Survival mode

LANDOVER, Md. — Within the first two minutes, the Washington Redskins had given up two sacks and lost a fumble.

They had also allowed a quarterback making his first NFL start to throw for a touchdown on his first pass of the game. By halftime, they were down 10 to a winless team, and Jason Campbell had thrown two interceptions.

Forget all that talk about whether Jim Zorn would last the season. For a while, one had to wonder whether the booing fans would allow the coach, his quarterback and the rest of the team back on the field for the start of the second half.

Spurred by an interception by DeAngelo Hall, the Redskins found some of the energy, life and momentum that had been missing all season. They rallied to score on three straight possessions in the third quarter Sunday and beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 16-13.

“At halftime, I was like, if we don’t pull this one out, I don’t know what I’m going to do on Monday,” Campbell said. “I might as well hibernate.”

It was another narrow win over a bad team, much like the 9-7 ugly result against the St. Louis Rams that felt more like a loss two weeks ago. But Washington (2-2) nevertheless has a .500 record, and that doesn’t look so bad in print — especially after last week’s sky-is-falling loss to the Detroit Lions.

“It’s a good feeling because of what we had to go though all week, hearing all those things about losing to Detroit and all that stuff,” defensive end Phillip Daniels said. “So it’s a great feeling just to be 2-2.”

The loss left Buccaneers rookie coach Raheem Morris still seeking his first NFL victory, but it’s not as if Tampa Bay (0-4) didn’t finally have its chance after three double-digit losses to start the season.

Mike Nugent missed two first-half field goals and was 0 for 4 on the season until making a 37-yarder on the final play of the half, and Aqib Talib’s three interceptions lose some of their glow because he was beaten down the right sideline on the 59-yard pass from Campbell to Santana Moss that gave the Redskins the lead for good.

“I bet he’d give the other three back for that one,” Morris said.

Campbell finished 12 for 22 for 170 yards with two touchdown passes and three interceptions. He claimed it was the first three-interception game of his entire football life — including Pee-Wee ball.