PBP:Nightmare continues for Spurrier

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http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/auto/epaper/editions/monday/sports_f31c6ac276fe326d1002.html

Nightmare continues for Spurrier

By Hal Habib, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Monday, November 24, 2003

The last time, he left this place in triumph. Steve Spurrier probably knew that Orange Bowl was his last game as coach of the Florida Gators, but at least as he walked off, he did so a winner.

Sunday night, he didn't walk off a winner.

He barely walked off at all.

Still limping from knee surgery, Spurrier arrived in the visitors' locker room at Pro Player Stadium and was met by owner Dan Snyder. Snyder, looking immaculate in his dark blue suit, patted him twice on the back, but Spurrier didn't even lift his ruffled head. His Washington Redskins had just blown a 13-point lead and lost to the Dolphins 24-23, assuming sole possession of last place in the NFC East.

Instead of preparing to face Florida State this weekend, Spurrier is sitting at 4-7. Instead of looking forward to New Year's and a BCS berth, he's looking forward to the new year, knowing the draft will soon follow.

The visor? No, you can't even count on that anymore. Sunday night, he wore glasses instead.

It seems everything has changed since Spurrier jumped to the NFL, but one thing hasn't. He's as blunt in defeat as he used to be in victory.

"We're all losers now," was all that he needed to say to sum up this game, and perhaps this season.

"Yup," he mumbled to himself. "We didn't get it done."

He says, over and over, he has no regrets about leaving the college game that crowned him a genius, but what else can he say? Still, you have to wonder, especially considering that it never would have happened had he not done a complete 180.

See, before Steve Spurrier said yes to the Redskins, he said no. They came calling in January 2001, before Marty Schottenheimer was hired, but he didn't want to leave Gainesville.

"We went down to Florida and talked with Steve," Redskins Vice President Pepper Rodgers said, with "we" being himself and Snyder. "He had a great team coming back and he passed. I thought at one time he might do it, but he didn't."

But Rodgers, having known Spurrier for ages, kept in touch. When the Gators whipped Maryland in the Orange Bowl in January 2002, Rodgers was there, as he is every January, and even put in the obligatory call to his buddy the next morning.

"I called Steve to congratulate him on winning the game, but that night he quit," Rodgers said. "He just quit. And so I said, 'Steve, are you interested in being the coach of the Redskins?' He said, 'You have a coach.' I said, 'Well, I didn't ask that question. You might not be interested, but there's going to be a new head coach here, whether it's you or somebody else.' "

It wasn't somebody else. Spurrier arrived and Washington was revived... until the reality of a 7-9 season set in last year.

Sunday night was his first game back to where it all started. Only this game is where it all ended, as far as any realistic hopes the 'Skins may have had for this season. Is this a bad dream or what, someone asked defensive back Champ Bailey.

"It's been going on for three or four years," Bailey said. "It ain't no dream. It's frustrating. We've got to hope everybody loses to make the playoffs. You don't make the playoffs, it's almost a wasted season."

It was a wasted effort for Redskins quarterback Tim Hasselbeck, who completed 15-of-30 passes for 150 yards and a touchdown after Patrick Ramsey -- in another bad dream that won't end -- got knocked out of another game.

Spurrier always was one to rotate quarterbacks, but not like this. Ramsey wasn't KOd by his bad foot, but by a slight concussion this time. That forced in Hasselbeck, who signed only a month ago.

"I'm really proud of Tim Hasselbeck," Spurrier said. "He showed a lot of moxie out there."

Maybe another day, Steve Spurrier would have demanded more than moxie from his quarterback. Sunday night, he took what he could get.

hal_habib@pbpost.com