Playoffs still a possibility for Redskins

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.

The Washington Redskins moved themselves more squarely into the playoff hunt Sunday night with a hard-fought, inelegant, 22-10 victory against the New York Giants at the Meadowlands.

Now 7-7, the Redskins moved into a tie with New Orleans for the final playoff spot, pending Minnesota’s game tonight against Chicago, although the Saints hold the tiebreaker because of a superior conference record.

A Bears victory would drop the Vikings to 7-7 and add real meaning and drama to Sunday night’s game between Washington and Minnesota at the Metrodome. A Vikings victory would put them at 8-6 but give the Redskins a chance at gaining a tiebreaker over them with a victory.

Washington took a 22-3 lead

a few minutes into the third quarter on a 5-yard run by star running back Clinton Portis, who led the Redskins with 126 rushing yards and was a key component of Washington’s other TD march.

The rest of the game was a question of whether the Redskins’ defense could contain the Giants enough to score their second straight win.

That mission didn’t start well; Eli Manning took the Giants 48 yards to a touchdown that pulled the home team to within 22-10.

Manning was often betrayed by a receiving corps that dropped nine passes, and by his own lack of touch on many short passes that were flung with much more velocity than needed. They drew boos and catcalls from frustrated Giants fans, tired of seeing their team (9-5) play so poorly at home. Of New York’s five losses, four have come at home.

Their derision subsided for a moment when Manning, 18 of 52 for 184 yards, found backup tight end Kevin Boss for a 19-yard touchdown against safety Reed Doughty with 4:37 to play in the third quarter.

The Giants almost immediately received the ball again. Amani Toomer, normally the Giants’ most reliable receiver, badly beat Shawn Springs on a deep pattern – but dropped what appeared to be a perfectly thrown pass by Manning.

That drive fizzled when Tynes missed a 38-yard field goal try into the wind.

Again, Washington failed to move and again the Giants took off on a promising drive that reached the Redskins’ 20. But, on fourth-and-5, defensive end Demetric Evans slapped away Manning’s pass in the flat with 5:22 left in the game .

A howling wind that gusted as high as 25 mph turned much of the early going into comic ineptitude. The Redskins didn’t complete a pass in the first quarter; the Giants completed just two, although Manning had several throws dropped by cold-handed receivers.

Punters Jeff Feagles of New York and Derrick Frost of Washington combined for 10 first-half punts, most of which swooned towards the sidelines the moment they were kicked. One of Frost’s appeared to stop after 30 yards then started a wind-blown roll that tacked on another 20 yards to pin the Giants at their own 4.

The player seemingly least bothered by the gusts was Washington kicker Shaun Suisham. He drilled a 49-yard field goal with 2:23 left in the first quarter and added 31- and 28-yarders before the end of the half.

Redskins quarterback Todd Collins, making his first start in 10 years, completed just 4 of 18 passes in the first half – 8 of 25 overall – but made them count. A 36-yard throw to Santana Moss, followed by a 30-yard pass to Todd Yoder led to a field goal.

Late in the second quarter, Collins and Moss combined on a 34-yard completion that cornerback Kevin Dockery barely missed intercepting. The hookup put the ball on the New York 15. Two plays gained just 1 yard, but on third-and-9 from the 14, Collins handed off to Ladell Betts on a perfectly designed draw play.

Betts easily gained first-down yardage but wasn’t satisfied until he had bounced off a couple of tacklers and bounded into the end zone for the game’s first touchdown.

Redskins rookie LaRon Landry gift-wrapped a field goal for New York with a foolish 15-yard penalty for taunting after he separated Plaxico Burress from the ball on a third-and-1 pass play at the Redskins’ 48 at the 2-minute warning.

But the Giants returned the favor on the closing drive of the half when Sam Madison tackled Clinton Portis by the facemask during a 31-yard run. The extra 15 moved the ball to the Giants’ 26. Portis then ran two more draws in a row, chewing up 18 yards and making Suisham’s third field goal of the half a much easier 28 yards.