Their defense stops the run — gasp!

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WASHINGTON (AP) — With Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne anchoring the defensive line , and Adrian Peterson hardly looking like a 33-year-old, the Washington Redskins have established what sort of team they are. It’s quite a drastic shift from who they’ve been under coach Jay Gruden until now.— and their offense — get this! — moves the ball on the ground.“It starts up front, in the trenches,” Gruden said Monday. “Those big guys are doing a great job.”He was talking about Washington’s defensive front, but he also might as well have been referring to the offensive line, which is led by left tackle Trent Williams and right guard Brandon Scherff and has been leading the way for Peterson.So bad against the run for so long, the defense is suddenly stout as can be. It limited the NFL’s No. 2 rusher, Ezekiel Elliott, to 34 yards — his second-lowest output in the league — in the Redskins’ 20-17 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. Elliott’s longest gain was 6 yards.That came a week after the Redskins limited Christian McCaffrey to 20 yards rushing and the entire Carolina team to 81 during a 23-17 win against the Panthers.“We’re making teams earn every blade of grass they get,” Gruden said.Now comes another test for Washington, which leads the NFC East: rookie sensation Saquon Barkley and the last-place New York Giants next Sunday.The Redskins are giving up only 87.3 yards on the ground each game, third in the NFL. One key: Washington is one oftwo clubs to not have allowed a 20-yard run this season. Minnesota is the other.“It’s as much of a mindset as anything,” linebacker Ryan Kerrigan said about stopping Elliott and the Cowboys, who had won four games in a row against the Redskins. “We definitely have taken it personally that they’ve had so much success running the ball against us the past couple of years.”Truly, everyone has.Last season, Washington owned the worst run defense in the NFL, with opponents rushing for 134.1 yards per game. In 2016, it was 24th of 32 clubs at 119.8 per game allowed. And in 2015, 26th at 122.6 per game allowed.So this season has seen what Gruden called “a major improvement,” one he attributed in part to the pair of first-round draft picks out of Alabama, Allen (who missed 11 games as a rookie in 2017 because of an injury) and rookie Payne.Safety D.J. Swearinger nicknamed that duo the Alabama Wall.On the other side of the ball, Gruden has embraced the running game much more than in his previous four seasons as a head coach in Washington.After Peterson’s 99 yards on 24 carries against the Cowboys — the fourth time in six games this season he’s topped 95 — the Redskins are third in the league at 29.5 runs per game and 14th at 119 yards per game.Those numbers are way up from the full 2017 season, when the team ended up ranked 24th with 25.1 runs per game and 28th with 90.5 yards per game.Under Gruden, the Redskins have never finished a season averaging more than 26.8 carries or 106 yards per game.They’ve also never had Peterson, who was available to any team when the Redskins signed him in the preseason.“Adrian has been a big lift for us, without a doubt. We are 4-2, and he is big a part of it,” Gruden said. “So we just have to keep feeding him.”Notes: Gruden said that CB Fabian Moreau sprained his ankle and RT Morgan Moses injured his elbow against Dallas. CB Quinton Dunbar, who missed Sunday’s game with what the team said was a bruised shin, was going to get checked out to see whether he had a nerve problem. Washington drafted Champ Bailey with the seventh overall choice in 1999. Bailey made four Pro Bowls there, but Washington traded him (and a second-round pick) to the Broncos for running back Clinton Portis.Portis had a successful career in Washington with 8 ,164 yards from scrimmage and 49 total touchdowns in seven years, but he wasn’t Bailey.Bailey, who said a day earlier he didn’t hear from anyone in Washington until this week, paid his respects to those who drafted him and helped him. But he dedicated most of his 30-minute, 35-second Hall of Fame speech on his 10-year career in Denver“The best thing for my career happened in 2004,” Bailey said. “I was traded to the Denver Broncos. “Once I began to learn about Mr. [Pat] Bowlen and the Denver Broncos, I was sold. There are a few things I learned to appreciate from the good leaders: They lead by example; they’re accountable; they’re competitive; and they know how to win. That was what I learned and loved about Mr. B.”After finishing with his long thank yous to everyone in Denver, which he said will always be his home, Bailey ended with a message. Bailey pointed out that most of the people he mentioned in his speech are black men. “My brothers,” Bailey said. “Some of you are athletes; some of you are not athletes. But we are all black men first, something we have more expertise in than any aspect of our lives. I’m a firm believer that if you want to create change, you better start with your friends and your family. So I’m going to start here today. The first thing people see when they look at me is not a Pro Football Hall of Famer or a husband or a father. They see me first as a black man. So on behalf of all the black men that I’ve mentioned tonight, and many of you are out there, you’ve had most of the same experiences I’ve had in my lifetime, we say this to our white friends: When we tell you about our fears, please listen. When we tell you we’re afraid for our kids, please listen. When we tell you there are many challenges we face because of the color of our skin, please listen. And please do not get caught up in how the message is delivered. “Yes, most of us who are black athletes are black men first. Understand this, the things that make us great on the field — our size and our aggression — are the same things that can get us killed off the field. I believe if we start listening, there’s no telling the progress we can make. All of us are dads, sons, brothers, your friends. We all understand that if we can’t get our friends to listen, then no one will. And to my black brothers, if you do not have anything positive to say about our social challenges, please keep your mouths shut.” Bailey, who had 52 interceptions and seven forced fumbles, was a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

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