Unbeaten Redskins Find the Saints Are No Pushovers : Ex-Teammates Make George Rogers Work for His 110 Yards in Washington’s 14-6 Win

George Rogers rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown, but came away impressed with his former teammates, the New Orleans Saints.

The Washington Redskins remained undefeated, but Rogers said there was nothing easy about their 14-6 victory over the Saints Sunday in the Superdome.

“Any time you play a team like the Saints, you know you’re going to come down here and they’re going to play their hardest to beat you,” Rogers said.

“It seemed like their defense was really ready to play.”

Rogers scored on a four-yard run in the first quarter, but the Saints threw him back the next time the Redskins (5-0) tried to run the ball across from in close.

Just before halftime, Rogers carried five straight times, starting at the New Orleans 12, and couldn’t punch it across.

Instead, Washington quarterback Jay Schroeder hit Art Monk on a two-yard scoring pass for the Redskins’ other touchdown.

“Rickey (Jackson, Saints’ linebacker, and a good friend of Rogers) told me, ‘You’re not going to cross the goal line,’ ” Rogers said. “And he was right. I didn’t (the second time).

“There aren’t many teams that can do that. I really feel like I ran hard to get my 100 yards.”

Rogers won the Heisman Trophy at South Carolina and was New Orleans’ No. 1 draft choice five years ago.

The Saints traded Rogers to Washington last year to make room for Earl Campbell, a favorite of Bum Phillips, who was the New Orleans coach. But Phillips resigned before the end of the season and Campbell retired during the training camp this year.

Rogers, who set most of the Saints’ rushing records in four seasons in New Orleans, replaced John Riggins at Washington.

Rogers got his yardage against New Orleans the hard way. His longest run in 31 carries was for 11 yards.

Rogers’ first-quarter touchdown gave him seven for the season, best in the NFC. Washington tackle Russ Grimm twice kept the drive alive by recovering Redskin fumbles. Grimm recovered Rogers’ fumble at the Washington 43-yard line, then fell on Schroeder’s bobble at the Saints’ 30.

New Orleans (1-4) scored on Morten Andersen’s 34-yard field goal in the first quarter and 45-yarder in the second. Andersen missed a 51-yard attempt in the third quarter, snapping the NFL’s longest current string of consecutive field goals at 20.

Washington Coach Joe Gibbs was obviously pleased with the victory, but said: “Five doesn’t get you anything, but it is a good start.

“I don’t think that anybody, myself included, would have looked at our schedule at the start of the season and thought we would have been 5-0.”