Redskins Straighten It Out

LANDOVER, Md. â€”  Owner Dan Snyder called selected players into his office one by one last week. Two of those players, Tre’ Johnson and Marco Coleman, held a players-only meeting.

Whether those motivational tactics helped the Washington Redskins beat the Arizona Cardinals, 28-3, Sunday is hard to measure. More likely, they won because a grumbling offensive line got its wish: The Redskins ran the ball.

“We wanted to do it last week, but we didn’t get the opportunity,� said Johnson, the right guard who was upset after Coach Norv Turner abandoned the run in the second half of the 33-17 loss at Detroit.

“That’s what we’re built for. That’s the way the Redskins play ball. We ate the clock up, made a statement, showed attitude.�

Stephen Davis had 189 of Washington’s 226 yards rushing, including a 50-yard touchdown run, and Brad Johnson had two touchdown passes as the Redskins (8-5) remained one game ahead of the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants in the NFC East.

Tre’ Johnson said he was “ecstatic, elated, overjoyed--all those euphemistic terms� as he leveled one, sometimes two defenders a running play. He said he put his own performance on the line with his statements to the team Saturday after his meeting with an unhappy Snyder.

“He’s cool. He’s into this,� Tre’ Johnson said. “He feels it like we feel. He instills the attitude into the organization. He made some statements and relayed his feeling to us and we relayed it to the team. We let everybody know what’s at stake.�

The Redskins, who had struggled offensively in their previous three games, had 406 total yards.

Davis, who had only three second-half carries against the Lions, ran 37 times against a rushing defense ranked 30th coming into the game.

Davis leads the NFL in rushing with 1,335 yards and touchdowns with 17. His rushing total is 18 yards shy of Terry Allen’s team record, set in 1996.

The loss ended a winning streak at four games for the Cardinals (6-7), who had three offensive starters leave the game with injuries. The Cardinals, already with a porous offensive line, lost two starters--L.J. Shelton (sprained ankle) and Lester Holmes (sprained knee) --in the first half, along with running back Michael Pittman (turf toe).

Compounding its problems, Arizona took points off the board, failed to take advantage of good field position after turnovers, and had several personal-foul penalties.

Jake Plummer was also sacked five times and had three passes intercepted.