Packers Pound Redskins, 37-0

The Green Bay Packers and Washington Redskins showed their openers were no flukes.

Brett Favre threw three touchdown passes, Ryan Longwell kicked three field goals and Ahman Green rushed 25 times for 116 yards as the Packers routed the Redskins, 37-0, Monday night at Green Bay.

It was Green Bay’s first shutout since beating the Raiders, 28-0, on Dec. 28, 1993, and Washington’s first scoreless game since Dec. 11, 1993, when they lost, 3-0, to the New York Jets.

It was Washington’s first road shutout since 1971, and for the first time in franchise history the Redskins have not scored a touchdown in their first two games.

“I know they’re struggling on offense, but to be able to keep them out of the end zone was really something,” Packer Coach Mike Sherman said.

The game capped the NFL’s first weekend of play since it postponed Week 2 following the terrorist attacks. After the layoff, neither the Packers, who beat Detroit, 28-6, nor the Redskins, who lost to San Diego, 30-3, knew if those openers were true gauges.

The Packers dominated from the start behind Favre and Green, the NFL’s leading rusher and the first Packers’ back to top 100 yards in the season’s first two games. Green also caught a team-best six passes for 30 yards.

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New England quarterback Drew Bledsoe might require season-ending surgery because of injuries suffered Sunday. A Boston television station reported that Bledsoe has a collapsed lung, in addition to internal injuries.

Bledsoe is listed in stable condition at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was admitted after taking a hit from linebacker Mo Lewis in the fourth quarter of the Patriots’ 10-3 loss to the New York Jets.

Tom Brady, who completed one pass last season but leapfrogged Damon Huard in training camp to become New England’s backup quarterback, will start Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts.

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Jacksonville running back Fred Taylor probably will be sidelined at least three weeks because of a groin injury suffered while making a cut in the second quarter Sunday in the Jaguars’ 13-6 victory over the Tennessee Titans.

Taylor will miss games against the Cleveland Browns and Seattle Seahawks the next two weeks. Jacksonville has an open date Oct. 14, and Taylor will be reevaluated then.

“It felt like my body split in half,” Taylor said. “I’m just thankful that it wasn’t worse.”

In the three previous seasons, Taylor missed 12 games because of knee, hamstring and shoulder injuries.

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Robert Griffith, the Minnesota Vikings’ Pro Bowl safety, will miss six to eight weeks after breaking his right leg Sunday against the Chicago Bears. Griffith was injured on the opening kickoff, and X-rays revealed a broken fibula.

Oakland center Barret Robbins, the anchor of the Raider offensive line, injured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and will miss at least one game, Coach Jon Gruden said.

Robbins was injured in the fourth quarter Sunday against the Miami Dolphins. He was scheduled to undergo an MRI on Monday.

Throwing seven interceptions Sunday was not enough to cost Ty Detmer his job as Detroit’s starting quarterback.

“I have evaluated the film, and we’ll go on about our business with Ty,” Lion Coach Marty Mornhinweg said.

The Lions (0-2) have an open date this week and will play St. Louis at home Oct. 8 in a Monday night game. Detmer was 22 of 42 for 212 yards and a touchdown in a 24-14 loss at Cleveland, three weeks after the Browns traded him to Detroit for a fourth-round pick. His seven interceptions were one short of the NFL record set 51 years ago.

Jim Miller was named Chicago’s starting quarterback after rallying the Bears to a 17-10 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. Miller replaced injured Shane Matthews in the second quarter and passed for two fourth-quarter touchdowns as the Bears (1-1) reached the end zone for the first time this season.

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Tight end Greg Clark will have another operation on his right hamstring today, further delaying his first action with the San Francisco 49ers this season.

Clark, a 49er starter for most of the previous three seasons, hasn’t practiced this season while recovering from off-season surgery on both hamstrings.

Philadelphia running back Duce Staley might play against Dallas on Sunday despite a cartilage tear in his right shoulder. Staley was injured in the Eagles’ 27-3 victory over Seattle on Sunday.

The Eagles said cornerback Troy Vincent, recovering from an injured shoulder, had a better chance of playing Sunday than Staley.