Riggins Has Redskins in Charge, 14-7

John Riggins scored his 114th career touchdown to pass Lenny Moore and take over second place on the all-time touchdown list Sunday as the Washington Redskins defeated the Cleveland Browns, 14-7.

Riggins’ one-yard burst early in the first quarter was the first of two Washington touchdowns resulting from turnovers by Cleveland rookie quarterback Bernie Kosar, who was benched at halftime with Cleveland trailing, 14-0.

Curtis Jordan’s 32-yard return of a Kosar interception set up Riggins’ touchdown, which left him 12 shy of Jim Brown’s all-time record of 126. Riggins has 102 rushing touchdowns compared to 106 for Brown.

After Neal Olkewicz recovered Kosar’s fumble at the Cleveland 37, Redskin quarterback Joe Theismann fired a 19-yard scoring pass to rookie Gary Clark for a 14-0 halftime lead.

Riggins finished with 112 yards in 30 carries.

Theismann finished with 16 completions in 23 attempts for 166 yards.

After Kosar was benched in the second half, veteran Gary Danielson threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Ozzie Newsome to pull Cleveland to within 14-7 with 8:30 to go in the third period. But the Browns could not score again. Their last drive died on downs at the Washington 17 with 2:27 to play.

Kosar, who was making his third start since Danielson injured his right shoulder in a game Oct. 6, was 7 of 17 for 84 yards.