A LOOK AT TWO OF SUNDAY’S RAIDER, RAM OPPONENTS : LIONIZED HE’S NOT : Eric Hipple Has Taken Some Hard Shots on and Off Field as Detroit Quarterback

Few quarterbacks have made professional debuts with the flair of Eric Hipple, who grabbed the attention of National Football League fans across the country one Monday night in 1981 when he passed for four touchdowns and ran for two more.

Fewer still have fallen from grace more often, and certainly none so quickly as did this young Lion three years later. He arrived at training camp after leading Detroit to its first division championship in 26 years, only to discover that he’d been dropped to No. 3 on the depth chart.

Talk about a checkered career! This guy’s media-guide biography could be used to signal the winner at the Indy 500. He has been heralded as a savior one minute and ridiculed the next. He has been booed more often than pro wrestling’s bad guys.

The Silverdome fans have been so unappreciative of Hipple’s efforts this year that Coach Darryl Rogers no longer allows his offense to be introduced at home games. The Lions are 3-3 but only 1-2 at home.

“At one of those TV meetings, (former Ram quarterback) Pat Haden asked me how I handle the boos,” Hipple said, smiling. “I asked him how he handled it. He said he couldn’t take it anymore after seven years so he quit. I said: ‘This is my seventh season. Ask me again next year.’ ”

When Detroit fans aren’t trying to douse him with beer or a local columnist isn’t questioning his physical and mental abilities, a former coach is only too happy to jump in and fill the void.

“Eric Hipple has less leadership than Curly of the Three Stooges,” Monte Clark said last year.

Let’s face it, a guy with a name like Eric Ellsworth Hipple is an easy target. He ought to be teaching English literature at Oxford, not calling signals in the NFL.

It’s not only the name that doesn’t fit. Hipple is not the typical NFL quarterback. But what he lacks in grace, he makes up in gusto.

Life should be lived like a cavalry charge.

--Motto sent to Hipple by a fan

It’s obvious that somebody forgot to tell Hipple that a quarterback is supposed to tiptoe around until he can throw a pretty 60-yard spiral and end up a hero without losing any teeth.

But then what does Eric Hipple know about quarterbacking?

“Eric will take a shot and never say a word in the huddle,” guard Chris Dieterich said. “He takes his licks and just keeps working. He’s one gutsy son of a gun.”

Hipple’s a middle linebacker with a quarterback’s number. It’s not that he punishes people, he just never avoids contact.

“If there’s any difference between me and most other quarterbacks, I guess it’s that I like the contact part of football,” Hipple said. “If I had the tools, I would’ve liked to play defense. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like having guys take shots at me, but I like to run with the ball and stay in bounds.

“Of course, maybe most other quarterbacks are just smarter than I am.”

Last year, Hipple missed parts of games with head injuries, twice; a back injury, a breastbone injury, a rib injury and a knee injury. But he never was out of the lineup for more than a half.

Tampa Bay linebacker Scot Brantley put a spectacular hit on Hipple last year. The tape of the collision was replayed more often than “The Wizard of Oz.” Hipple’s helmet almost ended up in the stands, allowing the camera to zoom in on the agony showing on Hipple’s face as he lay twitching near the sideline.

Somehow, Hipple regained his senses and ended up completing 22 of 38 passes for 225 yards as the Lions lost in overtime, 19-16.

“He’s tough . . . real tough,” Rogers said. “We keep saying it and he keeps proving it.”

A month later, Hipple was sidelined with a strained knee for the final game of the season against the rampaging Bears.

He ended up spending most of the day between the lines.

“The doctors told me to sit it out,” Hipple said. “I didn’t practice that week at all. Before the game, the trainer, Kent Falb, walked over and said: ‘Don’t get too relaxed. You know football. You might be in there quicker than 1-2-3.’ ”

You guessed it. On the third play of the game, backup quarterback Joe Ferguson was knocked unconscious.

“I hadn’t studied the game plan, and Joe and I were the only ones who signaled in plays,” Hipple said. “(Offensive coordinator) Bobby Baker was giving makeshift signals that I couldn’t figure out, so I was flying by the seat of my pants.”

It’s not hard to understand his seemingly self-destructive desire to remain on the job, however. For Eric Hipple, job security means showing up at the stadium and finding your name still above your locker.

Eric’s obviously under less pressure than he was under the other regime when he felt like if he threw one interception, his job might be snatched away. --LEONARD THOMPSON, Lion wide receiver

It hasn’t exactly been all downhill for Hipple since that Monday night game on Oct. 19, 1981. But that performance--he threw for 336 yards--remains his best and very well may have set him up for great--not to mention unrealistic--expectations.

“It was a very special night,” Hipple said. “I remember an overwhelming feeling of relief. Even though you have confidence in yourself and you know you had a good college career (he was the NCAA’s sixth-ranked passer his senior year at Utah State), you never really know until you get out there.

“After that game, there was a false sense of security, too, like, ‘Hey, that wasn’t so difficult.’ But that’s exactly what it was, a false sense of security. I was naive. But I’m glad it happened.”

There wasn’t a whole lot to be happy about for the next couple of years, but in 1983, the Lions’ 9-7 record was good enough to win the NFC’s Central Division title. Hipple started every regular-season game but missed the 24-23 playoff loss to San Francisco because of a leg injury. His replacement, Gary Danielson, threw five interceptions.

That didn’t keep Monte Clark from naming Danielson the No. 1 quarterback at the start of the next summer’s training camp, though.

“The way the whole quarterback situation was handled in the past was a misfortune,” Hipple said. “It hurt Gary’s performance and it hurt mine. We were the greatest of friends at one time, but neither of us knew what was going on and things were bound to decay between us.”

Hipple’s already shaky relationship with Clark began to deteriorate, too. In frustration, Hipple asked to be traded. Clark told him that nobody in the league wanted him.

The turmoil came to an abrupt halt last year when Rogers was named coach. He traded Danielson to Cleveland and told Hipple the quarterback job was his to lose.

“Eric is a good leader and he understands the game,” Rogers said. “That’s what you’re looking for, a guy who will get you downfield. We’ve found that his real strength is moving a team. He may not be the one who got you in the end zone, but he will be the one who led you there.”

Sunday at Anaheim Stadium, Hipple will be celebrating the five-year anniversary of his NFL debut. It will also be homecoming. He was born and raised in Downey, attended Warren High School there and lives in Dana Point in the off-season.

The Rams, of course, would like to spoil the celebration. But no matter the outcome of this game, Hipple seems to finally have found his comfort zone.

“I’m at the point where I feel really comfortable,” he said. “It seems like all the loose ends are tied up now. Sure, my career has been an unstable one, but that’s because the staff was unstable. This is my seventh year, and we’ve gone through four offensive coordinators.

“It’s a lot easier to handle things now than it was when you never knew what was going to happen from minute to minute. But surviving through all that made me mentally tougher. The whole rotten situation made me realize that there will always be another day tomorrow.”