VA Pilot:Razzle dazzle for Skins

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http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=62118&ran=88656

Razzle dazzle for Skins

By JIM DUCIBELLA, The Virginian-Pilot

© November 10, 2003

LANDOVER, Md. — The Washington Redskins broke their four-game losing streak Sunday with a game plan that was part hustle, part unselfishness and part pure Ol’ Ball Coach.

Receiver Rod Gardner threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to running back Trung Canidate with 1:57 to play to give the Redskins a 27-20 victory over the Seattle Seahawks, improving their record to 4-5.

It was a play on which coach Steve Spurrier reasserted his play-calling authority for one of the few times all day.

Spurrier had allowed offensive coordinator Hue Jackson to call the plays, and Jackson had something else in mind for the third-and-5 situation. Then Seattle called a timeout, during which Spurrier “suggested” a play the Redskins had practiced all season, but had yet to use.

Patrick Ramsey dropped back and threw a lateral to Gardner, flanked wide to the left. Canidate swept out of the backfield to the right, and there wasn’t a defender within 10 yards of him. Gardner, a former high school quarterback, lobbed a perfect pass and Spurrier showed something few had seen during the last four weeks.

He smiled.

“I told Hue, 'It’s time to let this one go,’” Spurrier said later.

“I threw a good ball,” Gardner added. “I didn’t think it looked like I’m a receiver.”

Canidate, overshadowed as a runner by Rock Cartwright’s 81-yard effort, couldn’t remember ever being that wide open.

“Maybe in the backyard,” he allowed. “Or maybe on the playground with the brothers.”

Spurrier didn’t call many plays Sunday, but when he did, they were gutsy. Earlier in the final drive, on fourth-and-1 from the Redskins 25, Spurrier elected to go for the first down rather than punt.

Cartwright made it by a yard.

“When you’ve lost four in a row, you don’t play conservative,” Spurrier explained. “It was a confidence boost for the team,” Ramsey said. “He put the game in our hands.”

The victory wasn’t complete until cornerback Fred Smoot intercepted a pass that slipped through the hands of Seattle’s Darrell Jackson at the Redskins 25.

It was one of five balls Jackson dropped, and one of several enormous breaks the Redskins received, or created.

By far, the most important of those occurred in the second quarter, with Washington trailing 14-3.

Ramsey’s pass for Laveranues Coles was intercepted by safety Damien Robinson at the Redskins 28.

Motoring through a herd of blockers and would-be tacklers with Coles hot on his heels, Robinson reached the 2-yard line. There, Coles punched the ball out of Robinson’s hands and into the end zone.

Washington guard Randy Thomas recovered, costing Seattle (6-3) a touchdown and giving the Redskins unexpected possession at their 20.

“A huge, huge play,” Spurrier said. “I went for the strip,” Coles admitted. “I knew that if I just tackled him, his momentum would carry him into the end zone.”

Coles said he made the play because when something similar happened during the preseason, he failed to make the effort and was embarrassed when he saw it on film.

“I learned my lesson,” he said. “It seemed like the mood of the game changed after that. The fans got back into it. We kept plugging.”

The Redskins immediately drove 80 yards to the touchdown that cut their deficit to 14-10 — an 11-play, 80-yard march that Ramsey capped with a 15-yard pass to Coles.

Ramsey, who completed 17 of 32 passes for 232 yards, grew increasingly comfortable in the pocket as the game wore on. With Jackson calling plays, the Redskins went to more passes that required Ramsey to throw quicker.

They rushed 32 times, more than usual. They sent Ramsey on a few rollouts, just to give Seattle a different look.

And Seattle defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes, formerly with the Redskins, helped by not calling more of the blitzes that have destroyed Washington’s protection plans all season.

“I am surprised they didn’t come more,” Ramsey said. “But Rhodes has been in this a long time. You can’t question his game plan.”

Ramsey capped the half with a 66-yard drive and 14-yard touchdown pass to Gardner that brought the Redskins even at 17-17.

His only miscue of the second half came on the opening drive. He took the Redskins inside the Seattle 10, then rolled out and threw a pass for Canidate that linebacker Wayne Simmons intercepted.

But he came back to guide Washington to a 34-yard field goal by John Hall and engineered the 85-yard drive to the game-winning score.

“Interesting game,” Spurrier later mused. “Somehow, we got more points and it worked out. Maybe this will serve as a little momentum builder, a little confidence builder. God, I hope it will.”