Eason and Grogan Are Nothing to Spit at Now

NEW ORLEANS —  If they were logs on a fire, Tony Eason would be the one with burn marks on the outer edges, and Steve Grogan would resemble a charcoal briquette. Such are the demands and heat of playing quarterback for the New England Patriots--the team that logic forgot, until now.

Now there is happiness and good will, a regular Elks Club meeting. What do you know, the Sullivans are one big, happy family. Patriot fans aren’t covering their eyes anymore. The Celtics who?

In one strange, exhilarating season, more than 20 years of bad memories have been thrown in a hat box and lost in a dark closet.

But Eason and Grogan know better. Eason has spent three years with the Patriots. Grogan has worn a New England uniform for 11 seasons.

So far, Eason, a first-round draft choice from Illinois in 1983, has been accused of being gutless and overrated, a Champaign Tony without the fizz. One Patriot fan was nice enough to spit at him after a loss to the Raiders earlier this season. Another gentleman felt so strongly about one of Eason’s performances that he sent his comments to the Patriot offices by Federal Express.

And Grogan?

He had the misfortune of following Jim Plunkett, who had the misfortune of being the cornerstone on which the modern-day Patriots were built. Grogan did his best, which most times was good enough to keep the Patriots competitive, even dangerous on occasion.

In the process, Grogan suffered enough neck, leg and knee injuries to keep medical science happy and busy. Scar tissue has also formed around his ego, which took a beating during those years when quarterbacking the Patriots was considered only slightly better than voting Socialist or robbing banks.

Strange how this worked out, but Eason and Grogan now have the chance to spit back. They don’t, of course.

Eason acts as if nothing has happened, as if he never heard the taunts or felt someone else’s saliva on his uniform.

Grogan has built fewer mental walls, which may explain why he cherishes every moment of this visit to Super Bowl XX. Grogan wouldn’t care if the Patriots were playing the Four Horsemen, the Seven Blocks of Granite, Bronko Nagurski, Johnny Unitas, Dick Butkus--all of them coached by Vince Lombardi.

Eleven seasons of waiting for such a game has dulled the ache of abuse.

So here they are: Eason, the young starter, and Grogan, the resident backup, although not by choice. Between them is enough good to justify the faith and money the Patriots gave Eason three years ago and enough vindication to last Grogan a lifetime.

Eason was born Charles Carroll Eason IV, which sounds like something out of the House of Tudor. Tony fit him better, like a comfortable pair of sneakers.

He was brought up, along with five brothers and sisters, in Walnut Grove, a small farming and ranching community near the Delta about 25 miles south of Sacramento. This was Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer stuff. Life was comfortable and unhurried. River rats, Eason and his friends were called.

In that environment, Eason became a local hero. He lettered in baseball, basketball and football at Delta High. His brother Bo, who now plays safety for the Houston Oilers, remembers playing catch with Tony in the family’s back yard. Even then, Tony kept telling him to run long pass patterns.

“Go deep, go deep,” Tony would instruct Bo.

Eason spent two seasons at American River College in Sacramento, then transferred to Illinois. Two years later, Eason became the Big Ten passing leader. So much for that league.

New England made him the 15th selection in the 1983 draft, an honor--curse?--shared with Plunkett and Jack Concannon. This was the same draft that brought Dan Marino, John Elway, Jim Kelly, Todd Blackledge and Ken O’Brien to pro football.

It was all planned: Eason would succeed Grogan, and the Patriots would live happily ever after.

But if you know anything about the Patriots, you know that nothing goes as planned.

New England first had to sign Eason to a contract. Trouble was, the Montreal franchise in the Canadian Football League had the same idea. Just in case Eason doubted their sincerity, Montreal representatives mentioned a few salary numbers that could put hair on your chest.

About that time, the Boston Breakers of the United States Football League said that they, too, would like Eason to play quarterback for them. That didn’t work out, so Jerry Argovitz, then owner of the Houston Gamblers, suggested that Eason sign with his team--for megabucks, of course.

Leigh Steinberg, Eason’s lawyer and negotiating representative, said he has had only one other client who had the same bargaining power, quarterback Warren Moon, now with the Houston Oilers.

Eventually, Patriot General Manager Pat Sullivan flew to California to meet with Steinberg. Steinberg said that the thought of a headline reading, “Patriots lose Eason” may have prompted the visit.

“The point is that New England came up with a really excellent offer,” Steinberg said.

With that done, Eason went about the business of learning how to play quarterback in the NFL. He started four games in 1983, threw one touchdown pass and five interceptions. No one was reserving him a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, although there was some talk of reserving him a flight to Montreal or Houston.

The next season, Eason started 13 games and set team records in completions and passing percentage. He entered a game against the Seattle Seahawks midway through the second period and helped lead the Patriots to a 38-23 victory. New England trailed, 23-0, when Eason got off the bench. After that, the only time Eason sat on the bench was to rest.

Eason finished 1984 with 23 touchdown passes and only eight interceptions. Only Marino and Joe Montana were rated higher last season.

Along came the 1985 season, though, and Eason was reacquainted with failure. New England beat Green Bay, lost to Chicago, beat Buffalo and then lost to the Raiders and Cleveland.

Against the Raiders, Eason threw three interceptions. After five games, the Patriots were 2-3, Eason had thrown 11 interceptions and had been sacked 18 times. He was directing his third new offense in three years and he appeared unsure of its design.

