After three dominating quarters, the Redskins had to fight off a furious late game rally to defeat the St. Louis Rams 17-10 and improve their record to 3-1 entering their bye week.
In the first half, the Redskins defense shut down the Rams' young quarterback, as Sam Bradford completed just 10 of his 18 pass attempts for 73 yards. The Skins allowed the St. Louis offense to convert only 1 of 8 third downs in the first half, and Bradford gave away a fumble.
On the other side of the ball, the Redskins had an efficient, balanced first half on offense. Over two quarters, Rex Grossman tossed 8 completions for 88 yards, including a 6-yard touchdown to Santana Moss. On the ground, Ryan Torain ripped off a rushing touchdown from 20 yards out.
Graham Gano added a 38-yard field goal in the 3rd quarter to make the score 17-0.
But after playing on their heels for most of the game, the Rams sparked back to life in the fourth quarter thanks to Washington mistakes.
Santana Moss tipped a Grossman pass into the arms of Justin King, who ran the ball back 51 yards. The Rams couldn't take the ball much farther, but Josh Brown kicked a 32-yard field goal to give the home team its first points of the game.
On the Rams next offensive possession, Stephen Jackson capped a 10-play drive by stretching across the goal line on a 15-yard Bradford pass to get the Rams within 17-10 with 5:45 to play. The Rams' drive was helped by a roughing the passer penalty on Rob Jackson.
Late in the fourth quarter, Grossman was picked again, but the Rams were unable to capitalize as Bradford was sacked on two straight plays to take St. Louis out of even field goal range.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
The Rams had one more chance to tie the score, but Bradford's fourth-down pass sailed over the head of Austin Pettis with just over two minutes remaining and the Redskins were able to run out the rest of the clock .
Grossman's final numbers were mediocre. He finished 15 of 29 for 143 yards with a touchdown and two picks. Ryan Torain, who had been overshadowed by the team's recent RB roster additions, shone with a monster 135-yard performance on 19 carries, including the one touchdown. The Redskins finished the day with 196 total rushing yards on 40 attempts.
The Redskins defense punished Bradford. Constantly hurried up or knocked down, he was sacked 7 times in the contest.
