Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 27, 1993 TAG: 9307270137
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD, R. I. LENGTH: Medium
rookie from the University of Virginia who has been compared to Lawrence Taylor is struggling to catch up after holding out the first nine days of training camp. Learning about his new coach wasn't nearly as difficult.
Bill Parcells speaks his mind.
Asked how Slade looked after his second workout Monday morning, Parcells said, "like a ball in high grass. Know what that is? Lost."
Oddly, Parcells is excited about his verbal punching bag. "I do have high hopes for him," he said. "You asked me how he looked, I'm telling you and that's an accurate description."
"He's right," the second-round draft pick agreed. "I am lost right now."
During Monday afternoon's practice, Slade was chastised for hitting the quarterback twice when he was supposed to keep his hands off.
"You got to learn how to practice, Slade," Parcells bellowed.
"I don't take anything personal. It's part of the game," Slade said. "You take it personally [and] you start losing your focus on what you're doing."
Now his focus is on that big blue binder with all the Xs and Os that tells him where to go on a football field, a very comfortable place for him when he starred at Virginia.
He was an outstanding pass rusher who set the Atlantic Coast Conference record with 39 career sacks. That's more than Michael Dean Perry's record of 28 at Clemson and Taylor's total at North Carolina.
Comparisons with Taylor, who starred for Parcells with the New York Giants, began in college.
"I don't want to be known as the next Lawrence Taylor," Slade said. "I want to be known as the next Chris Slade. If people compare me to him then that's great for me, but he's in a class by himself."
Slade was the 31st player drafted last April but missed the start of camp when he balked at the Patriots' contract offer. He didn't get what he wanted but finally agreed to terms last Friday and participated in an intrasquad scrimmage the next day.
"I was already a week late into camp and I'm already behind as it is," Slade said. "If I waited a little bit longer, I probably would have never caught up and I still have a ways to go."
Parcells was impressed with Slade's excellent physical condition. That helped Slade weather his stormy scrimmage in which he wasn't sure where to go or what to do.
"Sometimes when I don't know what I'm doing I just go play football and use football instincts," he said. "Just go after the football instead of just standing around hurting the team." Patriots linebacker Andre Tippett,
who became a star after being taken as the 41st pick of the 1982 draft, thinks Slade will be a big help to the team once he learns the defense.
"He has someone in Parcells [a former Patriots linebacker coach] who knows what he's doing from an outside linebacker standpoint," Tippett said. "He has a good head on his shoulders and he wants to work.
"He ran conditioning tests the other day and ended up scrimmaging in the same day. I don't know how many people would have been able to do that. I don't know if I would have been able to do it."
For now, though, Slade is just a hard-working, well-conditioned rookie taking a crash course in how to play pro football.
"He's a playmaker type guy and, hopefully, he'll make some plays," Parcells said, "but right now he's clueless.
"He missed a lot of work. It's going to be hard for him to catch up for a while, but, hopefully, we can catch him up. This isn't rocket science so we should be able to do it, but it depends on the guy."
by CNB