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Warner leads unbeaten Cardinals against Redskins

Sep 16, 2008 - 6:26 PM Arizona (2-0) at Washington (1-1), 1:00 pm EDT

LANDOVER, Maryland (Ticker) -- In a somewhat surprising move, Kurt Warner was named the Arizona Cardinals' starting quarterback before the season started. Warner has yet to give them a reason to regret their decision.

The former NFL and Super Bowl MVP will attempt to lead the Cardinals to a 3-0 start when they face the Washington Redskins on Sunday.

Behind Warner, Arizona has emerged as an early favorite in a lackluster NFC West. The San Francisco 49ers, who fell to the Cardinals in Week One, are the only team in the division with a win.

Last Sunday, the 37-year-old Warner looked like the 1999 version that led the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl title. He passed for 361 yards and three touchdowns, all to Anquan Boldin, as the Cardinals cruised to a 31-10 victory over the Miami Dolphins.

"I knew it was going to be a good day. I had that feeling coming out," Warner said. "I liked our plan, I liked how we attacked them, I like the fact that we had great matchups against them. Once we got going, you felt like we couldn't be stopped."

Warner, who beat out Matt Leinart during the preseason for the starting job, completed the game with a perfect passer rating of 158.3. It was his third perfect rating of his career, which ties Peyton Manning for the most in NFL history.

Warner, whose first two perfect ratings were with St. Louis, became the first Cardinals quarterback to accomplish the feat since Jim Hart in 1975.

With Warner under center, the Cardinals have not turned the ball over this season. He has also been helped by a talented receiving corps featuring Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald.

Boldin has 14 catches for 222 yards and three scores, while Fitzgerald has hauled in nine receptions for 184 yards and a touchdown.

The Redskins moved back to .500 after a 29-24 comeback victory over the New Orleans Saints last Sunday.

After falling to do much of anything in its season-opening loss to the rival New York Giants, Washington's offense got rolling behind Jason Campbell, Clinton Portis and Santana Moss.

Campbell finished with 361 passing yards and tossed the game-winning, 67-yard score to Moss, who made seven catches for 164 yards and added a 27-yard rush. Portis had 96 yards and two TDs on 21 carries.

The defense was also impressive, for the most part containing an explosive Saints offense by forcing three turnovers. Safety Chris Horton made a pair interceptions and recovered a fumble.