Mark Rypien is no gambler. So the Washington Redskins quarterback never understood why people said it was risky to take a one-year contract this season instead of a two-year deal.
By having a standout season, he's proved he knew best all along.Rypien, coming off an injury-filled, less-than-stellar 1990 campaign, was being offered a two-year, $2.4 million deal. Take the money and security, friends told him. But Rypien insisted on a one-year, $1.5 million deal, even though his performance last season hadn't prompted anyone in Canton to clear space for a Hall of Fame plaque.
Now, 28 touchdown passes and a trip to the Super Bowl later, Rypien will get a new contract that should make him considerably richer than the two-year package the Redskins were offering last season.
"I've been to Vegas a couple of times. I just go to have fun. I'm not a guy willing to put my house and family out there for a two-foot putt," Rypien said. "There wasn't a gamble."
Before his success, however, Rypien understood clearly what his situation was.
"You could see the writing on the wall - either do something or find somewhere else to do it," Rypien said. "I didn't put a lot of pressure on myself. I just tried to be confident."
After some sluggish early performances that required confidence to endure, Rypien caught fire. He probably hit his peak with a 442-yard, six-touchdown performance against Atlanta in a 56-17 Redskins victory.
Along the way, he finally made a believer of Redskins coach Joe Gibbs, whose quarterbacking plans were uncertain in training camp because Rypien had missed six games in 1990 with a knee injury.
"The thing I was worried about was whether he could stay healthy," Gibbs said. "I thought if he could stay healthy, if he could develop some consistency, we would see results."
But they were slow in coming. There was something hollow about Washington's early victories, coming as they did against teams that were at less than full strength. Rypien's first test came in Week 5 against the Philadelphia Eagles, who were healthy on defense and chasing the Redskins in the NFC East.
But the quarterback struggled through a 13-for-23, two-interception performance, seeming at times to be playing in fear of being hit by Reggie White or any of Philadelphia's other bruising defenders. He did nothing to mollify critics who groused that he couldn't play well in important games.
Rypien had a pair of TD passes against the Bears the next week and a 16-for-22, 190-yard effort against the Browns in Week 7, but he didn't seem to be winning Gibbs' confidence.
"Every week, Mark will get the chance to go out there, and he'll prove people wrong or not," Gibbs said one day during this period. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
Then came a Week 8 contest against the Giants, a game that Gibbs says marked the turning point for Rypien and, perhaps, his entire team.
At the half, the Giants were up 13-0, and Rypien had looked lackluster, hurrying passes and again playing as if in fear of meeting up with Lawrence Taylor & Co.
But in the second half, he engineered three scoring drives and the Redskins emerged from Giants Stadium with a victory for the first time in a non-strike game since 1983.
"He got a win which nobody else has been able to do, got us down the field a couple times when we needed to do it to get field goals and touchdowns," Gibbs said. "That's what a quarterback is judged on."
Rypien agreed.
"I got it down the field when we needed to," the quarterback said. "That was a boost for us, and for me."
Rypien says his success didn't surprise him, and it didn't shock any of his teammates either.
"I think he knew that and the team knew it also that if he was healthy enough to continue to play every game that he would do great things for this team," said wide receiver Gary Clark, who along with Art Monk were Rypien's go-to guys all season long. "We knew once we got to the playoffs that we would have a good shot of going to the Show. He's taken us there."
And, apparently, Rypien is unaffected by his sudden success, his opportunity to lash out at those who doubted him.
"He's a quality person," Clark said. "He's the first quarterback I've met who shows no forms of being cocky. Mark's just a good old boy."
Rypien's teammates say his two biggest improvements have been his ability to call audibles at the line of scrimmage and his knack for getting rid of the ball to avoid sacks.
The first trait, he's always had - he said he tested higher than former Redskin quarterbacks Jay Schroeder and Doug Williams when they were quizzed on opposing defenses. The second has come with experience.
"It's like I have a clock ticking in my head," is how Rypien put it.
How does he feel about the pressure of a playing in a Super Bowl?
"Coach told me his definition of pressure is having a chance to prove yourself," the quarterback said.
Having done so all year, Rypien wants to do it one more time.