THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190544
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ASHBURN, VA. LENGTH: 133 lines
It may have been the only game plan Sean Gilbert ever completely followed during his days as a butt-kicking, hell-raising defensive tackle for the Los Angeles Rams.
Several nights a week, Gilbert and friend and teammate Marc Boutte parked themselves in the VIP section of one of their many hangouts. Some nights, Gilbert drank until he was incoherent. Other times, Gilbert mixed drugs and alcohol, then stumbled off into the night, often with some young actress or model eager to make it with a young NFL star.
And Gilbert definitely was a star.
The third choice in the 1991 draft even though he played just 17 college games, Gilbert became the youngest Pro Bowl starter in NFL history in 1993 after a regular season with 54 tackles and 10 1/2 sacks. At 6-foot-5, 330 pounds, Gilbert moved opposing players out of the way as if they were made of cardboard.
``He was a big-time first-rounder,'' Boutte said. ``I was a rookie who also started. We had a little tension, so we liked to go out and do wild things during the week.''
It was a lifestyle with which Gilbert was well-acquainted. At Pittsburgh, where he was named an All-American in 1991, Gilbert rarely went to class. Club-hopping and football was his double-major. Los Angeles only intensified that appetite for the fast lane.
``I was wild,'' Gilbert said. ``I was the same old lush I had been in Pittsburgh. It didn't matter what it was, I would drink it. I did drugs. I was so wicked, so selfish, I would be out swerving all over the road. I could have easily died behind the wheel.''
The night of Oct. 12, 1994, began like so many others. Gilbert sat in a Los Angeles bar owned by former Rams kicker Tony Zendejas and tossed down one shot of booze, one stiff drink, after another. He could barely stand when he left for home.
When he got there, he lit into Nicole Norman, his fiancee and the mother of his two children, so vehemently that she finally broke down and screamed back. She and the children were moving out.
``I didn't want her to leave,'' Gilbert recalled. ``I wanted to be able to sleep at night. I wanted to be at peace.''
Gilbert phoned teammate David Rocker, a devout Christian and spiritual leader of the Rams. He was desperate about Nicole. He kept asking Rocker what he could do to make his life right.
Rocker rushed over to Gilbert's house. He prayed the prayer of salvation over Gilbert, who insists that his troubles suddenly evaporated. His values changed so immediately that when he returned to practice that week, he announced at a team meeting that he had been saved.
``Some (teammates) were happy, some sat back to see how long I'd last,'' Gilbert said. ``A lot of guys have given their life to Christ, but on that first dull day . . .''
But Gilbert was serious. Nicole and the children stayed. She and Gilbert married, one year and a day before Gilbert came to the Washington Redskins via a trade.
``I was blinding people to the truth and blinding myself, trying to make myself into something I really wasn't,'' Gilbert said. ``The reality was that, at the end of my day, if I died, where was I going?''
Boutte had been cut by the Rams a few days before Gilbert's conversion. It's still hard for him to believe the immediate impact his friend displayed.
``I remember him calling me at home,'' Boutte said. ``It was only a few days since I had talked to him, but there was a huge change in his personality that really has helped him through some tough times.''
The 1994 season began badly, with Gilbert struggling with shoulder problems that left him weak. Still, he led the Rams with three sacks, 12 hurries and 47 tackles.
Last season, the Rams moved to St. Louis, hired a new coach in Rich Brooks and started the season 5-1 before fading badly to finish 7-9. Gilbert was moved from tackle to end at the start of the season, reportedly battled with Brooks and was forced to shoulder some of the blame for the team's fade despite a team-leading 5 1/2 sacks.
The Redskins, desperate for defensive line help, sent the Rams their No. 1 pick in the 1996 draft for Gilbert. St. Louis, which hosts Washington on Sunday, used the selection on Nebraska running back Lawrence Phillips.
``Sometimes, when a team trades a player, it's because something just isn't working,'' Redskins general manager Charley Casserly said. ``We looked at the tapes of Sean and we saw a great player. Did he play better in '93? Yeah. But he was still pretty good in '94 and '95. And in '95, he played out of position.
``With the Rams, there wasn't a lot of consistency. He had two coaches (in four years). Then they were going to move. Then they did move. The whole situation never provided consistency.''
Gilbert has been nothing if not consistent for the Redskins. He and end Rich Owens share the team lead in sacks with three. He is third in tackles with 25, just 14 less than all last season. His seven ``hurries'' are half what he had the entire '95 season.
``He was an outstanding player here, but he's probably in on more plays in Washington because we had him at end,'' St. Louis' Brooks admitted Wednesday. ``He has been dominant for three games.''
Boutte says everything about Gilbert's game reminds him of '93. However, that's where all similarity ends.
``He was the missing ingredient for us,'' Boutte said. ``We needed someone like him. He's a better player now than before he was saved. Before, he played the way he lived - go anywhere, do anything. Now, he plays more consistently within the scheme of the defense than he did before. He goes where he's supposed to.'' MEMO: Walsh will quarterback Rams vs. Redskins
Starting at quarterback for the Rams Sunday will be veteran Steve
Walsh, one of the lowest-rated quarterbacks on the league's 30th-ranked
offense.
Walsh got the word Wednesday that he, not rookie Tony Banks, would
guide the St. Louis attack against the Redskins.
Walsh has completed just 15 of 41 passes this season (36.6 percent)
for 167 yards, with no touchdowns and two interceptions.
His quarterback rating is 29.2. Other than the 31.1 of Tampa Bay's
Trent Dilfer, that's by far the lowest ranking in the NFL.
Banks, whose quarterback rating is 48.4, was asked why coach Rich
Brooks made the decision he did.
``Well, in my last five quarters, I've got five fumbles,'' he said.
``That sure didn't help any.''
Short takes
Sunday's game at the Trans World Dome is sold out. It is a Rams'
club-record 10th consecutive home game for which tickets cannot be
purchased. . . . ABC broadcaster and former St. Louis Cardinal great Dan
Dierdorf, inducted into the pro football Hall of Fame last summer, will
receive his Hall of Fame ring at halftime Sunday. . . . The Rams, who
are coming off their bye week, have a 3-4 record after those one-week
respites.
- Jim Ducibella ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by LAWRENCE JACKSON, The Virginian-Pilot
Sean Gilbert
ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Sean Gilbert, right, with Redskins teammate Dexter Nottage during
game against Chicago, has his helmet on straight these days. by CNB