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Byner Still Front-Runner in Crowded Redskin Field

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WASHINGTON POST

Ricky Ervins has thanked Earnest Byner in almost every interview this summer. He has mentioned how Byner helped him last season, how Byner would point out things in meetings or on the field, how Byner encouraged him along the way and how Byner never showed an ounce of jealousy when Ervins began to get more attention, and in some cases, more carries.

“Earnest is the man and will always be the man here,” Ervins has said repeatedly. “I still have things to learn. I’m still confused on things. Earnest has the whole package.”

Still, down the stretch last season, the Washington Redskins virtually had co-starters in their one-back offense, and as the 1992 preseason begins with Saturday night’s opener against the Miami Dolphins in Orlando, the Redskins are excited about seeing Ervins again.

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Last season, after Coach Joe Gibbs turned to Ervins in Game 7 and watched him dash off 133 yards on 13 carries, it was hard to tell who the starter was. Byner got into games first, but Ervins, who gained 680 yards on 145 carries in the regular season, often was in by the third series. He got the ball more in five of the final 10 regular-season games and gained more yards than Byner in seven of them.

He gave the Redskins the young legs and breakaway threat they hadn’t had in years. His 4.7-yards-per carry average was the best among the NFC’s top 10 rushers and almost a yard better than Byner’s 3.8. He had the Redskins’ three longest runs (65, 37 and 34 yards), their second- and third-longest kickoff returns (46 and 33 yards) and their best rushing game (133 yards).

With a combination of inside running toughness and enough speed to get around the corner, the Redskins see him as a budding star. And he was a bargain, coming in the third round of the 1991 draft.

His emergence into a star-caliber runner has come so quickly that it may also create problems. Gibbs didn’t start giving Ervins the ball regularly until Gerald Riggs had a chance, and as this season begins, he knows that dividing up the carries among his running backs will be among his most delicate problems.

“It’s just something you work through,” he said. “Will they all be happy? No. In fact, I can assure they’re all going to be unhappy. But what’s new? You get that at receiver, everywhere.”

It’ll begin this way: Byner returns as the starter, and Ervins will be second on the depth chart. Finding enough carries for them may not be that difficult since the Redskins led the NFL in rushing attempts, and it’s virtually impossible for one back to carry the load without breaking down.

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After that, the competition is tougher. Riggs, who handled short-yardage duty last spring, faces a fight just to make the team. John Settle, a 1991 Plan B signee who was on injured reserve all season, likely will be the No. 3 back. Brian Mitchell may be fourth, but the Redskins would prefer to leave him as their No. 1 punt retuner. Another possibility is William and Mary free agent Robert Green, who has looked very good in two weeks of training camp.

Gibbs doesn’t appear to be tempted to move Ervins in front of Byner. He said Byner remains his best pass blocker and his best receiver out of the backfield. He said Byner’s work habits and professionalism have made him a favorite in the locker room. He said he has seen nothing to indicate Byner has lost anything, although he turns 30 next month -- extreme middle age for an NFL running back -- and has carried the ball 1,377 times in eight seasons.

Byner has been to back-to-back Pro Bowls and has back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons. His 1991 season was divided into two distinct parts. In his first nine games, he rushed for 747 yards, averaged 4.1 yards per carry and had two 100-yard performances. But in Game 10 against Atlanta, he twisted a knee, and while never missing a start, was not the same afterward.

“He’s a tough, hard-nosed and physical back,” Gibbs said. “The durability is the thing that amazes you. To carry it 20-25 times in a game in this league, with 11 guys trying to kill you, it’s hard to survive that. It’s unbelieveable the punishment these guys can take. He has been better than we thought. I didn’t think we were getting somebody that could consistently rush for a thousand yards, lead us and all that.

Byner said that when he went back recently and looked at films of last season, he only looked at games before the injury “because I wasn’t the same after that,” he said.

If it seemed that Ervins provided relief from the weekly pounding that comes with a run-oriented offense, Byner agrees, to a point. “Being the type of running back I am, I like to be in there and be part of it,” he said. “(But) the way I look at it, it’s not a competitive situation. It’s still team first, individual last.”

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Of Ervins, Gibbs said, “Coaches aren’t very smart, but you keep seeing him make plays and it finally sinks in that he should be out there.”

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