THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 4, 1995 TAG: 9509040086
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
The Redskins' first home victory in the last 10 tries also snapped their 15-game losing streak within the NFC East.
Let's hear it for the law of averages.
``It's fun to win,'' said Redskins coach Norv Turner. ``Things haven't been exactly positive around here the last month.''
And they are now?
When your starting quarterback suffers a serious injury to his shoulder - his throwing shoulder - at the very least the victory celebration should be muted.
The Redskins' wasn't.
Losing your franchise player, your alleged future, even if only for a month, is an excuse for long faces, not high fives.
What will this injury do to set back Heath Shuler's already slow, painful progress? There was reason enough Sunday to consider the loss along with the win.
A team less desperate for a victory might have been more aware of the downside to the 27-7 romp over the Arizona Cardinals.
It makes you wonder. Would the smiles have been tighter had another quarterback besides Shuler been wearing the sling on his right arm?
Would the banter have been less obvious had the fallen Shuler proven himself capable of leading this team? If he had actually earned his starting spot in preseason?
But maybe that's being too hard on the Redskins. When a single victory could represent the bulk of your year's highlight film, looking at the big picture may just be too difficult.
``This is a tremendous win for us, the town, the team,'' said Gus Frerotte.
This assumes that any victory by these Redskins could be anything but tremendous. Or surprising.
Frerotte didn't need to point out what the game meant to his personal fortunes. Some things go without saying.
Unfortunately for Shuler, his injury came midway through a game that the Redskins seemed destined to win - no matter who was quarterback.
When Cardinals coach Buddy Ryan said, ``We bordered on pathetic,'' he was probably being too generous to his team.
Probably not even Shuler could have thrown this game away. The Redskins jumped out to a 10-0 lead with Heath's primary contribution being a hard block on Michael Westbrook's 58-yard reverse.
Shuler could not have thrown an uglier or more damaging interception than the one Cardinals running back Larry Centers blindly heaved into the hands of a grateful Darrell Green.
He would have been hard-pressed to look as uniformly miserable as Dave Krieg, Arizona's ancient excuse for a quarterback.
In the second half, Frerotte threw a few nice passes. Compared with Shuler and Krieg, he looked like Sonny Jurgensen. Or Mark Rypien on a good day.
The job is his for now.
`There is no quarterback controversy,'' said Frerotte.
He's right about that, at least for the time being. Shuler is little threat with one arm. And judging from the cheers that greeted Frerotte's entrance, Heath is no sentimental favorite with the fans.
``Nothing I can do about it,'' Shuler said. ``I can't go out and change everybody's mind.''
Not now he can't. by CNB