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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
LANDOVER, Md. (AP) -- Owner Dan Snyder called selected players
into his office one-by-one last week. Two of those players, Tre
Johnson and Marco Coleman, held a players-only meeting.
Whether those motivational tactics helped the Washington
Redskins beat the Arizona Cardinals 28-3 Sunday is hard to measure.
More likely, they won because a grumbling offensive line got its
wish: The Redskins ran the ball.
|  | | Arizona linebacker Rob Fredrickson zeroes in on Redskins wide reciever Michael Westbrook. |
"We wanted to do it last week, but we didn't get the
opportunity," said Johnson, the right guard who was upset after
coach Norv Turner abandoned the run in the second half of the 33-17
loss at Detroit last week.
"That's what we're built for. That's the way the Redskins play
ball. We ate the clock up, made a statement, showed attitude."
Stephen Davis had 189 of Washington's 226 yards rushing,
including a 50-yard touchdown run, and he now leads the league in
rushing with 1,335 yards. Brad Johnson added two touchdown passes
as the Redskins (8-5) remained one game ahead of Dallas and the New
York Giants in the NFC East.
Tre Johnson said he was "ecstatic, elated, overjoyed -- all
those euphemistic terms" as he leveled one, sometimes two
defenders per running play. He said he put his own performance on
the line with his statements to the team Saturday after his meeting
with an unhappy Snyder.
"He's cool. He's into this," Tre Johnson said. "He feels it
like we feel. He instills the attitude into the organization. He
made some statements and relayed his feeling to us and we relayed
it to the team. We let everybody know what's at stake.
"I don't want to kill it for the kids, but Santa Claus is not
going to bring us the playoffs. We got to go there and snatch it.
We got to go out there, put the mask on and go rob."
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Cardinals
(6-7), who had three offensive starters leave the game with
injuries. Arizona took points off the board and failed to take
advantage of good field position after turnovers, personal-foul
penalties and an instant replay reversal.
"Defense would get us the ball in great field position, we just
didn't execute down there," receiver Frank Sanders said.
The Redskins, whose offense has struggled recently, gained 406
yards. Turner, who gave Davis just three second-half carries
against the Lions, made up for it by running Davis 37 times against
a rushing defense ranked 30th coming into the game.
Davis is just 18 yards short of Terry Allen's franchise record
of 1,353 set in 1996.
The Cardinals, already with a porous offensive line, lost two
starters -- L.J. Shelton (sprained ankle) and Lester Holmes
(sprained knee) -- in the first half.
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GAME NOTES |
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David Boston, whose father was criticized by Redskins players for alleged blown calls in the Detroit game, had just one
catch for 43 yards. Not having Byron Boston call the game didn't
cure the Redskins' penalty bug -- they had 12 for 97 yards.
Washington's Darrell
Green had his 50th career interception.
Irving Fryar, making his first TD catch of the season, celebrated by flopping on the ground and
doing something that looked like upside-down pushups. He said he
was re-enacting a scene from his upcoming movie "Any Given
Sunday."
Second-half time of possession: Redskins 24:11, Cardinals
5:49.
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Jake Plummer was sacked five times and was intercepted three
times. Also, running back Michael Pittman lasted less than a half
in his first game after missing three weeks with turf toe.
The Cardinals' first bad omen came on the Redskins' first
series, when Arizona linebacker Rob Fredrickson knocked the ball
away from Brad Johnson, only to have it flutter right to Davis for
a first down. Two plays later, Davis ran 50 yards untouched for his
league-leading 17th touchdown.
Johnson hit Irving Fryar for a 7-yard score to make it 14-3.
Mario Bates returned the ensuing kickoff 68 yards for Arizona,
and a personal foul face mask penalty on Coleman got the ball to
Washington's 7. Yet the Cardinals got no points from the drive --
even though they made a field goal.
Chris Jacke converted a 37-yard attempt, but Tobin took the
points off the board when Coleman was called for a personal foul.
Two plays later, rookie Champ Bailey -- who had three interceptions in the teams' first meeting -- picked off another one in the end
zone.
Bailey appeared to have a second interception run back for a
touchdown on Arizona's next series, but Tobin challenged the play.
The officials ruled the ball hit the ground, giving Arizona another
chance at Washington's 35. Again, the Cardinals couldn't take
advantage: Tight end Johnny McWilliams had the pass go through his hands on fourth-and-3.
On Arizona's next series, Adrian Murrell ran through a huge hole for a 14-yard gain, but fumbled the ball. The Redskins recovered
and drove 62 yards to score on Michael Westbrook's 25-yard catch
with 11 seconds to go in the half.
The trend continued in the second half. When Aeneas Williams was
shaken up and out of the game for one play, backup Corey Chavous
made an interception at the Washington 41. But the Cardinals went
backward on two penalties and were forced to punt.
Davis' backup, Skip Hicks, completed the scoring with an 11-yard TD run late in the fourth quarter.
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Washington Clubhouse
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TJ's Take on Week 14
Week 14 stats leaders
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