Inside look at Danny's stomach

[Orange&Blue Skins]

Spurrier's Redskins strut stuff

By PAT DOOLEY

Sun sports writer

In his big return to Tampa Bay, Steve Spurrier plays without Danny Wuerffel and is still successful.

TAMPA -- Chris Doering seemed relieved to be in the hallway of the Westshore Marriott talking to friends.

"It's pretty bad in the room," said Doering. "Danny's feeling pretty awful. He was up all night throwing up."

So much for the best-laid plans for the night. It was supposed to be Steve Spurrier putting his Heisman winner on the field in a game he really wanted to win even if it didn't count.

But even with the quarterback scheduled to start being sacked by a stomach virus, you could score one for Banditball Saturday night.

On a night that felt more like the postseason than the preseason (if you could ignore the heat), Spurrier quieted a few more critics. Washington won 40-10, but the big story was the first half with the starters playing when Washington's offense put up some nice numbers against one the league's best defenses.

It was the best performance yet for Spurrier's offense against a defense with real players.

So for another week, the Spurrier style of offense will be dissected and evaluated, praised and picked at. We still don't want to read too much into these games that don't matter, but the bottom line was that one week after struggling against Pittsburgh's starters, the Redskins had little trouble moving the ball against Tampa Bay.

For the first half, the Skins had 148 yards and 11 first downs while scoring two touchdowns and a field goal. It should have been three touchdowns, but a penalty on first-and-goal at the one sabotaged one scoring drive.

This game was supposed to be a big test for Wuerffel, but he was sidelined before he ever got started. Just before the team's Friday night snack, Wuerffel complained of stomach pains. Instead of starting and playing for the first two quarters, he didn't dress out.

That left Spurrier, who traded away Sage Rosenfels on Thursday, with two quarterbacks for the night, one of whom had yet to play a down of pro football. But the head ball coach did have his old reliable "dude."

After a rough 0-for-3 start, Shane Matthews completed 8-of-12 passes the rest of the first half and threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Rod Gardner. He set up the other touchdown with a beautiful touch pass over a defensive back and into the hands of Washington receiver Kevin Lockett for 23 yards.

Matthews turned it over to Patrick Ramsey, the Tulane rookie, to start the second half. The first play was a double reverse. Already Spurrier had tried a flea-flicker in the game. We were waiting for Emory and Henry.

This was Washington's fourth preseason game, but while it was a practice game, it was a unique one. Scalpers outside were asking $150 for a $49 ticket. I'm not sure what was more amazing - that tickets were going for three times their face value or that the face value for an exhibition game was $49.

All week, Tampa Bay was abuzz at the thought of Spurrier coming back. Spurrier said he hoped to see a lot of fans wearing Bandits gear, but the red these fans wore was to honor the Bucs, not Spurrier's old USFL team. They were here to cheer for their team instead of the guy who might have been there coach if Bucs front office hadn't been fooled by Bill Parcells.

There were a few Gator jerseys and Redskins hats, but it was definitely a Buc crowd. When Spurrier's mug was shown on the big screen, he was booed. Before the game, the Tampa Bay mascot dragged an inflated alligator wearing a Redskins jersey across the field to loud cheers.

You have to understand that these people would have been crammed into the sauna known as Raymond James Stadium if Tampa Bay had been playing the Houston Texans. They're thinking Super Bowl. It's not like it took the Fun 'n' Gun to get them excited.

It just made it more fun.

Spurrier was taking this game seriously. So was Redskin defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis, who was rejected by the Bucs in favor of Jon Gruden.

Apparently so did the players. On consecutive plays, the last of the first quarter and the first of the second, there were offsetting penalties after skirmishes.

Of course, these were but a handful of yellow flags that dotted the landscape through the first half. In that way, it looked like a typical exhibition game.

But this wasn't typical. Nothing involving Spurrier ever is.

[Orange&Blue Skins]

This was Washington's fourth preseason game, but while it was a practice game, it was a unique one. Scalpers outside were asking $150 for a $49 ticket. I'm not sure what was more amazing - that tickets were going for three times their face value or that the face value for an exhibition game was $49.

Paid $150 for 2 nose bleeders

$48 for beer for two

$10 parking

Look on Chucky's face when Spurrier threw deep in the fourth, priceless.

[TennesseeCarl]

Hmmmm....so Spurrier took the game seriously. And Marvin Lewis took the game seriously. But Gruden and the Bucs, of course, wisely decided to absorb a 30 point shellacking in order to preserve their energy for regular season.

[codeorama]

If Gruden didn't take the game seriously, why were they blitzing everydown against Ramsey to try to get back in the game.

[NVskinsfan]

Weurfell must have had bad BLOWFISH!

UGGGHHH :puke:

[flgator03]

Don't let anyone fool you with this "preseason games don't matter" bunk. Gruden was flaming all night! Spurrier was as calm as ever. And why not.