“Tony was in a tough situation,” Grogan said. “Being a quarterback, I know what he was going through. He was a little confused.”

A week later against the Bills, while being sacked for the third time, Eason separated his left shoulder. When he returned in the lineup six weeks later against the New York Jets, after Grogan had sprained his right knee, he was a new Eason of sorts.

“He was a whole lot better,” Grogan said. “Early in the year you had a young quarterback with new stuff and a new offense. After that six-week period of time he was better. No doubt about it.”

Said Eason: “The whole offense gained a lot at that time.”

If Eason rescued a cat from a tree, he’d tell folks to thank the tree. Ask him about his own progress this season and he repeats something about how well the entire offense has played. To hear Eason tell it, Jack Concannon could still run the Patriot attack.

Jim Greenidge, the director of publicity for the Patriots, said that Eason used to play the air guitar in the locker room before games. “Everybody was wondering if he would be serious enough.”

Nowadays, Eason may lead the team in film viewing. According to Greenidge, Eason propped a film projector on the family pool table and hasn’t moved it since.

“He’s pretty much a boring guy,” Greenidge said.

Steinberg disagreed. Around family and friends, Eason is disarming and personable, he said. “The kind of guy that if he gets tackled he’ll ask the other guy, ‘How you doing?’ ”

Asked to describe his own personality, Eason said: “I wouldn’t.”

Said Tom Ramsey, third team quarterback for the Patriots: “Ordinarily, I would say he’s a little bit shy. He comes from a small town with a small-town life style.”

Ramsey said that after a recent appearance for a Bob Hope Super Bowl special, Eason returned to his hotel room in a bit of a daze.

“He said, ‘You know, Ram, I just thought I would get up on the stage and read some cue cards. But there were 150 people out there standing and clapping.’

“You see, he didn’t feel real comfortable in front of 150 people,” Ramsey said. “But he blocked that out and did it, though.”

Eason has had plenty of practice. He didn’t read any of his mail after throwing an interception that probably cost the Patriots a victory against the Miami Dolphins late in the season. He was booed early in the year, too.

“That seems like two or three seasons ago,” he said.

Eason says he understands the demands placed on a quarterback and the penalties for mediocrity. But that doesn’t help lessen the sting of the criticism. Still, Eason said he looks at a mistake as a separate entity. He commits the error, understands the reasons and tries to forget about the mistake.

“That’s the way I cope with it,” he said.

Said Ramsey: “I think (the criticism) was tough on him. All of a sudden you’re winning, and when you win you’re the greatest thing since sliced bread. On the other hand, part of the responsibility when you lose is to handle the abuse.”

Steve Grogan knows about abuse. Eleven seasons of quarterbacking lends itself to such things. Now, he is in a game he has literally dreamed about. Nothing can spoil that feeling, certainly not memories of the past.

“But I’m not sure if it was worth the wait,” he said. “It would have been nice if it would have happened 10 years ago.”

This isn’t the first New England team Grogan thinks should have advanced to the Super Bowl. But for one reason or another, it never happened. Usually, he said, the quarterback was blamed for the problems.

In 1981, the year the Patriots went 2-14, Grogan thought his career might be through, he said. A new coach, Ron Meyer, was on his way with promises of rebuilding. “I wasn’t sure if I would be around for that rebuilding period,” Grogan said.

Grogan stayed, though, and the Patriots finished the 1982 strike season with a 5-4 record. In 1983, they finished 8-8.

By 1984, Eason had become the starting quarterback and with good reason. Grogan, meanwhile, became a backup.

“(Coach Raymond Berry) called me into his office in May and told me Tony was going to be the starting quarterback,” Grogan said. “He said I was important to the team and he said I hoped I understood this. It was easier accepting it from (Berry) because I knew he would keep me involved. I told him I wouldn’t go to the end of the bench and twiddle my thumbs.”

Twiddle thumbs? After Eason had hurt his shoulder in the sixth game, Grogan merely led the Patriots to six consecutive victories. Then Grogan hurt his knee and he hasn’t been in a game since.

“It’s more frustrating than anything,” he says. “Things were going so well for me until I hurt my knee. The nice thing is that Tony came off the bench and did the job.”

Grogan has become a kind of tutor for Eason. One lesson concerned handling the pressures and criticism of the job. Grogan is considered an expert.

“Earlier this year, well, one of the things I told him was that if he didn’t learn anything else from me, I hoped he learned how to handle the criticism,” Grogan said. “I think it made him a better player and a better person.”

According to Grogan, the last time he played in a truly important football game was during his senior year at Ottawa High School in Kansas. He played quarterback in the state championship game.

“We lost,” he said. “I scored a touchdown right before the end of the first half and I dislocated my elbow.”

More than 15 years have passed since that game. Now he finds himself healthy, ready, but with no position to play.

“I had a dream before the season,” he said. “The dream was that we would go to the Super Bowl and I would come off the bench to win this game. I think every player has that dream.

“I’d give anything to be on the field Sunday, but that’s more likely not going to happen,” he said.

Said Patriot defensive lineman Julius Adams, a veteran of 15 seasons of suffering: “Hey, I would love to see him play in this game. He’s the man who got us here.”

There is one hope, other than an injury to Eason.

“I’m still working on the special teams coach to see if I can talk him into it,” Grogan said. “I could go in and block an extra point or something. And I am the backup kicker. I’ve got my square-toe (kicking shoe).”

Now, that would be worth the wait.