PRO FOOTBALL : Cardinals Get Special Win, 30-21 : Fake Punt Helps Phoenix Knock Off Rypien’s Redskins

The defensive secondary and kicking game, which hurt the Phoenix Cardinals in the past, helped them beat the defending Super Bowl champion Washington Redskins Sunday.

Greg Horne’s run on a fake punt set up one fourth-quarter touchdown and cornerback Cedric Mack returned a fumble 45 yards for the final score with 41 seconds remaining as the Cardinals beat the Redskins, 30-21, winning for the first time in their new city.

Rookie fullback Tony Jordan added a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs for the Cardinals, who are in a four-way tie for first place in the NFC East with Washington, Dallas and the New York Giants at 2-2.

“Hopefully, this will put us in position to make a drive for the playoffs. That’s our main goal,” Phoenix Coach Gene Stallings said. “It’s a big win because it was against a team from the East. We made some big plays and some good things happen offensively.”

The Cardinals took the lead for good, 16-14, on Jordan’s 1-yard plunge with 4:34 left in the third quarter. He also scored from a yard out 5:39 before halftime.

Phoenix also capitalized after Washington’s Chip Lohmiller had his 44-yard field goal attempt bounce off the left upright with 33 seconds left in the third quarter. The Cardinals responded by driving 74 yards in 10 plays, capped by Neil Lomax’s 27-yard touchdown pass to Roy Green with 10:49 remaining to go up, 23-14.

The drive was kept alive by Horne’s 20-yard run for a first down to the Phoenix 42 on fourth and 14.

“I would like to take credit for it, but he went on his own,” Stallings said, still cringing from a botched fake field goal try in a 17-14 loss to Dallas on Sept. 12. “I’m just glad it worked.”

Washington closed to 23-21 on Mark Rypien’s 2-yard scoring pass to Anthony Allen with 2:30 left in the game.

But the Cardinals sealed the win when Rypien, the third-year quarterback playing his first regular-season game, in place of Doug Williams, was sacked from behind by defensive end Freddie Joe Nunn and fumbled. Mack, playing for the first time since being benched after getting burned for a long touchdown in a 21-14 season-opening loss at Cincinnati, picked up the ball and ran untouched for the touchdown.

Phoenix recovered its own onside kick at the Washington 46-yard line and ran out the last 37 seconds.

“They deserved to win,” Redskin Coach Joe Gibbs said. “We didn’t make enough plays in there. All of us lost it. We all made a mistake or two in there and in a game like this, all mistakes wind up big.”

Rypien was forced into action after Williams underwent an emergency appendectomy Wednesday. He responded by going 26 of 41 for 303 yards with an interception, including 12 of 20 for 175 yards in the first half.

The Redskins had just 53 yards rushing.

Cardinal fullback Earl Ferrell had 108 yards rushing in 18 carries, the first 100-yard game of his 8-year NFL career.