THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 28, 1995 TAG: 9501280354
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Jim Ducibella
DATELINE: MIAMI LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
It was November, and the San Diego Chargers had just beaten the Kansas City Chiefs in a driving rainstorm at Arrowhead Stadium. Quarterback Stan Humphries, knocked out of the game early, had come back to throw two touchdown passes in a 14-13 triumph that gave them command of the AFC West.
Humphries was the first player off the field, but he stopped at the locker-room door. As each Charger trudged in, Humphries grabbed his hand and offered thanks and congratulations for a job well done.
The Super Bowl this week would have been radically different had Joe Gibbs ever witnessed something like that.
Gibbs and the Redskins, who drafted Humphries out of tiny Northeast Louisiana in 1988, always sought some sign of Humphries' commitment to their program.
And Humphries, who would have made a lousy prosecuting attorney because he doesn't believe the quarterback carries a burden of proof, never gave it to them.
Gibbs asked him to stay in Washington during the offseason, work with the conditioning coaches to strengthen his body, work with Gibbs to strengthen his mind. Humphries said thanks, but no thanks, and soon found himself headed for San Diego for a third-round draft pick.
``Stan was at fault for a lot of what happened in Washington,'' said Chargers player personnel director Bill Devaney, who was with the Redskins at the time. ``It was 50-50.
``We talked to Stan before the trade, told him what we expected from him, that he had to do more off the field than he'd done in Washington. He said he had no problem.
``If he'd taken the same approach in Washington. ...''
Super Bowl history would have been radically different. Had he said yes, it's impossible to believe he wouldn't have emerged as Washington's starting quarterback.
He would have won the battle with Mark Rypien, would have been the quarterback in Super Bowl XXVI. Might even have been the game's most valuable player. There was never any doubt who was the more gifted.
One November day several years ago, a newspaper guy sat watching Redskins practice with Sonny Jurgensen. Humphries was running the scout team in drills designed to give the defense practice in the red zone.
Humphries dropped into the pocket, brought his right arm forward and unleashed the ball with such velocity that, suddenly, a tight end in the right-rear corner of the end zone was catching it in self-defense.
``Did you see that?'' Jurgensen asked, straightening up in his seat. ``There's no one else on this team who can make that pass.''
Although some of his touch on the short stuff sometimes seems shaky, there still are few quarterbacks who throw the ball as well as Humphries, especially deep.
In 14 of the 17 games he appeared in this season, Humphries had at least one completion of 25 or more yards, the minimum guideline for what the experts call a ``big play.''
It's an amazing stat under any circumstances, but especially considering Humphries played with a dislocated left elbow that eventually needed surgery. That's not his throwing arm, but he absorbed a vicious beating from the opposition all season. The elbow brace he wore week to week might as well have had a bull's-eye painted on it.
``He'll say he wasn't distracted, and I'll say he probably wasn't distracted, yet we all know to some extent that he was (distracted by the elbow),'' says Chargers coach Bobby Ross.
Gibbs admits dealing Humphries was his biggest personnel mistake in Washington. But he had a point to make about who ran the show, and it wasn't going to be Humphries.
``I don't hold anything against the Redskins,'' Humphries says. ``I'm not saying, `Ha, Ha, we're here and you're home.'
``I learned a lot from Joe Gibbs; heck, my going to San Diego was his doing. I should thank him.''
The trade was like a bucket of gas poured onto a smoldering fire. Humphries arrived in San Diego to find that his new teammates saw him as just another arm; no better, no worse than any others they'd seen lately.
``I had to make it my team, and I think it became my team after we won 11 of 12 games,'' Humphries said. ``You have to prove it on the field and until you do, there's no reason for you to be seen as a leader.''
That's one reason Humphries nearly discounts the experience he gained from the Redskins' win over the Bills. Although he was listed as Rypien's backup, and the Redskins took control early in the second half, Humphries never played a down.
In one breath, Humphries calls Super Bowl XXVI ``a happy experience.'' But in the next sentence, he says it ``wasn't a time for me to think about football, or the Buffalo Bills. It allowed me to spend some time with my family, take it in.
``I didn't practice Redskins plays. I was (Bills quarterback) Jim Kelly. This one, I play my game.''
For better or worse, it's one that will be played by his rules, his standards. The widely held script for Sunday's game is that Humphries and Steve Young have something to prove at Joe Robbie Stadium.
Young needs to shed a Montana-sized monkey from his back. Humphries needs a victory to claim a national image for himself.
It's nice copy, but Humphries isn't buying it.
``I'm not worried about that. I'm not a guy who wants all that, who worries about showing his skills to the world,'' he said. ``As long as I'm happy with myself, I'm satisfied.
``I'm not saying I'll be happy even if we don't get the ring. But you see what happens to guys who don't win the Super Bowl. People forget about them. I'm not willing to give them that kind of power.'' ILLUSTRATION: Associated Press
by CNB