LANDOVER, Md. -- After Rex Grossman threw his second interception, running back Tim Hightower figured the Washington Redskins quarterback needed a word or two of encouragement.
"I went over to him and told him to keep throwing the ball," Hightower said. "He looked at me and kind of laughed - as if those plays never even happened."
Selective memory was much needed Sunday by Grossman and the Redskins, who surely needed to do a lot of laughing - if only to keep from crying during a game full of self-destruction that wiped out their statistical domination. They blew so many chances that they found themselves trailing the Arizona Cardinals by eight early in the fourth quarter before a late rally pulled out a 22-21 victory.
"We could have made it a lot easier on us," tight end Fred Davis said. "But at the end of the day, we got the win."
Grossman's fourth-and-3, 18-yard touchdown pass to Santana Moss got the deficit within two with 5 minutes, 17 seconds left. The two-point conversion attempt failed, but Graham Gano's 34-yard field goal with 1:45 to go gave the Redskins the lead. It wasn't until cornerback Byron Westbrook, on the field because of injuries to three defensive backs, forced Chansi Stuckey to fumble to end the Cardinals' final drive that fans could celebrate a 2-0 record and begin the chant of "We Want Dallas" for next Monday's visit to the Cowboys.
"You have to be able to close the door," coach Mike Shanahan said. "We didn't close the door. ... You've got to find a way to win even though you're going to make some mistakes. It's a little bit of a chess game sometimes, and we're lucky that we snuck one away from them."
Grossman completed 25 of 43 passes for 291 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions and earned his first fourth-quarter comeback win since 2007.
Hightower, traded by Arizona shortly after the end of the NFL lockout, ran for 96 yards on 20 carries and started a scuffle that netted a 15-yard roughness penalty against his old team. Davis had another big game, with six catches for 86 yards and a touchdown.
Arizona (1-1) has lost eight straight to the Redskins and hasn't won in Washington since 1998.
