Times Dispatch:Skins take beating from booth as well as on field

[TK]

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Skins take beating from booth as well as on field

JERRY LINDQUIST

TUNING IN

Monday, November 3, 2003

Were you ready for some bad football?

To hear Fox network's Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Cris Collinsworth tell it, yesterday's Redskins-Cowboys game was the worst - which it was.

I've never seen anything like this," Collinsworth said after another dropped Cowboys pass - a screen, actually - with about a minute to go in the first half.

By then, he and his booth buds had all but fired Redskins coach Steve Spurrier.

Talk about bad protection for QB Patrick Ramsey. The Fox trio did.

Talk about butter-fingered Dallas receivers. The Foxies did. Aikman, an ex-Cowboys QB, made it clear he thought veteran Dallas receiver Terry Glenn was playing scared.

Talk about penalties, including what has become an NFL epidemic of stupid ones. Lined up for a field goal, Dallas got another crack at the end zone when Redskins linebacker Antonio Pierce was called for unsportsmanlike conduct. First and goal. Cowboys scored a touchdown to go ahead 7-6. (The Redskins' extra-point attempt was blocked, for crying out loud). The replays showed Pierce moving his head, apparently barking signals to confuse the Cowboys, a no-no that wasn't called by the nearest official until Pierce did it three or four times.

"Time after time, game after game, the Redskins beat themselves," Collinsworth said.

Remember, he's usually the most critical member of the group, the bad cop to Aikman's good cop to Buck's traffic cop. But Aikman and Buck couldn't let Collinsworth go it alone this time.

Almost from the beginning of the late-afternoon telecast, Aikman was all over the Redskins for having a backup QB - Tim Hasselbeck - who joined the team 11 days earlier and hadn't taken a snap in an NFL game. The more Ramsey took his weekly beating, the more Aikman belabored the subject.

"They're setting Ramsey up to fail," Aikman said. "He's got no chance. He's getting hit every time he goes back. This looks like a group that does not spend a lot of time during the course of the week preparing for what they're going to see on Sunday."

Meanwhile, Cowboys QB Quincy Carter was finding it lonely in the pocket, seldom pressured. If his receivers could hang on to the ball, or if a TD pass to Glenn hadn't been called back for illegal motion Fox couldn't find on replay, Dallas would have been laughing - and coach Bill Parcells smirking if not smiling. His team kept fumbling away the ball in the first half. The way the Redskins were doing virtually nothing, it didn't matter.

"If the Cowboys' receivers start making plays, this is going to be a blowout," said Collinsworth, a former wideout. "Watch the pathetic pass rush of the Washington Redskins! I mean, this is absolutely horrible. You could put high school guys out there and rush the passer better than that."

Given the prerequisite face time, Spurrier had the appearance of a man who wished he were just about anywhere but where he was.

Collinsworth: "I've never seen that look on his face. That is the look of complete bewilderment."

If looks could kill, Daniel Snyder would have left someone - or someones - lying on the visitors' sideline. The Redskins' owner was caught grim, expressionless, probably wishing he could vent but aware he was a SportsCenter moment waiting to happen.

"Suddenly, everybody's on the case of Steve Spurrier," Buck said late in the third quarter.

Suddenly?

Before halftime, the Foxies already were pounding Spurrier. He won't be inviting Buck, Aikman and Collinsworth on his next golf vacation. Is this week too soon?

"This is an offense that has people out of place. They don't know what they're doing. They're in disarray," Collinsworth said. "And poor Patrick Ramsey is getting killed out there. If I had a towel, I'd throw it in for the kid."

Don't forget the Redskins were coming off a bye week, Buck said.

"Steve Spurrier has had two weeks to get ready for the Dallas Cowboys, and this offense has been horrendous."

In other words, the Old Ball Coach has got to go. What about it, Danny Boy?

"This was the first meeting between Parcells and Spurrier. Will there be another?" Buck said.

Contact Jerry Lindquist at (804) 649-6323 or jlindquist@timesdispatch.com

[NoCalMike]

There was a game actually much worse then this one. A few years ago on Mondaynight Football when I believe the Cowboys won 10-7......the Skins had the lead 7-3 with under 2mins to go and Davis fumbled deep in Cowboys territory and our Defense went on to let the cowboys march all the way down the field and score.

[NavyDave]

Naw this game is 1A to that game which is 1B as far as worse