Redskins’ Defense Arrives

Coach Norv Turner gave every member of the Washington Redskin defense a game ball. And that made Ken Harvey proud as he gazed across the locker room.

“You can tell now by how many reporters are going to so many different guys,” the two-time Pro Bowl linebacker said. “It’s not just one person that everybody’s trying to surround. It’s the whole team.”

The Redskin defense--maligned for the last three years as one of the worst in the league--unleashed all its pent-up fury on the Chicago Bears on Sunday, holding an opponent without a touchdown for the first time since 1993 in a 10-3 victory.

The result was a stark turn of fortunes for both teams from Week 1, when the Bears (1-1) took an emotional victory over the Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys and the Redskins (1-1) came out unprepared in a loss to division rival Philadelphia.

“We didn’t play well, so the heck with last week,” Bear linebacker Bryan Cox said.

The Redskin defense, which held the Eagles without a second-half point after a shaky start last week, had plenty of stars. Harvey had a key fourth-quarter sack. Defensive tackle Sean Gilbert was in quarterback Erik Kramer’s face all game. Darryl Morrison had an interception. Lineman Dexter Nottage batted two balls at the line of scrimmage. And Stanley Richard applied the jarring hit that forced a tide-turning fumble in the third quarter.

“People don’t respect our defense right now, or our team,” linebacker Rod Stephens said. “We were only 6-10 last year, but this year we’ve come out with a lot of fire. We said just come out and play the whole game like we did the second half [last week], and I think we did that.”

Terry Allen scored the lone touchdown on a three-play, third-quarter drive highlighted by two catches by 14-year veteran receiver Henry Ellard. The Bears were driving to take the lead at the other end minutes earlier, but Richard jarred the ball loose from Michael Timpson after a third-down reception at the Redskin 25.

“I feel personally that I lost our team the football game,” Timpson said. “I’m not going to run from it. I’m not going to hide from it. I let my teammates down.”

Darrell Green scooped Timpson’s fumble and returned it 14 yards, setting up the touchdown drive in which Ellard had catches of 27 and 16 yards.