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Rookie safety Chris Horton has been named the NFC defensive player of the week, the NFL announced this afternoon.
"I want to thank the National Football League for this tremendous honor," Horton said in a statement released by the league. "I feel truly blessed to have the game that I did last Sunday. My coaches prepared me and had enough confidence in me to give me this opportunity. I give the credit to my teammates who forced those turnovers and put me in a position to make plays."
Horton was sensational in his debut as a starter (he played briefly in a season-opening loss to the New York Giants), intercepting two passes, being credited with two solo tackles and recovering a fumble in Washington's 29-24 victory. His second interception of Saints quarterback Drew Brees in the fourth quarter all but sealed the Redskins' first victory of the season and the first win for rookie head coach Jim Zorn.
"He had a tremendous day out there," LaRon Landry said. "He did everything I thought he would do." Horton, selected in the seventh round from UCLA, is the first Redskins rookie with two interceptions and a fumble recovery in the same game since Brig Owens in 1966, according to the team's public relations office.
Shortly before kickoff against the Saints, safeties coach Steve Jackson pulled Horton aside and told him he would make his first NFL start because strong safety Reed Doughty had flu-like symptoms.
In the FedEx Field locker room, Jackson and Landry told Horton the game would be unlike what he had experienced in the preseason.
"Coach Jack and I told him, 'Look, the speed is totally different now. You've got to go out there and really ball,'" Landry recalled. "He said, 'Don't worry about this. I got this. I'm good. I'm good.' That's what he kept saying. You know what? He was right."<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
