WP:Odds and Ends Add Up to a Needed Win

[TK]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20297-2003Nov9.html

Odds and Ends Add Up to a Needed Win

Redskins' Big Risks Pay Off

By Gene Wang

Special to The Washington Post

Monday, November 10, 2003; Page D15

On what was the final play of Washington's most important series so far this season, the Redskins rested their hopes on the right arm of a wide receiver and in the hands of a running back who had not played in close to a month. A few minutes earlier, facing fourth down and one from their 25, they leaned on a fullback who had three carries last season.

And further bucking convention, Coach Steve Spurrier had deferred play-calling responsibilities at the start of the game to offensive coordinator Hue Jackson.

Together, those moves yielded the winning touchdown after an 11-play drive covering 84 yards and the Redskins' hopes of salvaging the season perhaps hanging in the balance.

"I was willing to try anything," Spurrier said after a 27-20 victory that ended the Redskins' four-game slide. "What we had been doing lately wasn't working very well."

Spurrier's and Jackson's call on third down and five from the Seahawks 10 did, however, work as they had envisioned. With 2 minutes 2 seconds to play, quarterback Patrick Ramsey threw a short pass to Gardner, who appeared headed up the field on a wide receiver screen down the left sideline. But Gardner stopped, turned and threw across the field to Trung Canidate. The first-year Redskins tailback, who has not played since he sprained his right ankle in a loss to the Buccaneers Oct. 12, was by himself just at the goal line, where he caught the ball and scored to cap an improbable comeback.

"It was a good call. It couldn't have come at a better time," said Gardner, who last played quarterback on the scout team at Clemson. "We showed them about five or six screens today, and this time Trung got open, and I had to get him the ball. I didn't want to throw an interception, so I made sure it was wide open."

Though the play caught the Seahawks off-guard, it was not completely out of character for the Redskins, who had been working on the bit of deception during practice and used it last season against the Tennessee Titans.

"We kept telling [the coaching staff], 'Don't forget this play, don't forget this play,' " tackle Jon Jansen said.

That drama, however, would not have unfolded if it were not for Rock Cartwright, who has been pressed into extra duty with the recent rash of injuries to Redskins running backs. Yesterday, Washington was without Ladell Betts and Sultan McCullough and playing with an ailing Canidate, whose forte is gaining yards around the corners, not between the tackles.

So on fourth down and one from the Redskins 25 with 6:41 to play, Spurrier called on Cartwright for the all-important carry after mulling over whether to punt. Cartwright secured the handoff, found a soft spot behind 6-foot-6, 345-pound rookie left guard Derrick Dockery and burrowed two yards to extend the drive, delighting fans who for a moment must have had a flashback to the days of John Riggins and the Hogs.

"I just knew I had to get the first down," said Cartwright, a sixth-round pick in last year's draft. "I thought I got it on third down [when he was stopped for no gain], but they didn't give it to me. But I was able to get it on fourth down, and that kept the drive moving. . . . You see it came up big for us later on."

Surveying the rejuvenated offense with special gratification was Jackson, whose role with the team had been primarily that of Spurrier's understudy in addition to developing the running backs. Yesterday, his decisions had wide-reaching impact on a victory that for at least one day had previously beleaguered Redskins players believing in Spurrier's methods.

"I'm not going to say that was the difference," Jackson said when asked how much his new duties influenced the outcome. "This is [spurrier's] offensive system, and he trusts me enough to give me an opportunity to go out and see if we can just change things up a little bit. We were able to do it together, and good things happened."

© 2003 The Washington Post Company