The Washington Redskins had no trouble holding onto a fourth-quarter
lead against JaMarcus Russell and the Oakland Raiders.
Jason Campbell threw two touchdown passes to give Washington the lead,
and Quinton Ganther put it away by running for two fourth-quarter scores
in the Redskins' 34-13 victory Sunday.
The Redskins (4-9) had lost three straight, blowing leads of six, eight
and 10 points. Those losses came against upper-echelon teams in Dallas,
Philadelphia and New Orleans, not the bottom-dwelling Raiders (4-9).
Washington took a 17-13 lead into the fourth quarter this week, but just
built on it from there against Russell and the Raiders. Oakland had won
two of three, led by fourth-quarter comebacks by Bruce Gradkowski, who
replaced an ineffective Russell as the Raiders quarterback last month
but was injured in this one.
There would be no such comeback this week. Ganther capped an 80-yard
drive with a 1-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 24-13. Russell threw
an interception to LaRon Landry on the next play and Ganther scored on
another 1-yard run four plays later.
The Redskins then teed off on Russell, getting six of their eight sacks
in the second half. Rookie Brian Orakpo finished with four sacks to help
the Redskins post their most lopsided win since a 21-point win over
Dallas in Joe Gibbs' final regular-season game in 2007.
Russell, who lost his job last month after completing just 46.8 percent
of his passes and committing 14 turnovers, entered the game to start the
third quarter for Oakland after Gradkowski injured a knee late in the
first half.
Russell completed his first two passes to help set up a 53-yard field
goal by Sebastian Janikowski that cut Washington's lead to 17-13 midway
through the third quarter. That was the highlight of the day for
Russell, who finished 10 for 16 for 74 yards and was booed at almost
every opportunity by the sparse crowd.
It was a rough day overall for the Raiders, who committed 14 penalties
and lost by at least 20 points for the fifth time this season.
Campbell had a much better day, completing 16 of 28 passes for 222 yards
and two first-half touchdowns to Fred Davis. The second TD came at the
end of one particularly frustrating sequence for the Raiders late in the
first half. It started when a 27-yard pass to Louis Murphy on
third-and-2 was overturned by replay.
Hiram Eugene then committed a false start before the punt and a 15-yard
penalty for interfering with punt returner Antwaan Randle El. A personal
foul on special teams coach John Fassel moved the ball out to the
Washington 40.
Four plays later, Campbell threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Davis that
gave the Redskins a 17-10 lead with 56 seconds remaining in the half.
The Raiders used two long passes to running back Darren McFadden to set
up a field goal by Janikowski and a 1-yard TD run on fourth-and-goal by
Justin Fargas.
NOTES: Gradkowski went 10-for-18 for 153 yards. ... Raiders S Michael
Huff left in the second quarter with a stinger. ... Janikowski was well
short on a 65-yard FG attempt at the end of the first half.
