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Starting just a step for Batch
By ROGER MILLS © St. Petersburg Times, published September 26, 1998 "You kind of look at it and say, "Wow, I'm finally here,' " Batch said of his welcoming moments into the NFL. "But that's when reality hits. You get in there, introduce yourself and just play ball." After one training camp and two weeks on the bench, Batch's talent and composure have landed him alongside those same two All-Pros in Detroit's starting lineup. With the team's confidence in Scott Mitchell shattered, Batch, 23, was named starter against Minnesota Sunday. Eight days after his debut in the NFL, Batch will try to lead the Lions against a Bucs defense that is salivating at the idea of lining up opposite a rookie. "Minnesota blitzed quite a bit, and I'm sure that Tampa will come out blitzing," said Batch, who was 20-for-40 for 160 yards in a 29-6 loss to the Vikings. "That's something we have to prepare for this week. "But in the same sense, when you blitz you give up something and that's either (they) single up Herman and Johnny (Morton) on the outside or they want to let Barry run. There are great people on the outside and a great running back behind me." That said, it's easy to understand why the Lions, off to an 0-2 start at the time, decided to make the move. Despite his rookie statusand being on the road against a division rival, they were convinced the time was right. "It wasn't a panic move, I can assure you of that," Lions coach Bobby Ross said. "And it wasn't a move to develop Charlie. The move was designed to help us to win a little bit better." Batch could do no worse than Mitchell, who has been struggling since last year. Mitchell had a costly fumble in the opening 38-19 loss to Green Bay, then had a wretched performance against Cincinnati. His second interception of the game produced a 53-yard return by Corey Sawyer in overtime and led to a 34-28 loss. "There just wasn't a level of consistency at that position that I thought you have to have in the NFL," Ross said. "I think you're still looking for more consistency and it just wasn't happening, and as a matter of fact, it appeared to be getting just a shade worse. In that light, I just felt like it was time to do something." That something was Batch, a second-round pick out of Eastern Michigan. When he got home Tuesday night after the loss to the Bengals, he had a message that Ross wanted to talk to him. The next morning Ross called him into the office and gave him the starter's job. "It came definitely as a surprise," said Batch, a 6-foot-2, 216-pounder who passed for 3,280 yards and 23 touchdowns his senior year. "I was preparing for it and I was ready for it, but it was definitely a shock to me when it came down like this." Still winless, the Lions can't afford to drop their third divisional game. While the Bucs insist the key to defeating Detroit is containing Sanders, they are not overlooking Batch. "I don't care how many starts you have had in the NFL," Bucs defensive end Regan Upshaw said, "if you are good enough to be here, you're good enough to dominate, good enough to take over games if you want to." Batch is the first to point out that the Bucs' ability to thwart Sanders will be the key. "The strength of the (Bucs) defense is the front seven, without question," Batch said. "With Warren Sapp leading the charge, there's a big question mark about whether or not we can run the football against Tampa Bay's defense. We have to run north-south and not east-west. If we run east-west we're playing in Tampa's favor with that speed." Batch is Detroit's starting quarterback for the rest of the season, barring injury. Both Batch and the coaches feel nothing but encouragement from his impromptu christening one week ago. "There were some things he did wrong," Ross said. "But the biggest thing that was very, very positive was No. 1, that he showed excellent poise, really good poise under a lot of adversity. And secondly, he was overall a really strong leader. He did not buckle one time under the pressure. He hung in there real well, and that's basically what I was looking for."
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hen Detroit rookie quarterback Charlie Batch first walked into the Lions den he could not help but notice the lockers of star teammates Barry Sanders and Herman Moore.
