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Saints Lose Heartbreaker to Redskins
09/14/08 - 10:35 PM
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LANDOVER, Md. (AP) - “Avoid, reset and throw.” Jason Campbell
did just that, then hit Santana Moss for a 67-yard touchdown pass
that won the game.
Campbell and new Washington Redskins coach Jim Zorn’s West Coast
offense succeeded in Week 2 as spectacularly as it failed in Week
1. Campbell went from uncomfortable to prolific, completing 24 of
36 passes for 321 yards in a 29-24 victory over the New Orleans
Saints.
The big play came with 3:29 left and the Redskins trailing
24-22. Campbell avoided the rush, stepped forward and hit Moss in
stride, the receiver one step ahead of cornerback Tracy Porter.
Zorn had chided Campbell for failing to “avoid, reset and
throw” on a similar play in the season opening loss to the New
York Giants, costing the team a potential long touchdown pass to
Moss.
The completion was the longest of Campbell’s career. Moss
finished with seven catches for 164 yards for the Redskins (1-1).
Seventh-round draft pick Chris Horton, making his first NFL
start because of Reed Doughty’s illness, was in the right place at
the right time with two interceptions off tipped balls and a fumble
recovery - accounting for all three Saints turnovers.
Horton’s second interception, a pass tipped by teammate Demetric
Evans, ended the Saints’ last drive with 2:59 to play.
Reggie Bush returned a punt 55 yards for a touchdown that gave
the Saints (1-1) a 24-15 lead at the end of the third quarter. But
Clinton Portis’ second touchdown of the game - an 8-yard run - and
the strike from Campbell to Moss more than erased the deficit.
While Zorn was getting his first win as a head coach, the Saints
stole the spotlight, announcing before the game that coach Sean
Payton had been given a contract extension through the 2012 season.
Bush, whose promising rookie year was followed by a sophomore
slump, carried 10 times for 28 yards and caught seven passes for 63
yards. But his day was more or less mediocre until his second
career punt return for a touchdown. He avoided three Redskins and
flew down the left sideline, the play marred only by his taunting
penalty near the end of the run.
Robert Meachem, an oft-injured first-round pick a year ago, was
active for the first time in his pro career because of Marques
Colston’s thumb injury. His first catch was a touchdown: 19 yards
from Drew Brees in the third quarter. The play capped an 80-yard
drive that opened the second half and gave the Saints a 17-9 lead.
The Redskins responded with an 83-yard drive, aided by a
defensive holding penalty on Jason Craft that kept it alive after a
sack on third-and-10. Portis (21 carries, 96 yards) ran through a
crowd around the left side for a 9-yard touchdown, but the 2-point
conversion attempt failed, keeping the Saints ahead 17-15.
All of Washington’s five first-half drives ended in field goal
attempts, with Shaun Suisham finding the mark from 22, 36 and 35
yards and missing from 49 and 30, the latter due to a bobble by
holder Durant Brooks.
The Redskins ran more than twice as many plays (38) in the first
half as they did in the first half against the Giants (18). They
outgained the Saints 203-112 in the half, but the Saints stayed in
the game with a 1-yard touchdown run by Pierre Thomas that followed
a fumbled punt by Washington’s Antwaan Randle El.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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