THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608110219
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FROSTBURG, MD. LENGTH: 86 lines
Here's what we know about the Great Quarterback Debate of 1996 between Heath Shuler and Gus Frerotte as it heads to the final week: If the two young quarterbacks for the Washington Redskins really were even at the start of the competition, they're really even now.
Check out these statistics:
Through two games, Shuler has completed 17 of 26 passes for 213 yards. He has no touchdown throws. He has no interceptions.
Frerotte, who received slightly more playing time with the scrubs against Buffalo than Shuler received with them Friday against Detroit, has completed 21 of 31 passes for 230 yards. He has no touchdown throws. He has no interceptions.
Frerotte's 67 percent completion average is two points higher than Shuler's. But Frerotte couldn't get the first team into the end zone against the Lions. Shuler and the reserves scored points on two of his four possessions. Included was an 8-play, 81-yard touchdown march in which he overcame a second-and-19 from the Detroit 20 when left tackle Joe Patton was ejected for accidentally slugging an official.
``I feel good about what has happened to Gus and Heath,'' coach Norv Turner said. ``Both have shown they're capable of playing in this league. I was impressed with both of them. The competition has brought out the best in them.''
Maybe on the field it has. Off it, there are signs that both may not be handling this as evenly as they and the Redskins would have you believe.
A reporter asked Frerotte after Friday's loss to the Lions whether his battle with Shuler comes down to which one practices better this week.
``Norv's waiting to see which one will be the man,'' Frerotte began. ``It has to do with (practices) - and how the other guys feel around us. It has to be a team feeling.''
Maybe with The Little Giants, who starts at quarterback has to be a team feeling. Maybe in pee-wee ball the coach polls the kids before determining whether Johnny or Joanie (hey, it's the 90's) takes the snaps from center.
The person on the other end of that answer knows he has commanded more respect from his teammates than Shuler. He's read Jim Lachey's quotes about times Shuler couldn't bark out the entire play in the huddle because he was too rattled.
But Frerotte also knows that those days are gone, or soon to be. Fox analyst and former middle linebacker Matt Millen was at Frostburg State University recently. He said it had been a long time since he'd seen a quarterback improve as much from one season to the next as Shuler. He's more calm. He's more confident in himself. He's more in charge.
When one of his linemen missed a block Friday night, Shuler glared at the culprit and growled a couple of harshies.
Frerotte still throws the deep patterns better than Shuler. Shuler seems better able to escape and make something out of nothing than Frerotte.
Frerotte isn't the only one to show the strain.
Despite playing some of the best football of his professional life against the Bills, Shuler was v-e-r-y s-l-o-w to come out of the locker room and face the media two Fridays ago. A source says that Shuler is bothered by the treatment he has received from two members of the media, both of the broadcast type.
A good guess would be that one of them is Redskins legend Sonny Jurgensen. He's been on the Gus bandwagon from Day One and occasionally counsels Frerotte. He's also a member of the Redskins broadcast team and spearheads the postgame show. It could be that Shuler was waiting in the locker room until it was too late for him to go on the air.
Then there's play-by-play guy Frank Herzog, who doubles as a reporter from a local D.C. station.
When asked for his assessment of Shuler's play in a regular-season game last year, Herzog provided his TV audience with a highly technical term even coaches don't ordinarily mutter.
``He sucked,'' Herzog said.
Team owner Jack Kent Cooke demanded an apology. Shuler didn't take kindly to it, either, observing that someone who uses words for a living should be able to come up with a better one than that.
Anyway, the apology was issued and all sides proclaimed the issue dead and forgotten. But Herzog was the only man with a mike waiting by Shuler's podium after the Buffalo game. Makes you wonder.
In either event, now's not the time for Shuler to develop a case of thin-skinness any more than it's time for Frerotte to remind everyone that some people like him more than they like Heath.
Turner isn't going to make the most important decision of his career as Redskins coach in conjunction with the players he's charged with leading and commanding. And, despite the stories about Frerotte being more popular, this team isn't likely to care one way or the other who's selected.
Unlike a bunch of veterans who have achieved something, the Redskins are just beginning to find an identity. They're still discovering their leaders. If the preseason has proven anything, it's that both quarterbacks can get them where they want to go. by CNB