Daily Press:'Height of frustration': Skins fail to capitalize on four turnovers by Pa

[TK]

http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-11648sy0nov17,0,1159773.story?coll=dp-sports-local

'Height of frustration': Skins fail to capitalize on four turnovers by Panthers

By Warner Hessler

Daily Press

Published November 17, 2003

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The crowd of 70,029 at Ericsson Stadium held its collective breath late Sunday afternoon when the large screens at each end showed the replay.

Maybe Carolina Panthers running back Stephen Davis didn't make it to the end zone after all. Maybe the officials who had ruled he had scored what would prove to be the winning touchdown were wrong.

Maybe, as it seemed from the sideline angle, Davis was short of the end zone and was still upright when Washington safety Matt Bowen slammed into him, knocked the ball loose, and the Redskins' Kevin Mitchell covered it with 1:09 left in the game.

Maybe the officials were going to overturn the call, the Redskins were going to get the ball, run out the clock and win.

"I was thinking about that when the officials said they were going to review the call," Bowen said. "I was hoping for the best, but in the end it didn't matter. One play wouldn't make or break this game."

In the end, the officials ruled there was "no visual evidence" to overturn the play, and the Panthers ran their record to 8-2 with a 20-17 victory over a game, but mistake-prone, Redskins team that squandered a number of chances to pull off the upset.

"It's the height of frustration for a player when you have a lot of opportunities to win and you don't," said Redskins quarterback Patrick Ramsey.

The Redskins' dressing room was the height of frustration, as much for failing to protect a hard-earned lead in the final minutes as for the fact that only a miracle can get them into the playoffs now. Washington (4-6) goes to Miami for a game Sunday night.

"We felt like we (the defense) had a step on them all day," said Washington cornerback Fred Smoot, "but when it came down to it, their players made the plays and we didn't."

"I thought it was a good defensive effort," Bowen said of a unit that forced four turnovers, "but when it came down to it, our offense scored to give us a chance to win and we didn't uphold our end of the bargain."

The two teams slogged to a 3-3 standoff at halftime, with Carolina hurting itself with turnovers and Washington managing just 41 yards. The game didn't heat up much in the third quarter, but the Panthers did pull ahead 10-3 on a 1-yard bootleg run by Jake Delhomme.

The Redskins, with just 68 net passing yards after three quarters, finally got untracked in the fourth. They went 56 yards to tie the score on a 4-yard pass from Patrick Ramsey to Darnerien McCants, and after Carolina got a 26-yard field goal from John Kasay to make it 13-10 with 5:24 left, Washington took off on a 59-yard march and went up 17-13 with 4:19 to play on a 10-yard scoring pass from Ramsey to Patrick Johnson.

It wasn't a good situation for a Panthers team that dominated the yardage battle, 427-181, to be in. But neither was it a situation they were unfamiliar with. Three times this season they have won in overtime, and three times, including Sunday, they have come from behind in the final two minutes to win.

This particular winning drive began with Carolina facing a fourth-and-1 situation on its first series. The Redskins, especially middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, expected Davis to get the ball. Never mind that they made their ex-teammate work for his yardage - 92 on 28 carries - and never mind that Carolina lined up with three receivers.

"I'm sure they thought we were going to give the ball to Stephen," said Delhomme.

And they did, but only as a last resort. Delhomme said he checked four receivers, all covered, before dumping the pass off to Davis swinging out of the backfield. With the Redskins playing man-to-man defense, and with Trotter, Davis' man, charging inside to stop the run, Davis had clear sailing for 25 yards to the Redskins' 37.

"I saw (Trotter) out of the corner of my eye, and he was getting caught up in the line," Davis said. "I thought if I could get out, I would be wide open. And I was. I was probably the last option on that play."

He was. But after Delhomme completed a 30-yard pass to Steve Smith at the 7, Davis became the first and only option. He ran for 4 yards on first down, then ran off left guard to the goal line.

Instant replay seemed to show that, as one official raised his arm signaling a touchdown, the ball was still about a yard short. Then Bowen came in, knocked the ball loose, and Mitchell covered it at the 4.

Or so it seemed, but the officials did not overturn the play.

"The last I saw, the ball had not crossed," said Spurrier, who, along with everybody else inside the stadium, got information from the big screens. "We stopped it right there, but when it's that close, the refs usually don't change it. They (the Panthers) seem to come from behind and win about every time they get in that position."

Warner Hessler can be reached at 247-4648 or by e-mail at whessler@dailypress.com

[ross3909]

A team that has everything going their way does not need the refs helping them out also. Let them earn their wins like everyone else.