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Spurrier's start looks familiar

With Danny Wuerffel providing big plays at QB, the Redskins coast in the coach's first preseason game.

©Associated Press
August 5, 2002

OSAKA, Japan -- On fourth and 1 in his first NFL preseason game, Steve Spurrier went long. And the play panned out.

Danny Wuerffel hit Derrius Thompson for a 31-yard touchdown over the middle, and the Redskins' version of the Fun 'N Gun was in full stride.

When Saturday's game was over, Spurrier had shown that what worked in Florida also works in Japan: The Redskins had a Gator-like 38-7 victory against the 49ers in their preseason opener.

Even though the game was overwhelmingly backups vs. backups, flashes of the timing and audaciousness of Spurrier's pass-happy offense were evident.

After two weeks of training camp -- including several early practices in which the offense looked amazingly inept -- the game at the Osaka Dome was, if nothing else, a morale boost for a team trying to master a new system.

"We passed the first test," tackle Jon Jansen said. "We've got a lot of things to work on, but when you put up 38 points, something's working well."

The Redskins threw five touchdowns, three by Wuerffel and two by starter Sage Rosenfels. More important than the score was that it was Round 1 of a three-way quarterback battle, and even Spurrier admitted the best thing about winning was that it made the 13-hour flight home a little easier.

"Winning and losing, nobody's going to give a darn five weeks from now," Spurrier said. "But tonight there's a winner and a loser, and we're going home a winner."

The Redskins threw for 434 yards and 12 players caught passes. Wuerffel had a string of completions to Chris Doering in the second half, a Florida-to-Florida connection that evoked more Gator flashbacks.

"We were probably more into it than the Niners," Spurrier said. "We had a little more to prove than they did. They're a team that won 12 games last year. We're trying to earn our stripes."

Wuerffel played the second half, led four scoring drives in four possessions and made two creative plays: a spin-move toss to Robert Gillespie to avoid a sack and a jump-pass to Ladell Betts.

Wuerffel also hit Darnerien McCants for touchdowns of 14 and 44 yards. He completed 16 of 25 passes for 269 yards.

Shane Matthews, the third quarterback competing for the job, is scheduled to start Saturday against the Panthers.

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