Fans show their excite- ment as Washington won for the first time this season. (Reginald A. Pearman - washington- post.com)

By Mark Maske
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 2, 1998; Page A1

Team president John Kent Cooke made the rounds of the people in his box, hugging everyone in sight. Coach Norv Turner allowed himself to break into a modest grin on the sideline. Most of the 67,976 fans jumped up and down as if they were celebrating a Super Bowl championship. And for the first time this season, the players could feel good about themselves.

The Washington Redskins are winless no more.

Turner benched his best offensive player, wide receiver Michael Westbrook, for missing the team's meeting and a practice Saturday. One of the team's best defensive players, tackle Dana Stubblefield, did not play because of a knee injury.

However, the Redskins defeated the New York Giants, 21-14, yesterday at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium.

The offense, which Turner called "totally inept" two weeks ago, went without a fumble or an interception for the first time this season. A defense that had been allowing nearly 161 yards rushing per game yielded 86. After being outscored 66-13 in the third quarter of games this season, the Redskins took a 21-7 lead when rookie running back Skip Hicks scored the first touchdown of his National Football League career on the team's first possession of the second half. When they needed to stop the Giants in the fourth quarter, they did.

"Better late than never," wide receiver Leslie Shepherd said. "It's kind of late. It's later than we expected. But we got it done. It's a start. We said to each other there's no need to celebrate like we won the Super Bowl. It just feels good to win for a change."

The Redskins (1-7) still share the NFL's worst record with the Carolina Panthers, who claimed their first victory of the season yesterday by defeating the New Orleans Saints. The Redskins still have little to no hope of making good on their summertime pledge to reach the playoffs.

"We can celebrate a little bit," linebacker Marvcus Patton said, "but being 1-7 is not all that great. Coming off the field, it felt like a Super Bowl win. But now, as that wears off, I realize we need a lot more wins."

Initially, the day didn't have the feel of being the one on which the Redskins would break through. They had not played since losing to the Minnesota Vikings, 41-7, two weeks ago – a game that Turner called "as poor a performance as I can say I've ever been involved with."

Since then, Turner made his third quarterback switch of the season. He reinstated Trent Green as the starter and benched Gus Frerotte for the second time this year, and Frerotte voiced his displeasure. Stubblefield aggravated a knee injury eight days ago – the third of three straight days off for Redskins players during the team's bye week – when he took a misstep, he said, on a flight of stairs at his home.

Saturday, Turner punished the gifted but puzzling Westbrook, fining him approximately $4,000, sources close to the situation said yesterday, and placing him on the team's inactive list for yesterday's game. Turner also told Westbrook not to bother showing up at the team's hotel Saturday night or at the game yesterday.

"If someone had asked me if we could win without Dana and Mike, I'd have said probably not," Shepherd said.

The Redskins suffered another key loss during yesterday's game when starting running back Terry Allen sprained an ankle. No matter. The varsity hadn't been getting it done, so the junior varsity stepped in and gave the Redskins their first regular season victory since they beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 35-32, last Dec. 21 in their 1997 season finale.

"Somehow, you always believe you can play at a certain level," said cornerback Darrell Green, who had spent Friday night at a hospital with his youngest son, who is suffering from pneumonia. "It was a team effort, which we haven't had."

Few people associated with the Redskins could have been more pleased with the victory than the beleaguered Turner. He came to Washington after serving as an assistant coach for Dallas Cowboys teams that won the Super Bowl in 1992 and 1993. Last season, his fourth with the Redskins, the team had an 8-7-1 record and just missed the playoffs. This season has been the franchise's worst since 1961, when it finished 1-12-1, with the victory in the season's final game.

"It feels good to win," Turner said. "That's why you play this game. . . . It's a great feeling for the guys in that locker room. I know a lot of this ends up being focused on me. But they're the guys that are pounding each other all week in practice. . . . They're the guys making the physical sacrifice and the mental sacrifice, and I'm happy for them."

Turner has been the primary target for the wrath of the Redskins' disgruntled fans, but his moves worked yesterday. Trent Green was sharp, completing 21 of 31 passes. He ran for one touchdown and threw for one. When Allen got hurt, Turner went to Hicks.

The Redskins had to start third-stringer Doug Brown in place of Stubblefield because backup Marc Boutte was sidelined by a sprained ankle. But Washington's defense held up, albeit against a less-than-imposing offense. And the Redskins didn't crumble when the Giants got a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by David Patten to answer Green's one-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter.

"That's about how our first two months have gone," Turner said. "It would have been easy to back off, but our guys didn't."

Turner raised some eyebrows when he gave his players five days off during the seven days after the loss to the Vikings. But he wanted his players to regroup mentally, and the strategy worked.

"Everybody had a lot of time to think about the first half of the season, and you could tell the difference in our practices," Hicks said.

Turner also motivated his players by making sure to mention to them that a local radio station was encouraging fans to wear bags over their heads at the game. "It made me mad, I know that," Patton said.

When the losing streak finally was over, however, the Redskins abstained from the post-victory locker room tradition of awarding game balls to key contributors.

"This was a sweet win, but it wasn't all that," Darrell Green said. "We have a long way to go."