He’s Taking Heat in Washington Hot Seat : Redskins: Quarterback Mark Rypien is getting brunt of criticism for his team’s 4-3 start.

Quarterback Mark Rypien of the Washington Redskins noticed the Redskin cheerleader on the sidelines.

Rypien made a pass at Annette, the Redskinette, winking at her. It went for a completion. After dating in secret--cheerleaders weren’t supposed to date players--they married, and their first child was born last year.

“It sounds like the script from a movie ‘Everybody’s All-American,’ ” Rypien said. “The guy in the movie even played for the Redskins.”

But Rypien’s life hasn’t been a Hollywood fantasy since he replaced injured Doug Williams as the Redskins’ starting quarterback. Fans have criticized Rypien because Washington has lost three of seven games.

“Everybody’s under fire back there,” said Jay Schroeder, who quarterbacked the Redskins for three seasons before being traded to the Raiders, who will play the Redskins Sunday at the Coliseum. “They’re not used to losing three football games in the first seven. The people back there get very upset if you lose one football game. It’s the only game in town.”

Rypien was invited to a dinner given by Vice President Dan Quayle after a game against the Philadelphia Eagles last month.

After fumbling twice and throwing two interceptions as the Redskins blew a 27-7 lead and lost, 42-37, Rypien was so distraught that he didn’t go.

He tried to contact the vice president’s office to cancel but was unable to reach anyone.

Told that the Ryder Cup team had attended the dinner, Rypien was upset because he’s an avid golfer.

“I kind of kicked myself in the butt because it would have been nice to meet Payne Stewart and the guys,” Rypien said. “I felt bad about it. I got some negative press out of that. But it has nothing to do with the vice president. As a matter of fact I went to dinner with him last night.”

Dining with the nation’s leaders is one of the perks of playing quarterback for the only professional team in the nation’s capital, where the two most watched men are the President and the Redskin quarterback.

Rypien does a commercial for a bank that offers a certificate of deposit based on the Redskins’ performance. If the Redskins have a winning season, the bank is giving an extra half percent on the CD. If they make the playoffs, investors receive another half percent. If the Redskins advance to the Super Bowl, the CD goes up still another half, and if they win the Super Bowl, investors receive yet another half.

Given a financial stake in the success the Redskins, fans are quick to vent their anger when the team doesn’t meet their lofty expectations.

“I don’t think any quarterback in the league--very few--are dynamic enough to suit the crowd,” Washington Coach Joe Gibbs said. “I think Ryp’s probably in the same boat.”

After being booed during a win over the Phoenix Cardinals, Rypien tried to laugh it off.

“I’ve heard the State Department is looking for me because they think I’m the only guy that can overthrow Noriega,” Rypien said.

“I’d rather be booed at a full stadium than an empty stadium. I used to get booed in college (Washington State) where the stadium had aluminum seats and the boos used to echo through the empty stadium.”

Rypien was booed off the field at WSU after throwing four interceptions in the first half of a 1984 game against USC.

“It got so bad that my folks left and my mom ended up going to church and praying for me,” Rypien said. “It was amazing that Coach (Jim) Walden had enough nerve to put me back in for the second half.”

But Rypien started the second half and threw four touchdown passes to rally the Cougars, who lost 29-27 after failing on a two-point conversion attempt.

“Mark Rypien can be the ugliest quarterback in the country on one series,” Walden said. “But within one series his light bulb will go on and you better brace up because when his arm gets as long as his body, you got no chance.”

Rypien earned All-Pac-10 honors as a junior, throwing for 1,927 yards and 14 touchdowns. He passed for 2,417 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior to break Jack Thompson’s school record.

But NFL scouts were unimpressed with a 6-foot 4-inch, 234-pound option quarterback.

A sixth-round draft pick in 1986, Rypien didn’t play his first two seasons, which he spent on injured reserve, learning Washington’s offense.

Jerry Rhome, then Redskin quarterback coach, adopted Rypien, working with him after practice.

“He’s really blossomed,” said Rhome, now a Dallas assistant. “My only regret is that I’m not there to see him.”

Rypien became the Redskins’ backup quarterback last season, beating out Schroeder, and after Williams had an emergency appendectomy, Rypien started his first game and threw for 303 yards and three touchdowns in a loss to Phoenix. He passed for 282 yards and two touchdowns in his next game, also a loss.

Then Rypien threw seven touchdown passes as the Redskins won their next two games and suddenly was a celebrity.

Expected to battle Williams this season, Rypien won the starting job by default when Williams underwent back surgery last August.

Will the Redskins stick with Rypien if Williams returns?

“If and if. I’m not iffing it,” Gibbs said. “I’m going with what we’ve got, figuring that’s the way it’s going to be. If Doug can come back that’d be great.”

Expected to be a Super Bowl contender with the addition of running back Gerald Riggs, the Redskins have developed into the No. 1-ranked offense in the NFC. But they have been inconsistent, piling up a lot of yards and few points.

Rypien has passed for 1,828 yards with 13 touchdowns and only six interceptions and has a 91.0 quarterback ranking, fourth in the NFC behind Joe Montana of the San Francisco 49ers, Bobby Hebert of the New Orleans Saints and Jim Everett of the Rams.

Rypien has been sacked only seven times this season, but on each occasion, he has fumbled. Gibbs said that Rypien is not to blame for the fumbles because they have resulted from blind-side hits.

And Rypien himself?

“Ah, the old fumble question,” he said with a laugh. “It’s kind of funny, but it isn’t funny. What can you do? What kind of a drill can you have? “

Mark Rypien’s biggest regret is that his father, Bob, didn’t live to see him become the Redskins’ starting quarterback.

Bob Rypien died of a heart attack a year ago last summer while fishing in British Columbia. Bob Rypien had dreamed of his three sons--Mark, Tim and Dave--becoming pro athletes. He moved his family from Calgary, Canada, to Spokane, Wash., because he wanted his sons to have better coaching.

Mark Rypien excelled at football, basketball and baseball at Shadle Park High in Spokane. In 1981, he was was voted the Washington high school athlete of the year.

“Mark was a good all-around athlete, but football was his best sport,” said Bob Haney, Shadle Park’s football coach.

Rypien’s younger brothers, Tim, 26, and Dave, 22, are also good baseball players. Dave played for the 1988 Canadian Olympic baseball team and Tim spent four years in the Toronto Blue Jays’ minor league organization.