He came.
He saw.
He conquered.
But you could ask Julius Caesar, it's not that easy.
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COMING HOME : It's Been Quite a Trip for Jay Schroeder
He fizzled.
In our nation's capital, Jay Schroeder went up like a skyrocket and came down the same way.
Within five years of that spring when Homer Smith, then UCLA's offensive coordinator, wrote letters to all those general managers, recommending that they look at this unemployed bust-out from the Toronto Blue Jays farm system, Schroeder experienced a lot. He became a Redskin draft choice in 1984, a starter in 1985, a 4,000-yard passer and Pro Bowl player in 1986, a problem in 1987 and a Raider in 1988.
He walked off a plane at Los Angeles International Airport Monday, the designated answer to Raider fans' prayers. One of the local TV yokels asked him, breathlessly, if he was ready for the burden of quarterbacking a team in Los Angeles.
Huh? This will be a walk in the park compared to Washington, a company town where the store shuts down Sundays for an escape-from-reality break, as government secretaries discuss bomb squad personnel in Georgetown bistros and network commentators vie for seats in Jack Kent Cooke's box.
How fast did Schroeder take off?
How fast is there?
In 1984, he didn't play a down. In '85, he was still glued to the bench as the Redskins plugged on behind a familiar, if fading, figure.
"The Redskins were going nowhere," said Pro Football Weekly personnel maven Joel Buchsbaum. "They were a .500 team. Everybody was writing them off, but there was no way they were going to bench Joe Theismann."
Fate stepped in, wearing Lawrence Taylor's number. He broke Theismann's leg in gruesome fashion on a play shown over and over on "Monday Night Football."
While everyone was still shuddering, Schroeder, the unknown, relieved--and won.
"He had never thrown a single pass," the Washington Post's Tony Kornheiser said. "The first thing he does, he goes 45 yards to Art Monk.
"In every single bar and restaurant in Washington, people turned to each other and said the same thing:
" 'Joe Who?' "
A star was gone and a star was born.
Behind Schroeder, the Redskins finished 5-1. In his first full season, they went 12-4, knocked the Rams out of the playoffs and stunned the defending-champion Bears in Chicago before falling to the champion-to-be Giants. Schroeder broke Sonny Jurgensen's Redskin record, passing for 4,109 yards, and made the Pro Bowl.
People marvelled at his size, his strength, his athleticism, his mental toughness (in 31 pro starts, he rallied the Redskins to victory in the fourth quarter nine times), his inexplicable poise (between his graduation from Palisades High in 1979 and Theismann's injury in 1985, Schroeder had started one football game).
Kornheiser said: "He was the toast of the town. He did the things great stars do in Washington--they get exclusive contracts with radio stations and TV stations. He opened up his own restaurant."
How fast did he fall?
How fast is there?
In the '87 opener against the Philadelphia Eagles, he suffered a sprained right shoulder and left the lineup. Maybe it was the aftereffects of the injury, or his insistence on trying to hit his patented big plays, but he would be in and out all season.
Says Buchsbaum: "Everything was terrific until teams started to throw those combination-type zones at him. They took away the deep pass and he wouldn't go underneath."
In Game 2, Doug Williams, who had not started a National Football League game since 1982, who had been offered around before the season, started and played well enough--18 for 30, 3 touchdown passes, 2 interceptions--but the Redskins lost, 21-20, to the \o7 Atlanta Falcons.\f7
The strike intervened. The replacement Redskins went 3-0 and moved atop the NFC East.
The vets returned. Schroeder reassumed the No. 1 job
In Games 6-7, he struggled--46%, 4 touchdowns, 1 interception--but Washington beat the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills.
In Game 8, he went 16 for 46 with 2 interceptions as the Eagles upset the Redskins, 31-27.
In Game 9, Joe Gibbs, who had never hooked a starting quarterback in his eight years as a coach, took Schroeder out in the second period of a game with the Detroit Lions at home. At the time, the score was 3-3.
You might ask why the quick move? D.C. writers did. Schroeder wasn't having a bad day. He had completed 5 of his 10 passes and hadn't turned the ball over. But Williams led the Redskins to a 20-13 victory.
Williams started Game 10 against the Rams in Washington, played well enough--26 for 46, 308 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception--but the Redskins lost again, 30-26.
Then, with Williams out with a bad back, Schroeder started Game 11 against the Giants. The Giants led, 19-0, but Schroeder rallied the Redskins to a 23-19 victory, completing 28 of 46 passes for 331 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Then things really got intense.
Who'd start Game 12?
Williams noted that Gibbs' policy had always been that a starter couldn't lose his job because of injury.
Gibbs said he'd never said that.
Writers said he had, too, numerous times.
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