ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 31, 1996 TAG: 9610310026
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: ANALYSIS
SOURCE: JIM DUCIBELLA LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
General manager Charley Casserly knew his Redskins were good. But 7-1? No one could have predicted that.
``You never figure on winning seven in a row, particularly after you've lost the opener,'' Casserly said of the team that, along with Green Bay and Denver, has the NFL's best record. ``But this team isn't a fluke. This team is a legitimate playoff contender, as good as any team we'll see the next few weeks.''
No one will get a complete sense of what coach Norv Turner has assembled until after a brutal 12-day stretch in which the Redskins play at Philadelphia, host San Francisco and play at Dallas on Thanksgiving Day.
But that doesn't stop the joy inside a team that won just nine times in Turner's first 23 games.
``It feels damn good to be 7-1,'' end Rich Owens says. ``I keep waiting for the `ifs' and `buts,' the `they haven't played anybody yet.' We hear it every week.''
They also hear something else, questions about how a team in a league more scrutinized than the presidential candidates could have fashioned such an unexpected turnaround.
The answers, they say, are found as much in the heart as they are on the field. Here's why the Redskins are 7-1:
CHEMISTRY: ``This is a group of guys who like working with one another,'' defensive coordinator Ron Lynn said. ``In team sports, you have to learn to trust the guy next to you. If you do, it's a lot easier to do what you have to do to succeed.''
During the past off-season, the Redskins lost only guard Ray Brown to free agency. They replaced him with guard Bob Dahl, a bigger, younger version of Brown, who had near-Pro Bowl ability.
In April, they traded their No.1 draft pick to St. Louis for defensive tackle Sean Gilbert, a 26-year-old former Pro Bowl player they hoped would raise the level of the defensive line play.
It worked as planned. Dahl, 318 pounds, was the perfect fit on an offensive line that is among the league's brawniest, and best. The Redskins are second to Denver in yards rushing per game and have gotten so good at ``hogging the ball,'' as they call it, that Turner confided to quarterbacks coach Cam Cameron last Sunday that ``I'd never say this in public, but I'm going to be really disappointed if we don't just jam it down [the Colts'] throat.''
They did, running for 215 yards against a defense that had allowed an average of 85 per game.
Gilbert went to work at Redskin Park less than 24 hours after attending the news conference at which the trade was announced.
``He let them know this was important to him, right from the start,'' Lynn says about Gilbert. ``They've followed his lead. He's been great with young players, old players, all players.''
That left 10 starters on offense and 10 on defense to fine-tune their roles in schemes that Turner and Lynn changed little. There was less teaching in minicamp and training camp than at any time in Turner's first two seasons. Nowhere has continuity been more important than with running back Terry Allen.
Allen, who ran for 1,309 yards last season, already has 803 yards in 1996 and a league-leading 13 touchdowns after eight games.
COMMITMENT: The Redskins finished the 1995 season at 6-10, winning three of their final four games. Most players made it a short off-season, choosing Redskin Park for February and March workouts and film study rather than warmer climates and emerald fairways.
``We knew the potential for this was there,'' said offensive tackle Ed Simmons, one of only four players remaining from Washington's 1992 Super Bowl champion. ``The question was how hard we'd be willing to work for it.''
The answer was very hard. Turner and others call it the best off-season they'd ever been around.
An air of confidence was created in those sweat-filled weight rooms, among players young and old. Veteran cornerback Darrell Green told the team - 32 of whom have less than five years' NFL experience - that nothing would make him happier than for the media to leave him alone after games.
``I said, `I'll know we're winning the right way when you guys get the recognition,''' he said. ``We have so many young guys. I told them we might be winning with me, but it's just an interim thing. They are the next [Art] Monk, the next [Joe] Theismann. That's why it's very encouraging to see so many guys step up. Tom Carter's on the way up. Michael Westbrook's on the way up. Leslie Shepherd. The offensive line.''
And, don't forget the quarterback.
GUS: Gus Frerotte's stats are deceiving. A year ago, he had started seven of Washington's first eight games and passed for 1,823 yards and 12 touchdowns. This season, Frerotte has thrown for 1,566 yards and half as many touchdowns.
