Fredericksburg.com:Change of play-callers makes a difference

[TK]

http://www.freelancestar.com/News/FLS/2003/112003/11102003/1162364

Change of play-callers makes a difference

DeSHAZO:

Date published: 11/10/2003

LANDOVER, Md.--If you're 6-2 instead of 3-5, you don't take the chances that the Redskins did yesterday.

If you've won four straight, you don't go for it on fourth down and a foot deep in your territory in the fourth quarter. You don't have a receiver throw a key third-down pass. And you certainly don't change play-callers at midseason.

But when you've lost four in a row and everyone with a microphone or a laptop calls you incompetent, you take desperate measures. And they paid off yesterday for the Redskins in a 27-20 win over Seattle that took them off the critical list--at least for another week.

"What did we have to lose?" receiver Darnerien McCants asked rhetorically. "That was the kind of mindset we had. We were on a slide, and it came down to, what did we have to lose?"

Steve Spurrier recently lamented that he had become "NFL-ized" and toned down the wide-open offense that worked so well in college. Yesterday's results showed that while Spurrier still thinks outside the box, he was also desperate enough to pick the brain of a proven pro coach, Mike Shanahan.

Shanahan told Spurrier how he had turned over play-calling duties to his offensive coordinator, Gary Kubiak, and won a couple of Super Bowls. It couldn't have been easy for Spurrier to cede much of the responsibilities to his coordinator, Hue Jackson. This is a proud man who won--and put up huge scores--at every previous stop.

But it became clear that the NFL had solved Spurrier's attack, and that quarterback Patrick Ramsey was paying a huge physical price. It also appeared that Spurrier was too stubborn--or not savvy enough--to try anything different.

So the head coach did something rare. He demoted himself.

"Shoot, I'll try anything," he said. "If I have to bench the play-caller, I'll do it."

Jackson's game plan conformed much more closely to the standard vanilla NFL level. Yesterday, the Redskins threw 33 times and ran 32. They used quick three-step drops to protect Ramsey until it became clear that the Seahawks were blitzing far less often than Washington's previous opponents.

And for the first time in a month, the Redskins looked like a competent NFL offense. For the first time all year, Ramsey avoided being sacked.

"Coach [spurrier] didn't bench himself," Jackson said. "Like any good coach, in situations sometimes, you try something different. The bottom line is, he said, 'Let's let you take a run at it.'

"I want to say I have a pretty good feel for our players, what they're capable of and what they're not capable of. For the most part, you want to give 'em a chance."

That doesn't mean that Spurrier is locked into NFL Think. Most coaches wouldn't dare go for it on fourth down from their own 25 with 6:13 left in a tie game. Some don't have a play like the lateral to receiver Rod Gardner (a former high school quarterback) that became the game-winning touchdown pass. But when you're 3-5

"You've got to be fearless," said Trung Canidate, who caught the ball from Gardner. "What that play call was saying was that we were going to be fearless."

Calculated risks are part of any coach's game plan, and yesterday's weren't exactly ground-breaking. Spurrier said he didn't think twice about the fourth-down decision; as tackle Jon Jansen put it: "I'd have been extremely upset if we did not [go for it]."

And Spurrier was quick to call Gardner's pass after the Seahawks called time-out. Even if either choice had failed, the criticism would have been less than what Spurrier's been getting lately.

On the flip side, those moves also imply that the Redskins still aren't good enough to win conventionally. But it's clear that they haven't given up.

Spurrier appears willing to change his thinking, and Laveranues Coles made the play of the game by chasing down Seattle's Damien Robinson after his interception, forcing a fumble that prevented a 21-3 deficit.

That's not the reaction of a player who has quit. As Coles put it: "Everything you do shows up on film. Maybe [his hustle] will rub off on the other guys."

The Redskins will need similar efforts from all 53 players to rejoin the NFC playoff chase. That's still a long shot, but yesterday proved they're not dead just yet.

"We're not back in the hunt, by any means," Jansen said. "But now we've got a chance to get back in the hunt."

To reach STEVE DeSHAZO: 540/374-5443 sdeshazo@freelancestar.com