PRO FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : NFC : Shuler-Frerotte: How Long Will It Last?

With Heath Shuler’s season over, Washington Coach Norv Turner gave the first indication Monday that the Redskins’ quarterback dilemma may not extend to a third year.

Shuler was enjoying perhaps his best game in the NFL when he suffered a hairline break of his little finger and sprains to both his ring and index fingers of his right hand in Sunday’s 35-23 victory over the St. Louis Rams. It threw yet another wrinkle into the controversy that has dominated Turner’s two years as coach.

Turner said Gus Frerotte will make his 11th start of the season Sunday in the finale against Carolina, but the coach hedged when asked if both second-year quarterbacks would be back when training camp opens next summer.

“From an emotional standpoint, that’s what I’d like to do,” Turner said. “But I think there’s a lot more things that enter into it and those are the things that we’ll look at hard in January and early February.”

Both Shuler and Frerotte say they want to stay in Washington, and there are financial considerations to be made if the Redskins should want to trade either one.

Shuler has a seven-year, $19.25-million contract that might be tough for a team to swallow for a quarterback that has shown sporadic progress over two years. Frerotte, on the other hand, is winding up the second year of a three-year deal that earns him close to the minimum. He is the perfect bargain in today’s salary cap-driven NFL.

*

Green Bay Coach Mike Holmgren said Reggie White, the NFL’s career sacks leader, might play Sunday against Pittsburgh.

White played part time in the Packers’ victory over New Orleans on Saturday despite a hamstring injury that had been expected to sideline him for the rest of the season.

The Packers (10-5) are a game ahead of the Detroit Lions, who play at Tampa Bay on Saturday. If the Lions and Packers tie, Detroit would get the title because its division record would be 6-2 and Green Bay’s would be 5-3.

If the Lions lose to the Buccaneers, Holmgren said he might hold out White rather than risk further damage to the torn hamstring.

*

The Dallas Cowboys got some good news regarding tailback Emmitt Smith on Monday. He declined an MRI test on his right hamstring, which had bothered him in Sunday’s game against the New York Giants.

Coach Barry Switzer also doused any Oklahoma Sooner hopes that he might return as their next football coach. Howard Schnellenberger abruptly resigned Monday after a 5-5-1 season.

“I have no interest in the job,” Switzer said.

*

The St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission filed a federal lawsuit against the NFL, alleging violations of antitrust laws connected with the Rams’ move to the city.

The commission operates the Trans World Dome, where the Rams play. It alleges the NFL conspired to restrain and monopolize the market for leased football stadiums throughout the country by arbitrarily restricting the movement of NFL teams.

The suit seeks unspecified damages. It comes in the wake of the Raiders’ move back to Oakland, which was approved by league owners without a relocation fee.

The league imposed a $29-million relocation fee and took a $17-million cut of personal seat license money when it approved the Rams’ move from Anaheim.