Woody:Spurrier benches himself to become part of solution

[TK]

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Spurrier benches himself to become part of solution

PAUL WOODY

TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST

Monday, November 10, 2003

LANDOVER, Md. Beleaguered and nearly embittered, Washington Redskins coach Steve Spurrier finally decided to make good on his threat to remove a key player from the lineup - himself.

Spurrier, the man famous for his innovative and daring play-calling, the man who once said Redskins owner Dan Snyder did not hire him to be a team administrator, did something no one ever thought he would do yesterday.

Spurrier turned over the play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Hue Jackson. Whether it was cause and effect or merely a coincidence, the Redskins beat Seattle 27-20 and ended a four-game losing streak.

"I'll try anything," Spurrier said. "What we had been doing lately wasn't working very well. If I have to bench the play-caller, I'll do it."

"Coach Spurrier didn't bench himself," Jackson said. "You get in situations sometimes and you say, 'Hey, let's try something different.' I give him all the credit in the world."

The Redskins did a number of things differently, chief among them, win. In all likelihood, there will be no speculation that anyone will be fired at Redskin Park today.

Yesterday, one of the most noticeable things they did differently was give quarterback Patrick Ramsey a chance to throw passes without having a Seahawks helmet embedded in his back or chest.

The Redskins opened the game with Ramsey throwing short passes off a three-step drop. While that didn't work perfectly - the Redskins fell behind 14-3 - it did give Ramsey and the offense a chance to establish some rhythm. When it became apparent the Seahawks were going to go against conventional - and winning - wisdom from the past four games and not blitz, Ramsey took deeper drops and threw longer passes.

The Redskins also ran the ball about as effectively as they have all season. With Spurrier's blessing, Jackson gave the ball to Trung Canidate and Rock Cartwright a total of 28 times. Cartwright was by far the more effective runner (81 yards on his 13 carries to 34 yards on 15 carries by Canidate). The fact the Redskins could run the ball effectively meant the Seahawks were unable to simply go after Ramsey.

"I want to say that I have a pretty good feel for our players and what they're capable of doing and what they're not capable of doing," Jackson said. "I didn't want to put anybody in a tough situation. For the most part, I thought we gave them a chance to do what they do."

For Spurrier to give up calling the plays, even for one game, even for one moment, is tantamount to Captain Kirk giving the helm of the Starship Enterprise to Mr. Spock, to Jerry Seinfeld telling George Costanza, "You be the main character of the show this week."

The players needed to see Spurrier do something other than threaten and blame them. They needed to see tangible evidence that Spurrier felt culpable for what had happened the past four weeks and that he could put his ego aside for the good of the team.

"I talked to Mike Shanahan, who is a good friend of mine, earlier this week, and he and Gary Kubiak call the plays together," Spurrier said.

Shanahan is the head coach of the Denver Broncos. Kubiak is the Broncos' offensive coordinator.

"I asked him how he did all that stuff," Spurrier said of his conversation with Shanahan. "He said, 'I did about all of it my first three or four years. Then I gave it to Kubiak, and all of a sudden we won a couple of Super Bowls.'

"I said, 'Well, maybe I'm struggling calling plays right now. Shoot, maybe something isn't working as well as it should.'"

For the past four weeks, it certainly wasn't. Yesterday, it certainly was. Next week? More Jackson at the helm?

"Probably," Spurrier said. "I asked Mike Shanahan who the players preferred calling the plays. He said they don't even know who's calling the plays."

Spurrier knows that calling the plays helped him get where he is today. That he was willing to give that up says something about how much winning means to him.

Contact Paul Woody at (804) 649-6444 or pwoody@timesdispatch.com

[Skeletor The Invincible]

I think Spock could handle the Enterprise as well as Kirk.

He is a Vulcan, after all.