ASHBURN, Va. — So many good things — too many to count, actually — happen when a team doesn't turn over the ball. For the Washington Redskins, it starts with field position.

The Redskins' offense has yet to commit a turnover this season, and no one is happier than the defense. For 28 straight drives — and 42 of 43 on the season — the defense has run onto the field to start a series on the other team's side of the 50.

"It's a lot easier to call a game," defensive coordinator Greg Blache said, "when a guy's got to go 80 yards."

Blache can be more aggressive, knowing that a 9-yard gain at the other end of the field is less critical than a 9-yard gain in the shadow of one's own goal posts. Also, his players are better rested because they haven't had to race back out after a play or two because of a sudden turnover.

"A lot of people overlook how big field position is," linebacker Marcus Washington said. "You can see for us, it's been huge the last couple of ballgames."

Washington's only turnover this season came on a punt return fumble by Antwaan Randle El in Week 2. Rookie Chris Horton, crowned Thursday as the NFL's rookie of the month for September, already has four takeaways just by himself. The team's turnover differential is plus-6, tied for best in the league.

So it should come as no surprise that the Redskins are 3-1. After all, everyone knows that turnovers roughly equal defeat. Teams losing the turnover battle are 10-35 in the NFL this season and were 34-168 last year.

If the Redskins keep it up Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles, they will have the most consecutive games to start a season without an offensive turnover since 1991 (the earliest date for reliable play-by-play data), according to STATS LLC. They'll be one short of the regular-season record of six, set by the 2005 Denver Broncos.

Furthermore, the Redskins ended last season with Todd Collins playing in four interception-free games. With Jason Campbell pitching a clean sheet this year, that means Redskins quarterbacks have thrown 253 passes without a pick, 18 shy of the post-1991 record of 281 held by the 2001 Oakland Raiders, according to STATS.

That's a lot of numbers, probably too much for a quarterback to care about. Campbell isn't superstitious, but he's now in the habit of saying "knock on wood" whenever the turnover-free streak is mentioned.

"We focus on it enough in practice," Campbell said. "You don't want to start thinking about it all the time."

Former quarterback Zorn is in his first year not only as a head coach but also as the chief voice of a team, and he's an endless well of information about his old position. When discussing the turnovers, he's praised Campbell's improved decision-making as well as the young quarterback's efforts to run the West Coast offense in its proper, up-tempo rhythm.

This week, Zorn dropped a new nugget. Campbell, the coach said, is no longer "being so wild with the ball."

"When I came here, every time he dropped back, he was shaking the ball," Zorn said. "I said, 'What are you doing? You're not mixing a shake here. You're not mixing a malt. What are you doing?'

"There's an efficiency in playing at the pro level. If he has to shake the ball before he lets it go, it may transfer into the ball traveling that far too late," said Zorn, spreading his hands wide as he spoke.

A late throw can turn into an interception. A shaking ball can turn into a fumble. Campbell led the league last year with eight lost fumbles. This year, he's on pace for zero, of course.

There are other explanations for the offense's steady, largely gaffe-free progress. Campbell said this week that there's less hesitancy in the offense under Zorn. Without naming names, he took an implied swipe at the too-many-cooks approach in the top-heavy regime of former coach Joe Gibbs.

"Guys are sure of what we're doing," Campbell said. "Everything we're doing comes from one voice. Coach Zorn, he's the leader of it all. He's the one who communicates with us on the sidelines. He's the one who calls the plays. He's the one who inputs the offense. It's all one person."