Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 3, 1994 TAG: 9410050018
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
He spent much of the rest of Sunday afternoon looking up on that same side of the line of scrimmage at the Dallas Cowboys.
Shuler got a busted and bloodied lower lip and the Redskins got a much worse beating from the two-time defending Super Bowl champions. A 34-7 demolition was a game for about as long as Washington coach Norv Turner's postgame interrogation lasted.
That would be about four minutes.
Turner blamed himself, then was asked how it felt to go against his former employer, a powerhouse team whose offense he constructed.
``It felt like s---, to be honest with you,'' Turner said.
After being on the other side of a double ring ceremony, Turner is learning what it really will take to keep up with the Jerry Joneses.
It will take more than Shuler, a rookie who didn't appear ready to start. Shuler said he would ``never forget a game like this,'' and it's not likely Turner will let the rookie QB's teammates forget it, either.
If Shuler wasn't ready to start, it appeared many more Redskins weren't ready to play. The supposed panic that accompanied Dallas' overtime loss to Detroit two Monday nights ago was pounded, along with Washington.
The first-round pick from Tennessee has been playing catch-up in learning Turner's system since holding out two weeks at the start of training camp before signing an eight-year, $19 million contract.
He was playing with a cheat sheet of choices taped to his wristband Sunday, and the Cowboys' defense left plenty of RFK Stadium grass stains on those options. Then, he got little help, too.
Washington needed to establish a running game to aid Shuler, to give him a chance just to slow down the blitzing Cowboys. The Redskins didn't get a first down rushing until 4 minutes remained in the game.
Summing up Shuler's day with his own numbing numbers doesn't do justice to the rook who became a pawn. This was one of the worst offensive days in the history of a franchise that moved from Boston to the nation's capital in 1937.
The Redskins' club record for fewest total yards is 64, set in November 1954 against the Cleveland Browns. It took Turner's team 56 minutes to make sure it wouldn't obliterate that low.
Washington gained 51 of its 100 yards in the final 4 minutes and didn't cross midfield until 5:11 remained in the third quarter - then only on a pass interference flag.
Shuler guided Washington to 22 yards in the first six plays. Then, Washington managed only 5 yards on the next 9 snaps. Washington had a 4-yard second quarter. In the first half, Shuler was 3-for-13 for 13 yards, was sacked once, was credited with a fumble on a bad handoff, scrambled twice for 3 yards and was hurried into six incompletions.
Perhaps, could Washington owner Jack Kent Cooke have told Turner to start the rich rookie investment? We'll never know.
However, it was obvious that an offensive line that has played poorer than its talent and experience couldn't cope with the Cowboys, either.
The Redskins weren't much better defensively. Dallas' 31-0 halftime lead was the biggest against the 'Skins since they trailed 35-0 at Chicago's Soldier Field in a November 1980 loss.
That was coach Jack Pardee's last year on the Redskins' sideline. In the last two meetings of this rivalry, the Cowboys have skinned Washington 72-10.
``I don't think we played particularly well in any area,'' Turner said.
On the Dallas sideline, the Cowboys' own rookie NFL coach, Barry Switzer, probably felt like he was back at Oklahoma, trashing some Big Eight non-tiger like Missouri. Only the loss of rushing star Emmitt Smith to a strained left hamstring after 25 minutes slowed down the Cowboys.
``It was tough going in because, as a rookie quarterback, you know they're going to put on the pressure,'' Shuler said after he showed his will to survive on an 11-for-30 day. ``I can't stand here and say the pressure didn't bother me. That was obvious.
``I felt like I did some things in that I knew where I was going with the ball, but I had so much adrenaline built up inside, it kept going, high, high, throwing it out of bounds.''
Shuler simply saw too many stars, in bright blue jerseys and on the side of the Dallas helmets. In their ninth straight NFC East loss, it was obvious that the Cowboys were much more than 11 points better than the Redskins.
Washington has Dallas' offensive scheme, but that's where the mirror's reflection stops.
by CNB