Redskins Hold Tight, Beat Giants

Ahead, 28-0, at halftime against the stumbling and bumbling New York Giants, the Washington Redskins tried to play the second half on cruise control. It almost didn’t work.

The Redskins withstood a furious second-half rally led by Dave Brown, but held on to extend their winning streak to six games and keep first place in the NFC East with a 31-21 victory Sunday at RFK Stadium.

“I think everybody was just going out, just trying to get the game over in the second half instead of putting it to ‘em,” Redskin lineman Joe Patton said. “This is a great lesson for us to learn. I’m happy we had to learn it with a 28-0 lead.”

Terry Allen scored three touchdowns and Darrell Green returned an interception 68 yards for another score in the first half as the Redskins (6-1) went into the locker room thinking it was over.

“We were letting it coast a little bit, letting it go out a little bit, and we can’t do that,” defensive end Rich Owens said.

Brown threw touchdown passes to Thomas Lewis and Chris Calloway and Tyrone Wheatley ran for another in the comeback. New York had consecutive scoring drives of 91, 56 and 80 yards.

“We said, ‘Who cares if it’s going to be 48-0?’ Let’s go out and throw the ball around,” said Brown, who completed 26 of 43 passes for 298 yards and two interceptions in the best offensive performance this year by the Giants (2-5).

The Redskin offense, which had 252 yards at halftime, had only one first down and 35 yards in the second half until Scott Blanton’s 45-yard field goal capped a 47-yard drive that made the lead 10 points with 2:33 to play.