN, HEAD COACH
"It's a special day and you think back to where you were that day or the day before. I was coaching a Monday Night home game against the Giants [the night before the attacks] and we went to work the next day. I believe the Giants, when they arrived back home, their plane was right next to the gate where one of the planes was taking off. It was a very emotional day for a lot of people."
-- JIM HASLETT, DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
"I was actually getting the game plan together for our next game in New Orleans. I was watching the TV and the second plane crashed into the World Trade Center. The following week we had to play the Giants, and that was one of the most emotional games I've seen."
-- KYLE SHANAHAN, OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
"I was in college and I actually overslept for a class. Someone banged on my door and woke me up. I didn't even think it was an attack. I just thought it was a bad accident. When I found out what happened, it was really shocking."
-- OSHIOMOGHO ATOGWE, SAFETY
"I was at Stanford, and we were at training camp. I think I had just woken up, about to start the day, and I was hearing all of these reports on the news about everything that happened. So it was really tragic. There were a few guys on the team that had family members in the area. I remember, that might have been the first time that I had ever missed practice, because coach definitely canceled practice. And it was really just a somber day because of how the country was attacked, and the tragedy that had just taken place."
-- STEPHEN BOWEN, DEFENSIVE END
"I was in the 12th grade in New York when it happened, and it still feels like it happened yesterday. I can't believe it's been 10 years. It's going to be a very emotional game for everyone."
-- JAMMAL BROWN, OFFENSIVE TACKLE
"I was actually leaving study hall in college [at Oklahoma], I believe it was my freshman year at OU. I was in the study hall and everybody was talking about what happened. And I didn't really understand what was going on. We were still going to have practice, but then Coach [Bob] Stoops came and talked to us."
-- ADAM CARRIKER, DEFENSIVE END
"I was driving to high school, it was my senior year. The news came on the radio. I couldn't even believe what I was hearing, to be honest with you."
-- RYAN KERRIGAN, LINEBACKER
"I remember I was sitting in my seventh grade social studies class when I found out. It really is one of those things that you don't ever forget where you were when you found out what happened."
-- CHRIS NEILD, NOSE TACKLE
"I was in English class when I found out. I was in eighth grade. I remember because my AAU coach, he worked in New York. He had a meeting or something, and I was good friends with his son and daughter. I saw her running down the hallway crying and I didn't know what was going on. I knew he worked in the city and he was in and out of that building, so you know that's the first thing that popped into my head. They didn't show it on television, so they let us out of school early.
"At that time I was in Pennsylvania, but I grew up in New Jersey. When I lived in Pennsylvania, I would go to New Jersey all the time, and on the way you can see the whole New York skyline. I drove there that weekend, that Saturday, and you could see the smoke. My sister lived right near the Hudson River and smoke came over there. It was bad, it was real bad."
