WP:They've Got Nothing

[TK]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64535-2003Dec14.html

They've Got Nothing

Washington Manages 161 Yards and Six Turnovers

By Mark Maske

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, December 15, 2003; Page D01

Tim Hasselbeck has thrown three interceptions -- all to Dallas cornerback Terence Newman

The Washington Redskins called it their Super Bowl and vowed to give their fans just a little bit of solace near the end of a trying season by beating the Dallas Cowboys. Instead, they provided a performance as pitiable and listless at they come and were overwhelmed by the Cowboys, 27-0, on a miserably wet and chilly day at rapidly emptying FedEx Field.

"That was just embarrassing," cornerback Fred Smoot said. "I'm embarrassed for D.C. I'm embarrassed for everyone who's a Redskins fan."

The Redskins (5-9) ensured a second straight losing season under Coach Steve Spurrier and were officially eliminated from playoff contention. In a season full of low points, they may have reached a new nadir. They suffered the franchise's first shutout at home since 1993 and its most lopsided shutout defeat at home since a 27-0 loss to the Chicago Bears on Nov. 4, 1951. Spurrier said that one of his teams last had been shut out in 1987, when he was coaching Duke.

"There's not too much to say," said Spurrier, whose record against NFC East opponents dropped to 2-9. "The best team won. Dallas is a better team than we are. . . . I don't know what else to say. They kicked our tails pretty good."

Quarterback Tim Hasselbeck threw four interceptions -- three by Cowboys rookie cornerback Terence Newman -- while completing only 6 of 26 passes for 56 yards. He finished with an almost unthinkable passer rating of 0.0. Tight end Zeron Flemister and punt returner Chad Morton lost fumbles, and wide receiver Laveranues Coles was held without a catch. About the only bright spots for the Redskins, who didn't progress past the Dallas 27-yard line all day and managed two first downs in the second half, were tailback Rock Cartwright's 94 rushing yards and punter Bryan Barker's three-yard pass completion on a fake punt.

A few fans who remained near the end of the game threw snowballs at the home team, according to Redskins players.

"They should have thrown a glacier out there," Smoot said. "We stunk. We stunk the place up. They're tired of it. I'm tired of it."

The Redskins' frustrations spilled over in the postgame locker room. Smoot said that only about half the Redskins played with the necessary passion. Fellow cornerback Champ Bailey said, "We came to fight, but we just didn't."

Asked about his team's shortcomings on offense, linebacker Jessie Armstead said: "You hate to get shut out. Some guys on the other side of the ball have to speak on that part." Right tackle Jon Jansen said: "We may have more talent than the Cowboys. But it takes a team to get to the playoffs."

The Cowboys (9-5) jumped in front quickly on a 21-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Quincy Carter to running back Richie Anderson, and never looked back. Carter provided a three-yard touchdown run, and place kicker Billy Cundiff had field goals of 34 and 20 yards. Tailback Troy Hambrick did the heavy lifting on offense by rushing for 189 yards on 33 carries, and the Cowboys bounced back from two straight losses after a week of badgering by Coach Bill Parcells.

"I kind of put their back to the wall a little bit in this game," Parcells said, "and they responded well."

The Cowboys had little difficulty on their first possession, moving 74 yards on 10 plays to grab a 7-0 advantage. Carter connected with wide receiver Terry Glenn for 14 yards on a third-and-four play early in the drive, and Hambrick was effective with runs of 12 and 15 yards.

Armstead chased down Carter as the quarterback scrambled toward the sideline for a sack and a three-yard loss that left the Cowboys in a third-and-nine predicament from the Redskins 21. But Carter dumped the ball on a screen pass to Anderson, who got good blocking and went untouched by any Redskins defenders as he weaved his way into the end zone.

Both offenses struggled from there. Hasselbeck found Flemister for a 10-yard completion on the Redskins' first offensive play. But the drive bogged down soon thereafter and the Redskins punted. They went three plays and out on their second drive when Cartwright was stuffed for no gain on third and one, and they moved into Dallas territory early in the second quarter but stalled on two Hasselbeck incompletions.

The Dallas offense also was finding the going tough. Hambrick was stopped short of a first down on a third-and-two carry to end the Cowboys' second possession. They were poised to go three plays and out on their third drive when Morton gave them another chance, allowing Toby Gowin's punt to bounce off his facemask. Pete Hunter dived on the loose ball to give the Cowboys a first down at the Redskins 41. Parcells left his offense on the field on fourth and three from the 34, but Redskins safety Ifeanyi Ohalete forced an incompletion with tight coverage on tight end Jason Witten.

Dallas Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman gets plenty of time as a ballcarrier -- he intercepted three passes. Washington Redskins ace wide receiver Laveranues Coles had no catches, two tackles.

An instant-replay challenge by the Redskins overturned a would-be first-down catch by Glenn early in the second quarter. The Redskins moved deep into Dallas territory after converting on their fake punt. Ohalete got a step ahead of Hunter as he slipped out to the right flat and caught Barker's pass for a three-yard gain and a first down by a yard.

Cartwright churned out 11 yards on a third-and-three sweep. But Hasselbeck, seeing Coles matched up one on one with Newman on a second-down play from the Dallas 27, audibled to a fade pattern. He has struggled with that pass, though, and this one was badly underthrown. The ball landed on Newman's chest for an easy interception. The Redskins gained 31 yards on that possession -- their high for the game.

Hasselbeck had played well since taking over for injured starter Patrick Ramsey, but yesterday he resembled an NFL journeyman on his fifth team. The Cowboys didn't blitz Hasselbeck as ferociously as they did with Ramsey at the helm in the Redskins' loss at Texas Stadium last month. They simply dropped back and waited for Hasselbeck to make mistakes.

