LANDOVER, Md. -- It didn't take a coaching genius to put the Redskins' cakewalk-turned-nailbiter of a win over New England yesterday into perspective.
Still, it was nice of Washington coach Steve Spurrier to take the time to do so.
"We are fortunate," said Spurrier, "to get out with the victory. They had more yards and more first downs. They probably outplayed us. But we held them, so we are the winners."
The Patriots had considerably more yards than Washington, outgaining the Redskins, 387-252. The Pats also had 23 first downs to 15 for the 'Skins, and had the ball for 33:39, compared to 26:21 for Washington.
But the Pats also had four turnovers -- three interceptions, plus a fumble that the Redskins recovered inside the N.E. 1-yard line -- while the Redskins had none.
And that resulted in more points for Washington -- 20, to the Patriots' 17.
It didn't seem as if the final score would be anywhere near that close after the Redskins opened up a 20-3 lead with just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter, thanks to a fumble by Kevin Faulk that bounced in and out of several players' hands before Washington free safety Matt Bowen recovered, setting up a one-yard, one-play, three-second scoring drive.
After that, Spurrier said: "We were trying to run the clock and make a few first downs. We didn't do it very well. We let them score quickly. That was disappointing. They hit a couple of big passes to get within three points."
At that point, the Redskins were reeling.
Trying to hang on to the ball and the lead in the final two minutes, they were penalized three times for false starts and wound up punting out of their end zone only to their own 45.
Just prior to that, it appeared Washington had clinched the win when, on 3rd-and-16 at the 12, second-year quarterback Patrick Ramsey hit wide receiver Laveranues Coles near the left sideline for an apparent gain of 17 yards.
But the officials ruled the pass incomplete because Coles dropped the ball as he hit the ground when he fell out of bounds.
This brought a quick review of the replay -- the ruling on the field was upheld -- and, later, some scathing Spurrier sarcasm.
"I guess," he said, "there's a rule that, if you catch it, even in bounds, and run out of bounds, then lose it out of bounds, they can call it an incomplete pass. There is a rule to that effect because, obviously, he caught it in bounds, then reached out of bounds for the first down.
"All of our coaches up top said that the officials would have to give us the ball. So we had our next run formation ready to go in there. As it turned out, they didn't give us the ball. Fortunately, it didn't matter."
It didn't matter because the Washington defense prevented the Patriots from making a first down and moving into range for a game-tying, field-goal attempt.
After Patriots QB Tom Brady threw incomplete on first down, he hit running back Larry Centers for a five-yard gain on the next play. On third down, the Pats tried to catch Washington by surprise by giving Centers the ball on a draw play. But he gained only two yards.
On fourth down, Brady threw incomplete, trying to hit tight end David Graham over the middle.
"The defense," said Spurrier, "played superb that last drive. Offensively, we didn't do a whole lot in the second half. We need to learn how to hold on to the lead a little better."
It was the Washington defense, and not Spurrier's so-called Fun an' Gun offense, that preserved the victory for the Redskins.
"We wanted to stop them so that we didn't have to go into overtime," 'Skins linebacker Jeremiah Trotter said. "We knew we had to play good defense and make big plays. It was a tough win, but we don't expect any wins to come easily. We keep it interesting."
It was a little too interesting for Ramsey.
"It was too close," he said. "Hopefully, we can find a way to, when we get up, to stay up."
