[Ridiculed as the league's biggest airhead during his early years with the Washington Redskins, Frerotte is now being described--at least in a happy locker room after an impressive performance--as a wise and wizened professor of offensive football. Dolphins tight end Randy McMichael recalled the first day he met Frerotte this spring.] He had, ... that older, mentor thing about him. That presence. |
And when somebody always tells him to do something, he does it without asking why. |
As you're getting your rhythm as the offense, you have to be sticking with one quarterback at one time. It's so hard if they're shuffling quarterbacks within the unit. So I think with Gus as our No. 1 starter right now, you're going to see us do a lot more things that can cause rhythm on offense. |
Before every game, he gives us a powerful poem that somebody wrote, and it relates to the football game that we're about to play, or what we've built toward that whole week. Stuff you wouldn't think about. |
But when he's on the field, I could tell him what I was thinking right before the play. And if he saw something, he could yell it out, too. It just makes a difference all the way around. |
Coach is one of those guys where, as long as you do what you are supposed to do and stay on his good side, you know you are going to be all right. But as soon as you drop off your effort . . . |
Having him down there, seeing things the way we see them, he can come to us directly to let us know what he's thinking. It makes a big difference. |
He came in and did things his way. And his way works. |
He has my mind thinking about all 22 people on the field, everybody, the safeties, the D-line. Before I get in my stance, the first thing I do is look over the field, just observe everything about me. Reading everything. |
He put us on his back and we went for a ride. |
He's right there with us. He felt that loss just like we did. That's just such a good feeling. He's our general, and when you see your general hurting the way he was hurting -- not saying (former coach) Dave (Wannstedt) wasn't like that -- but it just makes you feel like this guy's a part of us. |
He's such a competitor, |
He's the guy we have to rally behind. Right now, Gus is doing a good job. |
I always want to go against the best guys and hate to see a fellow player go down. |
I don't need a guy like T.O. in the locker room. I don't need a virus like that. The guy destroyed two locker rooms [in Philadelphia and San Francisco] already and it's only a matter of time before it happens again. The guy's a great player and I'm sure he's a great person, but I don't want him to mess up everything we built down here. |