0109110379
DETROIT FREE PRESS
010911
Tuesday, September 11, 2001
METRO FINAL
1A
Photo DAVID P. GILKEY/Detroit Free Press
In Green Bay, starter Charlie Batch, left, played quarterback and
backup Ty Detmer, right, wore the rain poncho. Coach Marty Mornhinweg, center,
has decided to reverse their roles. Because Sunday's game is at the
Silverdome, Batch at least won't need a poncho.
MITCH ALBOM
SIDEBAR ATTACHED
Copyright (c) 2001, Detroit Free Press
SORRY, CHARLIE
GET-TOUGH LIONS BENCH QB BATCH FOR A NEWCOMER
Ihad long planned a vacation for early September, which meant missing the
Lions' season opener Sunday. "No big deal," I figured upon boarding the plane,
"how much can happen in an opener? ..."
Here's how much. Charlie Batch, the quarterback, has an awful game. Marty
Mornhinweg, the coach, blows a gasket.
Marty looks at film. Marty benches Charlie.
Marty hands the starting job to Ty Detmer -- He's on the Lions? Why doesn't
anyone tell me anything? -- because Detmer knows the West Coast offense, even
if he doesn't know his teammates' first names.
Ty is living in a hotel.
He has been a Lion for just over a week.
And he hasn't played since 1999.
So the lesson is clear.
I take no more vacations.
"The standard for quarterback play will be high here," Mornhinweg declared in
announcing the switch. "I was unsatisfied with the level Charlie played at. I
expected him to play at a much higher level against Green Bay."
Wow. As we used to say about my sixth-grade math teacher, "He's strict!"
Let's hope so. Let's hope this is a move about standards, and not a standard
move. For if the level for play is so high, how come the Lions are trusting it
to a guy who, thanks to a ripped Achilles, hasn't played in an NFL game since
last millennium? No knock on Ty Detmer, a terrifically nice guy. But you
generally prefer a starting quarterback who doesn't have his airplane ticket
still in his front pocket.
And what about Batch, the incumbent starter with the big contract? He's done?
Like that? Really, this is an incredible move. I can't recall a new head coach
benching his starting quarterback after one game since -- well, since Ty
Detmer was benched after one game as the starter for the Cleveland Browns in
1999.
That was different. The Browns had a No. 1 draft pick, Tim Couch, waiting in
the wings, and a stadium full of fans hungry for youth.
The Lions, in turning to Detmer, are different. They are saying a guy who just
got here, a guy who doesn't even have an apartment to live in, is still better
than Batch.
No wonder Charlie disappeared without comment.
Something to talk about
"I'd be upset, too," Detmer said Monday when asked about Batch. "It happened
to me in Cleveland and Philadelphia. It's frustrating and disappointing.
"I was just as surprised as anyone. Coach called the quarterbacks in after a
walk-through and said, 'Here's the deal. You're the starter.' "
Here's the deal. You're the starter. And just like that, Mornhinweg has given
Detroit sports fans more to talk about in a day than the Tigers did all
summer.
He also has put his neck on a chopping block just 60 minutes of football into
his head coaching career.
You don't change quarterbacks without knowing what you're doing. It is like
changing pilots in a bomber. Like changing horses in a chariot race. Very
precarious business. Detmer, an unflappable fellow ever since his
Heisman-winning days at Brigham Young, has started only 21 games in his nine
NFL seasons with Green Bay, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Cleveland. He
admits that while he knows the West Coast offense -- he played in it during
his time with Green Bay, when Mornhinweg was an assistant -- he hasn't played
in it full-time since 1998 with San Francisco.
"It's like a foreign language," he said. "When you grow up in it, you don't
forget it just because you leave the country for a few years."
Then again, your vocabulary gets rusty. Detmer needs to start with some new
words: Morton, Crowell, Sloan, Moore ...
Let's face it. Leading men into battle is always easier if you know who is
who.
"Leadership is the thing I'm most concerned with," Detmer said. "Usually you
want to know your receivers' tendencies and how the guys react to you in the
huddle.
"But we'll do what we have to do. We're all professionals here."
Right. And the lesson professionals quickly learn is, it doesn't matter who
you are or how long you're here, your job is on the line every minute of your
career.
Not the guy they wanted
Which leads us to Batch. Now, admittedly, he had a lousy game Sunday. He got
sacked seven times -- and the West Coast offense is supposed to avoid sacks.
He overthrew receivers at crucial moments. He held the ball too long. He
missed reads. And his interception in the end zone was a killer.
But under other circumstances, that would just be a bad game, not a career
killer. Here are a couple of questions: If Batch really isn't the guy for this
West Coast offense, why did Mornhinweg and Matt Millen stick with him all
through the exhibition season? And what are they going to do with him now?
It's one thing to bench a quarterback late in the year, when a team is
desperate for a spark. But when you're benched after the first game, the
message is clear: You were never the guy we wanted.
Which is what Millen has been saying -- by not saying -- ever since he took
over. In his opening press conference he refused to give Batch a ringing
endorsement. He pretty much said, "If he's who we got, he's who we got."
As recently as last month, he told me in an interview, "He's not a stiff,
that's the good news."
When not being a stiff is the good news, you're on shaky ground.
So Millen and Mornhinweg have been anticipating a Batch failure ever since
they took over the team. They didn't believe in him. He was sort of like the
dining room table that came with the house. You keep it for the time being,
but you're always dreaming of replacing it.
They got their wish. And no doubt some people, who are unhappy with Batch,
can't wait to see Detmer in there. But history is nothing if not repetitive
with the Lions. And so you might recall how happy you were to see Charlie
Batch take over when a certain Scott Mitchell was benched.
Make no mistake. This is a huge risk. A new coach needs to be in control.
Needs to make the ship run smoothly. Instead, on Saturday, the Lions suddenly
and surprisingly cut defensive tackle James Jones, on Sunday they played
terribly, and on Monday they benched their starting quarterback.
The S.S. Minnow had a smoother ride.
"On paper it's all great," Detmer said. "But things are different under the
lights."
Those lights just got hotter at the Silverdome.
And I am never going away again.
Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or albom@freepress.com. Catch "Albom in
the Afternoon" 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760) and simulcast on MSNBC 3-5
p.m.
BUSINESS AS USUAL
More recent dramatic moves by the Lions:
* Coach Wayne Fontes was fired after the Lions went 5-11 in 1996, and replaced
by Bobby Ross.
* After an 0-2 start in 1998, Ross benched Scott Mitchell and replaced him
with rookie quarterback Charlie Batch.
* Star running back Barry Sanders retired on the eve of training camp in 1999.
* Ross resigned after a 5-4 start last season. He was replaced with assistant
Gary Moeller, the former Michigan coach.
* After a season-ending loss to Chicago cost them a playoff spot, the Lions
named Fox broadcaster Matt Millen team president. He replaced Moeller with San
Francisco assistant Marty Mornhinweg.
* After Sunday's 28-6 loss at Green Bay, Mornhinweg benched Batch and named Ty
Detmer starter. Detmer was acquired from Cleveland last week.
THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM THE PRINTED ARTICLE.
FOOTBALL;LIONS;SPT