Seems Like Old Times for Redskins : NFC: They defeat the Vikings, 24-7, as Rypien shows the form that led to a Super Bowl title last season.

Relying on trickery, tradition and the running of their third-string tailback, the Washington Redskins beat down and finally broke the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday.

The Redskins, who came into this first-round playoff game coughing, limping and lucky to be in the postseason at all, left it with a 24-7 victory before 57,353 in the Metrodome.

After surrendering an early touchdown, the Redskins held Minnesota scoreless for the final 55 minutes of the game, sacking Sean Salisbury four times and forcing two interceptions.

Their offense and quarterback Mark Rypien, after struggling all season, were back in 1991 form again, using 42:43 of the clock with Rypien completing 16 of 24 passes.

And, most surprisingly, kick-returner Brian Mitchell, who carried only six times this season and 24 times in his three-year career, stepped in for injured backup tailback Ricky Ervins and gained a game-high 109 yards in 16 carries, including a 38-yard run on a fake punt.

Adding his 84 return yards and 16 receiving yards, Mitchell had 209 yards--compared to the Vikings’ 143.

“It was real smart not playing you all that time,” a smiling Redskin Coach Joe Gibbs shouted over to Mitchell in the postgame interview room. “You made me look bad.”

Mitchell provided two jolts for the Redskins during the second quarter.

The first was his 54-yard punt return to the Viking 29-yard line, which, after an exchange of quick interceptions, set the stage for a short touchdown run by Earnest Byner and Washington’s first lead, 10-7.

The second came on the Redskins’ next series, on a fake punt called “Overload,” on which Mitchell, the blocking back, took the snap on fourth and three, waited for lineman Matt Elliott to make a key block, then ran 38 yards to the Viking 18.

“I think that really was the turning point of the game,” Mitchell said. “They were really pumped up because they’d stopped us. And then we were running down the field on them, ready to score.”

Mitchell finished that drive himself on an eight-yard run on a draw play to give Washington a 17-7 lead.

Salisbury, who had never started a playoff game, completed only six of his 20 passes--one during the second half--and in the end was booed by the crowd.

“Just rattled him,” Washington defensive end Charles Mann said. “Hit him, kind of banged him around as much as we could. That was the goal, just hit him as hard as we could as early as we could, and that’s what we did.”

The Vikings had gone through a quarterback merry-go-round heading into the playoffs, rotating Rich Gannon and Salisbury the past month before finally settling on the former Trojan.

Saturday, it would not have mattered who was playing quarterback, Salisbury said, as long as Washington was being Washington again.

“You know what it was? It was just typical Redskin football,” Salisbury said. “They pounded it on the ground, kept the ball a lot, got a lead and just came after us defensively. That’s Redskin football.”

During the third quarter, Washington finished off its scoring in an echo of last season’s offense. First, Rypien eluded end Chris Doleman, stepped up in the pocket and passed to Gary Clark for 29 yards on third and 16.

That got the Vikings to try to send more players at Rypien and go to a man-to-man coverage scheme, something Rypien said he had been waiting to see.

“Teams have been taking the outside route away from us pretty much all year with zones,” Rypien said. “When they play it man-to-man, we know we can lick our chops when we get an opportunity like that.”

Clark went to the left edge of the end zone and Rypien hit him in stride for a 24-yard touchdown.

“You know, people wonder why we keep so many veterans around,” Rypien said. “We’ve got five or six guys who have something like 14 playoff victories under their belts, and I think it pays off in games like these.

“Experience can win you games, and experience is what we showed today.”

The last time the Redskins played this well was in this same building, when they beat the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVI to cap a season of dominance.

“There’s no doubt there’s a lot of memories here,” Rypien said. “We ended it here last year, why not start it here this year?”

The Redskins, who will play the San Francisco 49ers in San Francisco next weekend, still have several injuries to important players.

“This year has been kind of a hectic year for us, we’ve had to overcome a lot,” Gibbs said. “We’ve had a lot of adversity, and yet we’re still here, we’re still alive.”

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NFC Notes

Two years ago, the Redskins lost in to the 49ers in San Francisco in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs, 28-10. “This is a game I’ve really looked forward to for two years,” quarterback Mark Rypien said. “We’ve got some tough memories from two years ago in that playoff game. I know, for myself, it was tough throwing two interceptions inside the end zone. So I’m eager to get back there and play an exceptional football game.”