Defense helps Redskins escape Browns

After four victories secured with daring playcalling and smash-mouth running, the inability of the Washington Redskins’ offense to run the clock out put it in a new position Sunday as the Cleveland Browns worked their way toward a game-tying field goal.

The role of spectator.

“Usually it’s us putting the game away at the end of the fourth quarter,” quarterback Jason Campbell said. “But our defense was tremendous.”

And it had to be. After that defense forced three incomplete passes by Derek Anderson, Phil Dawson’s 54-yard field goal attempt was wide right with 25 seconds remaining, allowing the Redskins to escape with a 14-11 victory.

“To play that kind of defense, you have to be emotional, you have to be violent,” Redskins coach Jim Zorn said. “They’re very mean and very physical, and I’m glad they’re on our side.”

Although they almost squandered an 11-point lead, the Redskins (5-2) moved into sole possession of second place in the NFC East. The Giants (5-1) remain in front, and free-falling Dallas (4-3) lost for third time in four weeks. The Redskins also are tied with Carolina for the second-best record in the NFC as they prepare to complete their first-half schedule Sunday at 0-5 Detroit.

“We feel very fortunate because [Cleveland] was a perfect example of a team that was very hot and was trying to put together a string of wins,” Zorn said. “We wanted to rebound.”

Clinton Portis continued his All-Pro season with 174 yards rushing and a 3-yard touchdown. Santana Moss, who caught only two passes in the previous two games, made four catches for 75 yards and an 18-yard touchdown from Campbell, who played most of the game with a groin injury.

The touchdowns came less than 10 minutes apart and staked the Redskins to a 14-3 lead. But a fumble by Portis led to a Browns touchdown and two-point conversion with 2:44 remaining.

The Redskins, so effective in putting games away through possession, couldn’t do it this time. They burned only 46 seconds while failing to get a first down. Cleveland regained the ball at its own 29 with 1:51 remaining but no timeouts.

Cleveland moved to the Washington 36-yard line with 46 seconds remaining. But Anderson’s three misfires forced Dawson try a season-long attempt.

“I kicked it pretty well - I wasn’t really concerned with the distance, but I had a sneaking suspicion that it might not go through because it came off my foot wrong,” Dawson said.

A first half of awful offense (the teams combined for 12 first downs, and 11 punts resulted in the Redskins’ first scoreless tie at halftime since September 1981) was replaced by a second half of thrills, though they weren’t entirely a product of great execution.

“With a win, you can say, ’If only …’ ” right tackle Jon Jansen said. “With a loss, there would have been a whole lot of cussing and swearing going on.”

And a whole lot of worrying that the Redskins’ improbable 4-1 start was followed by an equally improbable 0-2 stretch against St. Louis and Cleveland.

But just as they did after losing in Week 1 to the Giants, the Redskins responded to prevent a snowball of negativity from surrounding Redskin Park this week.

Everything was going well after a sensational goal-line stand appeared to finish off Cleveland. The Browns were stonewalled four times from inside the Washington 3-yard line, with Demetric Evans batting down Anderson’s pass on fourth down.

Portis’ only mistake, the fumble, came on the next play to give Cleveland a second chance. But the running back had far more positive plays than negative. The Browns’ rushing defense entered ranked 25th and was no match for the NFL’s leading rusher.

“We took a mentality that we were going to run the ball and set up the play-action pass,” center Casey Rabach said. “Coach Z put it on our shoulders, and good things happened.”

Portis’ touchdown was set up by Campbell’s 35-yard pass to Moss. Getting Moss back in the offense was another good sign for the Redskins. On his touchdown, he made two defenders miss before spinning to cross the goal line.

“When you play in a critical game like today, where you know it’s going to be rough and well-fought, I told myself to be a spark - try and spark the offense so we can get into the end zone,” Moss said.

Different players are providing different kinds of sparks each week. On Sunday it was Moss and Portis on offense, London Fletcher (12 tackles) and Chris Horton (nine tackles) on defense.

“It’s cool to be on a team where no matter what happens, somebody steps up to win the game,” defensive tackle Kedric Golston said. “It’s hard to win games and to close out games. But whether it’s defense, offense or special teams, we know we have the goods to do it.”