By Joseph White
Associated Press
LANDOVER, Md. ó Even Leigh Torrence wasn’t sure how he deflected the ball. He got a piece of it with his hand, he thought. Maybe it then bounced off his helmet.
What really matters is that he was there, swinging the tide Sunday with a solid defensive play in the fourth quarter. He kept pace with Steve Breaston deep over the middle and caused Kurt Warner’s pass to bounce high into the air and into the hands of diving teammate Carlos Rogers.
“I knew I was going to deflect it,” Torrence said, “but I wasn’t sure how.”
Rogers got to his feet and took off, running 42 yards to the 15-yard line. Two plays later, Santana Moss scored on a 17-yard receiver screen with 12:10 remaining, giving the Washington Redskins a 24-17 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.
“They got the bounce on that one,” Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “The momentum was kind of in our favor when that play happened. That play hurt.”
They were two teams stingy with turnovers in their first two games, and the team that kept that reputation intact came out the winner. Jason Campbell completed 23 of 31 passes for 193 yards with two touchdowns. No completion gained more than 26 yards, but hasn’t thrown an interception this season.
Clinton Portis ran 21 times for 68 yards and a touchdown for the Redskins (2-1), who have only one lost fumble in three games and have won two straight for coach Jim Zorn since a sputtering start against the New York Giants in Week 1.
“After the game against the Giants, we said that the next two games were must wins,” tight end Chris Cooley said. “This was a huge win. I think that if we continue winning, we will look back and say that this was when we became a good team.”
The Cardinals (2-1) had been looking to go 3-0 for the first time since 1974.