THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 26, 1995 TAG: 9509260386
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: First-Quarter Analysis
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
There's going to be a lot of talk around the water cooler this week about the perception of improvement and how that relates to the Washington Redskins.
Mark my words. At some point a card-carrying Redskins fan will approach you and proclaim that he isn't bothered by the team's 1-3 start - and third loss in 10 months to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers - because it's obvious that the team is infinitely better than a year ago.
``Why, this is something all teams endure,'' he'll argue, using the 1-15 Dallas Cowboys of a few years ago as his primary example. ``This is the way it as young teams mature.''
Maybe. Maybe not.
My apologies if you don't find this next statement apocalyptic, but maybe the Redskins aren't immature. Maybe they aren't in the throes of growing pains.
Maybe they're bad.
And - hold onto your hats - maybe they will remain bad until they find better players.
I know, I know. A pox on my house.
Where and when do you draw the line between ``gaining valuable experience for the future'' and ``not good enough to win now or ever?'' Hasn't the team the Redskins just played, the Bucs, been in about a 20-year ``rebuilding'' process? Haven't they perennially been about to turn the corner?
Sunday, the Redskins needed to drive 80 yards, score a touchdown and execute a two-point conversion in the final 4:16 to force overtime. They moved 79 1/2 yards and had 16 seconds left to negotiate the final half-yard.
They didn't succeed because:
Cedric Smith dropped a pass in the end zone with no Buccaneer within 5 yards of him.
On the next play Gus Frerotte threw a lousy pass that was intercepted.
That's not a lack of maturity. That's a lack of ability.
So is Eddie Murray's missed 44-yard field goal attempt, the five or six other passes that were dropped, Frerotte's fumbled snap from center, the illegal-procedure penalty against Ed Simmons at the Tampa Bay 5 and the 117,000 feeble tackle attempts against Bucs running back Errict ``I'm inviting this defense to my Hall of Fame induction'' Rhett.
This guy's a good, strong running back. But who doesn't take on Hall-of-Fame proportions when they rarely get hit until they're 3 yards into the opposing defense?
And it's not like this is the first time any of this has happened this season.
Early or not, the Redskins' scavenger hunt hasn't turned up any defensive gems. Dexter Nottage made a couple of nice plays. Sterling Palmer, too. Actually, all of them make a play here and a play there. Mostly, though, they're doormats.
The trickle-down effect of this is that who knows whether or not the Redskins are getting their $40 million worth from linebackers Ken Harvey, Marvcus Patton and Rod Stephens and safeties James Washington and Stanley Richard. They can't do the things they do best because they have to be too concerned about covering up for the line.
I used to think Desmond Howard would be Charley Casserly's undoing as general manager. The reality is it may be Al Noga and Leonard Marshall and the absurd statement that there wasn't a single defensive lineman worth drafting last spring from the second through sixth rounds.
Frerotte, though poised at times, is 0-3 this season as a starter, 1-6 the last two seasons. Granted, he didn't get as much help Sunday from receivers Henry Ellard and Michael Westbrook as he has in the recent past, but he blew a golden opportunity to hang onto the starting job for the next month by losing to the Bucs.
Certainly, he will start Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys, and you need not be a psychic to predict what a bloodletting that will be. But immediately after that game, things promise to get interesting.
Heath Shuler (remember him?) figures to be ready to play the following week, against the sinking ship that's passing for the Philadelphia Eagles. Like the Tampa Bay game, this is one the Redskins have a chance to win.
But probably not with Shuler in the lineup. It would be his first game action since separating his right shoulder in the season-opener against Arizona. This isn't an offense that can overcome much in the way of the type of mistakes Shuler is likely to make.
Does Gus play because he gives coach Norv Turner a better chance at victory? Or, at 1-4, does Turner resume the process of grooming Shuler? He didn't look ready four weeks ago. Is returning him to the lineup the equivalent of bidding this season goodbye?
Everyone who wasn't doubled over with heat cramps Sunday had his spin on what's going on with this team. Some said this was an inevitable process, the old crawl-before-you-walk routine.
But there were some who found little value in back-to-back last-second losses to Denver and the Bucs. It's one thing to be in the game right down to the final snap, they said. It's something totally different to be there and win.
Generally, it's not the more mature team that prevails. It's the better team. ILLUSTRATION: Color AP Photo
Redskins quarterback Gus Frerotte, through poised at times, is 0-3
this season as a starter and 1-6 in the last two seasons.
by CNB