Redskins Turn It Around on Giants : NFC: Trailing, 13-0, Washington rallies for 17-13 victory, ends six-game losing streak against New York.

There is something that means even more to the Washington Redskins than being the NFL’s only unbeaten team.

They finally beat the New York Giants.

Mark Rypien threw two touchdown passes to Gary Clark 2:52 apart in the second half and the the Redskins rallied from a 13-point deficit for a 17-13 victory that ended a six-game losing streak to the Giants.

The Redskins (8-0) lead Dallas by three games and the Giants (4-4) by four games in the NFC East midway through the season.

“We feel like we got the monkey off our backs--finally,” defensive end Charles Mann said. “This feels real satisfying.”

Added Coach Joe Gibbs: “This was a long time coming.”

Rypien’s touchdown pass plays, one for seven and the other for 54 yards, came late in the third and early in the fourth quarter after the Giants totally dominated the first half, out-gaining Washington, 207-35.

Washington never reached Giants’ territory until 5:36 was left in the third quarter.

But with rookie running back Ricky Ervins providing a boost, they held the ball for nearly nine minutes on one touchdown drive and allowed the Giants to have the ball for under seven minutes in the second half after New York had it for 21:50 in the first half.

Ervins had 82 yards in 20 carries, all in the second half.

“I’m only a rookie but you get a sense of how important this game is,” Ervins said. “We’ve been talking about it all season. We didn’t do anything different, just catching the ball and making the blocks.”

Washington converted nine consecutive third-down plays in the third and fourth quarters, and both touchdowns came on third-down plays.

Chip Lohmiller capped the victory on a 35-yard field goal with 51 seconds left after the Redskins ran off more than five minutes on their final drive.

“If the season ended now, we’d be in a tie-breaker situation,” Giants’ Coach Ray Handley said. “We’d have to make up five games. Now we have to go for a wild-card.”

The Giants scored on three of the first four possessions, but were blanked after that.

New York could have had more than a 13-0 lead, but one drive was stalled when Jeff Hostetler, who finished 14 of 21 for 137 yards after going 12 for 14 in the first half, overthrew wide-open Rodney Hampton at the Washington one-yard-line.

Another drive was killed by an unnecessary roughness call on fullback Maurice Carthon after the Giants got an apparent first down at the Washington five.

Both drives resulted in field goals by Raul Allegre.

Hampton ran for 83 yards in 21 carries, including one yard for the Giants’ only touchdown.