Peete Leads Eagles Past Redskins, 17-14

One year ago, Rodney Peete was a backup, Mike Mamula was a confused rookie, and the Philadelphia Eagles were embarrassed by Tampa Bay in their home opener.

On Sunday, Peete picked apart the Washington Redskins’ secondary, Mamula terrorized quarterback Gus Frerotte, and the Eagles survived three turnovers to hang on for a 17-14 victory.

Peete, unaffected by a sprained knee suffered two weeks ago, threw for 269 yards--257 in the first half--and two touchdowns, and Mamula had two sacks and forced a fumble.

“In the first half, they were pretty vanilla,” Peete said. “We wanted to let people know we can throw the ball, and they can’t play seven- and eight-man fronts against us.”

Second-year receiver Chris T. Jones finished with six catches for 82 yards, including a nine-yard touchdown in the second-quarter. Newly acquired Irving Fryar caught five passes for 84 yards, including an 18-yard scoring catch on the game’s opening drive.

But the real story was the Eagles’ defense, which limited Frerotte to 12 of 25 passing for only 119 yards.

“They just came out, right out of the door and went,” Frerotte said. “It seemed like we got stuck in the door-jam.”

Terry Allen scored both touchdowns for Washington on runs of two and 49 yards and finished with 111 yards.

“We wanted to get them into position where you think they have to pass, so we could get after the quarterback,” said defensive tackle William Fuller, who had one of the Eagles’ three sacks. “Not taking anything away from their offensive line, they’re good, but we were pretty good too.”