Redskins Tame Lions With First-Half Blitz

Washington’s 27-13 victory over the Detroit Lions on Saturday was so devoid of competition or high drama, it looked more like an exhibition than the first round of the NFL playoffs.

The outcome was decided so quickly that early in the third quarter the Redskins’ greatest concerns were injuries to running back Stephen Davis and offensive tackle Andy Heck, a possible suspension for offensive guard Tre Johnson and the impact a combination of any of the above could have on what promises to be a real test: this weekend’s second-round game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Davis, the NFC’s leading rusher with 1,405 yards, came into Saturday’s game with a sprained left ankle that kept him out of the final two games of the regular season. That didn’t stop him from running for 119 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. But he had to come out after he sprained his right knee on his 15th carry, five minutes into the second quarter.

Heck tore his left hamstring when a helmet hit him in the knee while he was blocking on the extra point after Washington’s first touchdown.

Heck left FedEx Field on crutches and will, in all likelihood, be out.

Davis was able to run off the field and the Redskins hope he will be ready by Saturday.

“We managed to win the last two games of the season without him, but when he’s in the game it makes an unbelievable impact,” Redskin quarterback Brad Johnson said.

The Lions couldn’t put up a fight in the first half, but they did their best to draw the Redskins into a fight during the second half.

Brad Johnson tangled with Detroit defensive lineman Robert Porcher when Porcher took a cheap shot at him after an interception. In the shoving match that followed, Tre Johnson tried to get at a Lion, and in the process he knocked an official’s cap off and was ejected. Johnson wasn’t trying to hit the official, but depending how closely the league wants to follow a strict interpretation of its hands-off policy for officials, Johnson could be suspended.

And things are merely starting to get good in Washington.

It had been seven years since the Redskins made the playoffs, and after that long layoff they came out eager to make up for lost time.

“The first half was as good as our team can play,” Redskin Coach Norv Turner said of the two-quarter stretch in which the team took a 27-0 lead.

With Davis picking up huge chunks of yardage, the Redskins gained 275 yards and converted four of their first five third downs. The defense intercepted two passes and held the Lions to 23 yards rushing in the half. “For the first time, we felt like it was a total team effort,” running back Larry Centers said.

Meanwhile, Detroit couldn’t get anything right.

Former Redskin Gus Frerotte started at quarterback in place of the injured Charlie Batch, and Washington put pressure on him all day. The Redskins sacked him five times, including a hit on the first play of the game that dislocated a finger on Frerotte’s left hand. The Lions hoped to establish a running game, but when they fell behind so quickly they had to go to the air. Frerotte threw 46 passes, and completed 21 of them for 251 yards, but he also threw two interceptions.

“We felt like we were going to go to a rhythm throwing game, but we never got the rhythm,” Detroit Coach Bobby Ross said.

The Lions were completely off the beat. They were penalized eight times for 96 yards in the first half. The two most critical flags came on a running-into-the-kicker call that gave the Redskins a first down after they punted on fourth and five, then a pass interference that gave the Redskins the ball on Detroit’s one-yard line and set up Davis’ first touchdown.

The offense didn’t accomplish much. One of Detroit’s touchdowns came on a 94-yard return of a blocked field goal. The other score came on the final play of the game.

With the Redskins rushing for 223 yards and holding the ball for 38 1/2 minutes, Brad Johnson didn’t need to display the form that earned him a berth in the Pro Bowl this year. He completed 15 of 31 passes for a modest 174 yards and a touchdown. The Redskins threw deep early and at the end of the first half, when they tried to put the game away with a touchdown, but for the most part they were content to throw short passes underneath and play ball-control offense.

That’s the way Turner always wanted to run things, with the occasional deep ball thrown in for danger and excitement, but he never had a quarterback as adept at running the offense as Johnson, who just completed his first year in Washington.

But the defense was suspect for much of the season.

“We had a lot of young and new people on the team and it was hard to come together earlier in the season,” defensive end Marco Coleman said. “But now we know each other’s playing styles and are able to play very well together.”

In a town whose twin passions are politics and the Redskins, it doesn’t get much better than this. The Redskins are in the playoffs and the presidential primaries are right around the corner.

Elections come around every four years; it has been eight years since Washington last won a Super Bowl. The only remaining links to that team are cornerback Darrell Green and kick returner Brian Mitchell.

“There aren’t too many of us old guys around,” Green said. “It certainly felt good. But it’s only one step toward the goal.”