After two games.....

[Art]

Gus Frerotte as a rookie was, 30-for-62 for 415 yards with five TDs and two interceptions after his first two starts. He became the first rookie to throw five touchdown passes in his first two starts since Marino. Interestingly, Frerotte completed just 16 of 38 the rest of the season with no TDs and three interceptions.

Ramsey is going to have a few brutal games coming up. But, since this is the best rookie we've seen start since Frerotte, we might as well continue to compare .

[Art]

Fun article. The early Gus bus.

http://cgi.nando.net/newsroom/football/1994/nfl/feat/was/1026.html

Frerotte faces toughest blitz of his career -- the media

© Copyright the News & Observer Publishing Co. and The Associated Press, 1994

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) -- Gus Frerotte has never seen a blitz like it.

Not from linebackers or safeties. From the media.

"Yeah, I'm dazed by it," says the seventh-round draft choice who led the Washington Redskins to a win in his first start.

"The blitz has been so hard, it's amazing. You know I've never had to go through it this much before, with all the media and the people around, just pulling you in every direction. It will take a while to get used to that."

Frerotte was an obscure third-stringer until last week, when coach Norv Turner's made him the surprise starter ahead of veteran John Friesz to replace the injured Heath Shuler.

But the upstart made good, leading Washington to a 41-27 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. He was 17-for-32, for 226 yards and two touchdowns and Turner immediately said he would start again against the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday.

The instant celebrity came quickly -- Frerotte was interviewed at halftime of the Philadelphia-Houston game on ABC's Monday Night Football and Wednesday was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week.

Frerotte is a laid-back fellow -- rookie tackle Tre Johnson calls him Cool Hand Luke. He also knows how to pass around credit -- he thanks the offensive line and running backs every chance he gets.

For a 23-year-old who never expected to find himself in his current situation -- at least not at this early stage -- he handles it with quiet aplomb, albeit with a bit of a deer-in-the-headlights look about him.

"It's really steamrolled. It's been very overwhelming," he says. "It's been difficult, but I've been able to handle it and keep it in perspective. You just be laid back, let it come to you. You don't get real excited about it. Inside you're excited, but you don't really show it.

"A lot of guys have been teasing me about all this fame right away. But they say, stick with it, we believe in you, and that's great coming from the older guys. If they can trust in me, there's a lot going for me."

Frerotte played a great game, but he knows the Eagles' defense, ranked third overall in the league, is tougher than the one he faced in Indianapolis. Philadelphia leads the league in sacks, with 22, eight by defensive end William Fuller.

"I think they're going to bring it a lot better than the Colts, or a lot more. We're going to have some checks in, and hopefuly we can combat their blitzes with their zone and pick the right play at the right time," Frerotte said.

He said that although this game will his first at home at RFK Stadium he didn't expect to feel any more pressure or nervousness than he did at Indianapolis.

"I hope to just go out and do the same thing," he said. "I expect myself to go out and play well, just hang out and let these guys block for me again and make the reads."

Turner said he felt Frerotte had kept his head amid the media crush, but that he seemed distracted in practice on Wednesday, the first practice day of the week.

"I think he's handled it extremely well, and that doesn't mean it's not an effect, I think it showed up today, trying to zero in for practice and get focused again. The realization hits in, that, 'My gosh, I've got to get ready for another game.' The Eagles present different problems than Indianapolis did, so there's different things to worry about, different things to zero in on."

Turner has indicated that he won't make a change as long as Frerotte keeps helping the team win. But Frerotte says he's he's prepared for Shuler to return, and he knows better than to think that his one successful game has put Shuler, the No. 3 overall pick in the draft, permanently in the shade.

"I don't see that that way. He's still hurt right now. He's getting better, and I'm sure when he comes back and becomes healthy he's going to have a good shot to go back in. But as long as I'm in here I'm going to do the best I can."

[Skeletor The Invincible]

It's amazing how rosey things look when we're winning.

It is gonna get back for Ramsey sometime. Probably next week. I just hope his future is alittle more promising than Gus'.

[bulldog]

Ramsey has a stronger arm than Frerotte and appears to have some key intangibles such as the ability to anticipate the rush that even veterans like Matthews and Wuerffel lack.

No doubt Ramsey is going to make mistakes and every game is not going to go as well as yesterday's outing.

BUT, Ramsey brings an NFL toolkit to the most important position on the football field. Go ask Ron Wolf if having Brett Favre didn't make him look like a genius at times when his top draft choice or free agent acquisition failed to make the grade. Go ask Mike Shanahan what a luxury it was to have Elway already on board when he was retooling the Broncos into champs in the late 1990's

There are many ways to build a football team. But starting with the quarterback and the defensive line is a good way to go

Everything on offense flows through the qb and on defense everything flows through the DL.

I didn't think the Skins were going to win in Tennessee, but that was based on the expectationa of seeing Wuerffel for four quarters of play.

There is no doubt in my mind problems along the OL and the lack of veteran depth at WR are things that are still going to hurt this team in certain games against top opponents, but at least now we have an arm to complement what Davis can do on the ground.

And the first rule of offense in the NFL is not to become one-dimensional.

Ramsey