"We were prepared for them to come after us, and we thought we had a lot of answers for that," Hasselbeck said. "And they didn't come after us the way they did the last time."

Said Spurrier: "They just dominated us. Mostly give the Dallas defense credit. They're number one in the league and they played like it. . . . We didn't do much, the guys around him, to help him. It wasn't all Tim. . . . Their defense was too good for us, it seemed like."

Hasselbeck's next errant throw also cost the Redskins dearly. An offensive pass interference penalty on wideout Rod Gardner for a push-off left them in a second-and-20 predicament on their next possession. Cartwright got eight yards on a draw play, and was the intended receiver on Hasselbeck's third-and-12 pass. But the throw sailed high and wide and directly to Newman, who raced across the field for a 25-yard return to the Redskins 9.

On third down from the 3, Carter took the snap in shotgun formation and raced to the left corner of the end zone.

The Cowboys had a chance to add to their lead in the final moments of the first half, after Flemister lost the ball following a catch on a jarring hit by linebacker Dat Nguyen. Cundiff left a 50-yard field goal try short as time expired in the half.

The Redskins went backward on their opening drive of the second half, but had a chance to recover when the Cowboys' Zuriel Smith muffed Barker's punt. The Redskins' David Terrell had the ball momentarily but couldn't hold it, and Hunter saved the Cowboys with his second key recovery of the day on a punt play. The Cowboys moved to the Redskins 14, but linebacker LaVar Arrington knocked the ball from Carter's grasp on a sack and defensive tackle Bernard Holsey fell on the fumble.

No matter. The Cowboys got the ball back at the Redskins 32, aided by a 15-yard personal foul on Cliff Russell for yanking Newman's facemask on Dallas's punt return. Cundiff's 34-yard field goal extended the lead to 17-0.

The Cowboys even made Spurrier wary of gambling. Late in the third quarter, he sent his punt team on the field while facing a fourth-and-two situation from his 42-yard line. Newman's third interception came soon thereafter, as he grabbed the ball on the carom after Hasselbeck had a pass deflected by safety Darren Woodson. Hambrick carried on eight straight plays en route to Cundiff's 20-yard field goal and a 20-0 cushion.

Hambrick's 42-yard run against the worn-out Redskins defense set up rookie running back Erik Bickerstaff's two-yard touchdown scamper with 4 minutes 5 seconds to play.

"I don't care if we came in here 1-10," Smoot said. "They're Dallas. I hate them. . . . I never want to feel that way again. A lot of people say, 'It's how you play the game.' It's not. It's about winning, and I don't want to be a loser."

[bulldog]

Champ Bailey has missed some plays this year and I personally don't think he is yet where a Deion Sanders or Mike Haynes was in their primes, but if I were him I would NOT want to come back here next year..............

I think what you are going to see is growing dissatisfaction from a number of players that have been here for the losing and can see their way to other teams if they refuse to renegotiate their deals and can force the team to let them go.

Arrington, Samuels, Bailey. One or more of these players could be gone in the near future.

Instead of signing them to workable long term deals the Skins absolutely cut the hits the first year for #56 and #60 in 2000 for the 'Super Bowl' run and as a result their contracts are coming up for additional renegotiations before most guys drafted that high would have after just 3 or 4 seasons in the NFL.

think about it.

Bailey was drafted in 1999 and worked through his completed contract in 2003 without having to have it reworked this year or last year.

Meanwhile we seemingly have to rework LaVar's deal every year.

too much focus on the present, on getting things done for now and not enough interest in the future.

now the chickens are coming home to roost.

who wants to be on a team that finishes 5-11 after 7-9 and whose coach could be a mannequin at the podium with a taped recording of the 'they were the better team, we got our butts kicked' speech to give for 16 weeks? :mad:

pathetic.

27-0 isn't merely getting beat. it is getting jobbed.

[sashae]

Gotta love Smoot though -- out of all of our players, he seems to have the most fire.

-s

[bulldog]

and he was the guy the team was trying to trade because he just didn't make a straight line progression from very solid rookie to Deion Sanders in his second year

[NVskinsfan]

How many times have we had"listless" efforts and "poor" play?

We always look to be outcoached and in dire straights.

Dallas is going to put another 12 in a row on us if we don't get some real character on this team!

[bulldog]

this is an army that is bereft of leadership.

when the on field leaders are guys like Bruce Smith and Trotter who are me-first types and the sideline leaders are supposed to be assistant coaches like Spurrier Jr. and Noah Brindise, who have no NFL experience, you KNOW where the problems lie.

we need a General. and then we need to let him find us some dependable NCOs to set this program.

[Sarge]

I'm availible in a couple of years. I can dig up my old high school playbook and we'll be a step ahead of where we are now. Discipline WOULD NOT be a problem.

[just skins baby]

After reading this article, I think Spurrier now has to go.

Just reading his comments he no more seems like he cares about this team than Parcells cares about our team.

[DieselPwr44]

I'll add one more thing..After reading this article,Jon Jansen,just shut your mouth. We're tired of hearing your same old speech after the game too.

[Cskin]

Anyone notice how many times Jansen got pushed back into the backfield by Ellis? The entire offensive line got manhandled, including Thomas.... consistently on their heels trying to slow down defensive lineman from running them over.

[Awesome]

That's it, I'm out. See you next year!

[Trevor]

Originally posted by Cskin

Anyone notice how many times Jansen got pushed back into the backfield by Ellis? The entire offensive line got manhandled, including Thomas.... consistently on their heels trying to slow down defensive lineman from running them over.

Glover blew up Thomas several times. Just ran him over, he also did so to Friedman on one occasion.

[KirkNC]

Being pushed around really does speack to where your head is; just mailing it in.