``But there's no question who's in charge this year,'' offensive line coach Jim Hanifan said. ``When he steps into the huddle, everyone in there listens.''
Frerotte, who beat out Heath Shuler for the starting job, started slowly. Turner saddled him with a conservative offense. But he has loosened the reins lately and Frerotte has risen from near the bottom of the NFC passing chart to fourth, behind only Green Bay's Brett Favre, Dallas' Troy Aikman and Philadelphia's Ty Detmer.
Afforded fortress-like protection - just eight sacks - he's completing 60 percent of his passes. That's exactly where Turner wants his quarterbacks to be. And Frerotte continues to improve. After three weeks, Washington was last in the league in third-down conversions - 10 of 37, or 27 percent. Since then, the Redskins have converted 29 of 58 attempts, rising to ninth in the league.
TURNOVERS: The Redskins have committed six. The Colts and 49ers are next best with 10. The league aver- age is 15.
Washington's plus-11 turnover ratio is the league's third-best.
In addition, Washington's defense has yet to surrender a touchdown to the opposition following a turnover. St. Louis and Chicago have kicked field goals.
Conversely, Redskins' opponents have committed 17 turnovers, and the Washington offense has scored after six of them, including five touchdowns.
KEEPING 'EM GUESSING: After eight games a year ago, Henry Ellard had 34 catches. This season, he has 27 - and has never been happier.
Likewise Leslie Shepherd. A year ago, he had 16 catches. This season: 14 receptions, but a lot more fun.
The reason is diversity.
A year ago, Shepherd ran only very deep routes or very short ones. Now, he runs everything, even the intermediate routes that keep Ellard a top threat at age 36.
``He was raw when he came in a couple of years ago,'' Ellard says. ``Now we can utilize his talent. He knows what we want.''
He's not alone. Turner has the tools - specifically, second-year tight end Jamie Asher - to keep opponents guessing snap after snap.
``Last year, we were about 49 percent of what we can be on offense,'' tight end Scott Galbraith says. ``This season, about 60 percent. What's improved is our ability to run different formations, to spread Jamie out wide and give almost a three-receiver look. Or bring him inside in a two-tight-end formation, but have him move around, like a fullback. Last year, we weren't ready to do that, didn't have the personnel to do it. Lining me out wide is a token, at best. I can't do nothing from out there.''
Hampered by a hamstring pull, Asher hadn't even played at this point a year ago. This season, he has 15 receptions. Asher isn't as fast, but he's fast enough and catches the ball better than any Redskins tight end since Jerry Smith.
``Norv has it to where everyone's making a contribution, everyone's making a play,'' Logan says. ``When you do that, keep everyone involved, the offense takes off.''
SEAN GILBERT: Despite constant double-teams, Gilbert has 53 tackles this season, three sacks and eight quarterback hurries. For the first time since Dave Butz patrolled the middle, the Redskins have a tackle opposing teams have to account for on every play.
After eight games a year ago, the Redskins had 15 sacks. This season, they've got 16. The big difference are the ``hurries.'' In 1995, Washington had 35 in 16 games. Already, they have 28.
Washington's linebackers and secondary have taken advantage, intercepting 13 passes, just two less than all of last season.
ATTITUDE: Sixteen of Turner's first 23 losses were by eight points or less. In 11, the Redskins were tied or ahead entering the fourth quarter. If any team ever knew what it was like to come close, but fail, it's these Redskins.
Maybe that's why Lynn says he's never had so many players taking films home to study.
``Realize where we've come from and where we want to go,'' linebacker Marvcus Patton says. ``We know we can be beaten if we take it lightly, so we're not going to take it lightly. We know we could lose the rest of our games this year. We're not satisfied.
``We want to get 10 wins, 12 wins, 15 wins, then go on in the playoffs and, hopefully, the Super Bowl. Then we'll sit back and say, `Yeah, we were a good team.' But we're not going to talk about that now.''
LENGTH: Long : 161 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS STAFF The leadership andby CNBcommitment of veteran cornerback Darrell Green (28) has helped Eric
Sutton (right) and other Redskins youngsters develop during
Washington's surprising 7-1 start this season. color KEYWORDS: FOOTBALL