THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 3, 1996 TAG: 9609030148
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ASHBURN, VA. LENGTH: 71 lines
There are probably a dozen ways in which Norv Turner will never be another Joe Gibbs, one of them being his concept of squeezing talent and effort out of players not of a mind to give their best.
``Joe would call out the player in meetings, say something to him once, twice, three times, though never in public,'' former defensive end Charles Mann said Monday. ``If that didn't work, he was gone, and Joe would come into the next meeting and explain why to everyone. He'd tell us that he had to do it, that he'd given the player every chance and there was no other option.
``That was one thing about Joe. It wasn't enough just to make the team. You had to do things to remain on the team. You never got too comfortable.''
The Washington Redskins who opened the season Sunday with a 17-14 home loss to the Philadelphia Eagles had some obvious flaws. The offensive line had only a passing acquaintance with each other. For the first time in his pro career, quarterback Gus Frerotte took enough shots to get that scared look in his eyes. The team's best athlete, Michael Westbrook, wasn't even playing.
But the most severe flaw, and one that Turner is going to have to address soon or face the consequences, is the sense of complacency this team seems to have adopted.
Yes, it's a neanderthal notion that chairs have to be flung and faces have to be contorted in a menacing scowl every time the other team scores more points that you do. But judging from the laughing and hijinks going on in the lobby Monday afternoon while the players were waiting for their paychecks, all that was missing was a presidential candidate and a bundle of balloons for tiny Ashburn to turn into San Diego or Chicago.
When someone mentioned that losing was every bit as contagious as winning, Turner answered, ``I'm not getting used to it. I haven't felt this bad. ... this is the worst I've felt in the two years I've been here. It's very difficult because I expected us to play better.
``I truly believe we are going to be a good team. We are like everybody else, we have a few shortcomings, but we have to work through them.''
No doubt, the coaching staff will work through their shortcomings. Turner will continue arriving to work at 5 in the morning. He'll put in his hours. But will the players follow along? Tight end Scott Galbraith, who played on Dallas teams that won a Super Bowl, thinks there's been so much talk about Washington's youth and potential that there's a chance they won't.
``We've got to grow up; I'm tired of hearing we're young,'' Galbraith said. ``It's time to put up.
``It doesn't matter whether you've been here one day or as long as Darrell Green. You have to play. I don't have to know someone's life story to play next to him. When they tell you this is how the play goes, this is how you're supposed to block it, it shouldn't matter how long you've been a Redskin. You concentrate and you block it.''
``Once you cross that line and step on the field, there's nothing that designates where you are in your career,'' he said. ``With every team in the league, you see changes, you see guys who have to step up and play. We are going to go into games later in the season where we don't have a key player and someone's going to have to step up.''
But Galbraith, the son of a preacher, admits that ``the spirit of the kingdom emanates from the king.'' And King Norval's idea of motivation isn't a good butt-chewing or a quick pink slip. He provides the Xs and the Os. Much of what the players use for motivation will have to come from within. Sunday's well wasn't particularly deep.
Ironically, Galbraith thinks the films from the Philadelphia game were so horrendously mistake-filled that ``nobody had to say a word when he turned that projector on. I swear everyone was nauseated. The message got through that we have to turn it up.''
He really won't know what impact another close loss to another Philadelphia team the Redskins could have beaten - their eighth straight - will have until Wednesday's first practice in preparation for the Chicago Bears.
``If that's the best we can play, then we're in trouble this season,'' Galbraith said. ``A lot of trouble.'' by CNB