Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
The Lions QB is winless this season, but he may have found a rhythm since being benched for two weeks.
By DARRELL FRY
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 9, 2001
If you're waiting for Detroit quarterback Charlie Batch to pitch a fit, forget about it.
He isn't griping -- at least not publicly -- about being benched earlier this season. He isn't complaining about coach Marty Mornhinweg's insistence he share playing time with rookie Mike McMahon. And he isn't whining about the team's 0-7 start, even though he's catching much of the blame for it.
In a season that's nervously close to being unsalvageable, Batch simply is trying to keep his sanity amid the chaos that's all around him. He is playing behind an offensive line that didn't return the two players (guard Jeff Hartings and center Mike Compton) who started every game last season. Two of his best receivers (Herman Moore and Germane Crowell) have season-ending injuries. And he hardly has a running game as starter James Stewart missed the past two games with a sprained ankle, putting pressure on Batch to carry the offense.
Even though Batch has every reason to complain, you won't get a peep out of him.
"It's just one those deals where I can only control what I can control," said Batch, reduced to a backup role in Weeks 2 and 3 behind Ty Detmer. "That was something that they wanted to do, but at the same time I had to come in and go to work and still prove what I was capable of doing.
"For me, I never doubted my abilities, and that was one thing that kept me from getting down. By doing that, it was one of those things where you just have to wait and see, and wait my turn again, and that's what I did."
When his turn came again, Batch dazzled. In relief of Detmer, who threw seven interceptions in his first start and was pulled in the third quarter of his second, Batch was 11-for-16 for 113 yards in a 35-0 loss to the Rams that was over long before Batch went into the game.
In his next start he was 31-for-41 for 345 yards and three touchdowns at Minnesota. Against Tennessee the next week he was 25-for-42 for 338 yards and three touchdowns, then he went 20-for-35 for 239 yards and two touchdowns against Cincinnati.
He struggled Sunday in a 21-13 loss at San Francisco (8-for-20 for 74 yards), but he is 95-for-154 for 1,109 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions since coming off the bench. Not coincidentally, the Lions have come the closest to winning in those four starts, losing by an average five points.
"I always felt that I could do this," Batch said. "When I actually got sat down, it was kind of a blessing in disguise because it allowed me to heal, to rest a little more. That's something I took advantage of."
Now come the Bucs, whom the Lions have beaten 10 of the past 13 games and four of the past five with Batch as the starter.
"Batch is a playmaker. If something is not working, he can get out of the pocket and run for extra yards," Bucs safety Dexter Jackson said. "And those guys give us fits."
Much of Batch's success Sunday depends on how well he can run the team's new West Coast offense. It's a complex system Batch readily admits he has struggled to learn, which has contributed to him being sacked 24 times. "There's a lot of things that are said before the play, and it's just tough," Batch said. "I mean, one word can actually change the whole pattern and the protective scheme. That was the biggest thing because you're getting (to the line of scrimmage) and (there are) 10 or 15 words for one play, and that was totally different for me."
Despite his difficulties with the offensive system and his lackluster play against the 49ers, Batch is scheduled to start against Tampa Bay, although the possibility of splitting time with McMahon remains. Mornhinweg rotated McMahon into the game Sunday, and he was 2-for-4 for 16 yards and ran for a first down.
Still, Mornhinweg likes what he has seen of Batch since he benched him.
"He's not taking as many sacks. He's seeing things just a little bit better. His decisionmaking is a little bit better," said Mornhinweg, adding his relationship with Batch hasn't suffered. "He was able to take a deep breath and look at the offense from a little bit different angle, a little bit different view, and I think that really helped.
"I've seen that happen before. We did the same thing with Jeff Garcia when he was struggling in San Francisco. We sat him back for a month (three games and a bye week) and he came out like gangbusters the last five games of that year and ended up being in the Pro Bowl the next, so those type of things do work.
"It is in the best interest of the player many times. They just don't know it yet. Some things you just can't explain."