Rogers and Riggins Plan to Make Music Together

For Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers, it’s from Campbell to Riggins.

Is that from soup to nuts?

The Washington Redskins made the trade of the upcoming season when they landed premier running back Rogers, who finds himself teamed with legend-in-his-own-time Riggins, the fifth-leading ball carrier in NFL history.

Irrepressible Riggins, the self-acclaimed all-time NFL saloon rushing liter, is renowned for:

--Wearing Mohawk and Afro haircuts and no hair at all.

--Telling Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, “C’mon, Sandy baby, loosen up,” at a Washington black-tie dinner and then passing out under a table.

--Insisting that the only time he has a drinking problem is “when I’m hanging from the rafters by my knees.”

--Dressing in white tuxedo with tails and top hat and carrying a cane for a casual Super Bowl party and attending formal dinners in the Capitol in Army fatigues.

--And dominating a football game like no other runner now in uniform except, perhaps, Earl Campbell.

“Yes,” laughs Rogers, “I guess you could say this is where I came in.”

In midseason at New Orleans last year, Rogers unexpectedly found himself the victim of a blockbuster deal when he was crowded out of the Saints’ backfield by 30-year-old bull elephant Earl Campbell from the Houston Oilers.

As everyone knows, the game is played with only one football at a time.

“It didn’t work with Earl and me,” Rogers, 26, said. “Neither one of us could play like we can, sharing the ball. One of us had to go and I knew (Coach) Bum (Phillips) wanted to play Earl.”

What will make it any different sharing the field with Riggins?

“Hey, I love it here. A winning percentage, that’s what will make the difference. I’ve got a chance to go to the Super Bowl,” bellowed Rogers, who left perennial loser New Orleans.

The Redskins obtained him partly because Riggins, at 36 the senior NFL runner, asked for some help last season, and also because Riggins was considering retirement.

Riggins played with severe lower back pains that required him to be hospitalized in traction for up to five days between games last season. Still, he gained 1,239 yards, despite missing two games and hardly practicing during the season. It was the second-highest total in his 14-year career.

But when Riggins asked for “some help,” he didn’t forsee the Redskins landing the likes of Rogers, who plays the same position and is the same style heavyweight runner as Riggins in Washington’s one-back attack.

As a rookie in 1981, Rogers led the NFL with 1,617 yards. He is fourth among running backs in yards gained (4,287) the last four years behind Walter Payton, Tony Dorsett and Ottis Anderson.

Sharing the ball with Campbell in 1984, Rogers averaged four yards a carry, gaining 914 yards behind a poor Saints’ offensive line.

“I’m saying for the umpteenth time that George and I will complement each other,” Riggins said. The Redskins play the Patriots in a preseason game Friday night.

“I’m not gonna complain when he plays. If my back starts to bother me, now I don’t have to push it and play. Ours is going to be the strongest position on the team.”

But if Riggins--a steady, 9-to-5, plowhorse competitor -- is healthy, how long will he be happy quietly grazing on the sidelines and watching Rogers run?

And how about Rogers watching Riggins?

“This is not quite the same situation as in New Orleans,” Rogers said. “Riggins is likely to retire after this year or play one more season maybe. I’m gonna love playing here for a long time.

“I haven’t been this excited playing for a team in years. I’m really looking forward to this season. Coming here gives me new motivation, a new life. That’s what football is all about.

“I’m not gonna complain. The main thing is to win. Last year went downhill for me when they acquired Earl. They played me more than him, but I wasn’t playing as much as I wanted.”

Rogers has never had an offensive line in front of him to match “The Hogs.”

“I can’t wait for the season to open, man,” he beamed.

Both running styles are the same in that Riggins and Rogers each believe they get stronger as the game wears on. They need the repetitions.

So who will be the caddie?

Riggins is of the opinion that whichever runner is doing the job should stay in the lineup until “one of us gets tired or when the game needs a change in tempo.”

Rogers claims he needs about 15 carries before “I even get the feel or the flow of things. I’m not a one-play, big-play kind of guy. I need time to get warmed up. I like to be in there when the defense begins to tire.”

He would like the ball 20 to 30 times a game. He admits that will be difficult with Riggins also wanting it 20 to 30 times a game.

Riggins prefers to run between or just outside the tackles, believing that running outside is “a high-energy play that takes a lot of gasoline out of your tank.”

Rogers believes he is “a little more elusive” than Riggins because “I’m a little younger than he is.”

There is an irony in that during Rogers’ college days at South Carolina, his two pro heroes were Campbell and Riggins.

“And then I wind up admiring and competing against them at the same time.”

Rogers has a goal of someday topping 2,000 yards in a single season. “But I’ll have to put that on the back burner until Riggins retires. He deserves to start, he carried this team a long time. But I don’t think they got me to sit on the bench, either.”

However this two-part drama unfolds, Coach Joe Gibbs will not play them in the backfield together.

“They are both suited to running the ball, not blocking or pass receiving,” Gibbs said.