Spurrier: 'Players Must Be More Accountable'

[stratoman]

http://www.redskins.com/story.asp?ContentID=12006

09/22/2003

By Gary Fitzgerald

Redskins.com

Steve Spurrier backed off fining players for incurring penalty flags, but maintained that the team needed to be more accountable for infractions during games. The Redskins committed 17 penalties for 142 yards in Sunday’s 24-21 loss to the New York Giants.

“Hopefully after Sunday’s game, players will realize they need to be more accountable to their teammates, the coaches and the fans,” Spurrier said during a press conference Monday afternoon at Redskin Park. “It’s very selfish, I think, when players do those kinds of things.”

After Sunday’s game, Spurrier had mentioned fining players as a way to discourage penalty flags. He decided to adopt a different approach on Monday and suggested that if the infractions continued, he would consider benching players.

“It was probably one of the most penalized games I’ve been around,” Spurrier said, referring to the 32 penalties incurred by both teams. “We need to coach them better to stay within the rules and if they can’t, then maybe we don’t play them quite as much.”

Spurrier seemed most disappointed in some of the veteran players who incurred penalty flags.

“I think star players have to be leaders who should enforce things, but then you have those guys making penalties, too,” Spurrier said. “We have to get the captains and the leaders close to error-free and hopefully it’ll translate to the rest of the team.”

Five WRs or Nine DBs?

The Redskins have activated nine defensive backs the last few games, but Spurrier indicated that they may change in the coming weeks. Instead, the team may activate an extra wide receiver so that starters Laveranues Coles and Rod Gardner don’t get winded during games.

“[The Giants game] was one of those 80-degree days, we had to throw a lot, we got behind, and our wide receivers just got tired,” Spurrier said. “L.C., Rod, Darnerien—they were running all over the place. We need five wide receivers coming to play, so that’ll be a little change from what we’ve done the last two games. ”

One wide receiver who could be activated soon is rookie Taylor Jacobs. He has been sidelined with an abdominal injury the last three weeks and could be ready to see game action.

On Overtime

With the NCAA’s policy on overtime so vastly different from the NFL’s, it seems appropriate that after Spurrier’s first overtime game in the NFL he'd be asked to weigh in on the league’s overtime policy.

Many believe that both teams should get at least one possession in overtime, similar to the college game. Spurrier disagrees.

“I sort of like what we do,” he said. “The reason is that the game is for the fans. People like to see an instant winner. There’s something exciting about sudden victory and then sudden death for the other team.

“When we kicked off to the Giants in the game Sunday and they had the holding penalty that backed them up to the 6-yard line, I’m saying ‘I’m glad we lost the toss. Surely, they’re not going to drive downfield, they had no points the whole second half. But it didn’t work out that way.”

I am not at all a fan of parcells but at least he got NE to a superbowl and the jets to the playoffs which is more then can be said for the Skins coaches since Gibbs. 1 playoff appearence since 1992:( :2cents: