Chargers : Flutie in Familiar Position, Trying to Work Way Onto Roster
Darren Flutie brought nothing more than youthful optimism and a pair of sticky hands into Charger training camp last summer. And frankly, he didn’t expect to make the team as a rookie wide receiver.
But things went swimmingly during the exhibition season--he led the team with 12 catches and three touchdown receptions--and his confidence began to swell. Still, when he was called up to the office of Al Saunders, then the team’s coach, he figured he was about to become a very short chapter in Charger history. After all, when the coach wants to talk in private just before the start of the regular season, the news isn’t usually good.
So Flutie waited outside, wondering, before he was finally called in. Saunders asked him several questions and then said: “Well, we’re going to keep you.”
Flutie said: “Yeah? Thanks. I’ll try to do the best I can do. I hope it’s good enough.”
It was. And then again, it wasn’t. He had a reasonably productive rookie season, 18 catches for 208 yards and two touchdowns. But because the team trudged unsteadily through each game, Flutie hesitates to label his first year a success. “Anytime the team goes 6 and 10,” he says, “you can’t be too confident with what you did.”
Flutie, now trying to stay a step ahead of this year’s rookies, still isn’t too confident. There certainly have been trying moments for him throughout training camp. During the first week, Flutie said he wasn’t quite himself, holding back and not pushing as hard as he felt he should have. Given the competition, which includes Anthony Miller (who finished second to the Redskins’ Darrell Green in the “NFL’s Fastest Man Competition”), Quinn Early and rookie Wayne Walker, Flutie knew he had to regain the hunger that helped him earn his spot last year.
Before Sunday’s 20-3 exhibition loss to Dallas, Flutie thought his chances to secure a roster spot were good. But this was a game in which he dropped a pass, fumbled (then recovered) and positioned himself in such a way on a return that a punt hit him in the back and was recovered by the Cowboys. Those types of plays don’t bring forth feelings of optimism.
When he’s busy in practice, he doesn’t dwell on his mistakes. But sometimes when he’s sitting by himself he thinks: “Damn, I could have had a good game and really locked up my position.”
Now, just as he did last year, Flutie is working, waiting and wondering.
“The spot’s open,” he said. “I think it’s pretty much up in the air. I think I have to play real well to make the team.”
In his favor: He has a good head for the game (much like his famous older brother, Doug), runs precise routes and rarely drops passes. Working against him is his shortage of speed.
“Darren Flutie is a steady, smart, savvy football player,” Charger Coach Dan Henning said. “He isn’t quite as fast as some of the others, but he makes up for (it) by being very knowledgeable. When you move him around to a bunch of different spots, he doesn’t make any mental errors. He’s got a certain amount of toughness that I like.”
That toughness will undoubtedly serve him well if he doesn’t make the team, which, for now, isn’t something he’s worrying about.
“I never think it would be the end of the world if I don’t make the team,” he said. “I just want to make sure I tried hard enough while I was here that I don’t have any regrets.”
Charger Notes
Nose tackle Mike Charles, who underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Wednesday, will miss both Saturday’s game with the Chicago Bears and Wednesday’s with the San Francisco 49ers. Coach Dan Henning said Charles is expected to return in “no less than 10 days.” Tight end Andy Parker, who sustained a knee injury in the first quarter of the Dallas game, is expected to miss approximately three weeks. Free safety Vencie Glenn will either miss the Chicago game or play sparingly to rest his bruised calf. . . . Running back Napoleon McCallum, who didn’t carry the ball against Dallas, is expected to get about the same amount of playing time as Marion Butts did against the Cowboys. Butts had 61 yards in 12 carries. . . . Negotiations with holdouts Burt Grossman, Gary Anderson and Joe Phillips remain at a stalemate, according to Steve Ortmayer, the Chargers’ director of football operations. Ortmayer also said there is nothing new in talks with the Cowboys regarding a possible trade for quarterback Steve Pelluer.