If Money Talks, It Says ‘Mirer’

In the National Football League, money apparently doesn’t just talk, it also makes decisions.

Having made the commitment to fulfill the final two years of Rick Mirer’s $15 million contract, the Seattle Seahawks will nurture their investment by once again installing him at the starting quarterback position heading into the 1996 training camp.

Mirer was benched at midseason and later failed to dislodge replacement John Friesz, who directed the Seahawks in a late-season surge to playoff contention.

“Right now, Rick would be the starter,” Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson said. “He’s No. 1 going into training camp, there’s no question about that.

“As time goes on, we’ll see what happens,” Erickson said. “One great thing about this is we have two awfully good players there, but Rick will be the starter when camp opens.”

Mirer finished with a career-high 20 interceptions and had the lowest quarterback rating of his three-year career - 63.7.

Perhaps ironically, he was tied for the lowest ranking among regular quarterbacks in the AFC with former Washington State standout Drew Bledsoe.

Three years ago, they were the first two players taken in the draft, with Bledsoe being the No. 1 pick by New England.

Consistency was Mirer’s biggest shortcoming this season as he was exceptional in wins over Cincinnati and Denver.

But he was entirely out of synch in consecutive losses to Oakland, Buffalo, San Diego and Arizona - a stretch in which he threw 10 interceptions.

Before the Arizona game, Mirer was replaced by Friesz. But Friesz suffered a separated shoulder in that game, and Mirer returned with some success until he also separated a shoulder in the first half versus Denver on Dec. 10.

From that point, Friesz took over and led the Hawks to the team’s biggest comeback victory ever at Denver and then to a stunning 44-10 win over Oakland.

Although he was largely ineffective in the season-ending loss to Kansas City on Sunday, Friesz finished with a quarterback rating of 80.7 with six touchdowns and three interceptions.

Friesz, a bargain free agent ($700,000) was by far the most effective quarterback in the NFL during the fourth period of games as his four touchdowns and no interceptions and 66-percent completion rate gave him a final-period rating of 120.2.

But Mirer will be at the controls when next season starts.

“Hopefully, he’ll learn from this season,” Erickson said. “He was very disappointed how this season went. I don’t think he took a step back, I think he progressed in a lot of ways.

“The biggest thing Rick has to learn is to get rid of the football quicker,” Erickson said. “As I’ve said all year, that’s a matter of experience. In the last couple weeks of practice, you could see he was doing some things better. I think he learned from watching John play.”

Erickson said he remains convinced that Mirer will be a standout quarterback in the NFL.

“Physically, he has all the tools, it’s just a matter of time,” Erickson said. “But we have to be more consistent at that position to get better.”

Erickson, whose team bounced back from a 2-6 first half of the season to finish 8-8, conceded that Friesz, a Coeur d’Alene High and University of Idaho grad, became a legitimate threat to earn the position.

“What John Friesz did was reaffirm to me how good he is,” Erickson said. “With his opportunity, with the things he did, I guess you could say he narrowed the gap. He came in as a backup and proved he can play in this league.”

In his season-ending press conference, Erickson said he did not expect any staff changes.

“Not that I know of, they’re all under contract for another year,” Erickson said. “They did a remarkable job this year. After we were 2-6, to come back and go 6-2, that shows me how fortunate we are to have this coaching staff.”

Erickson noted that the 1996 Seahawks schedule will take him back to Miami, where he coached collegiately last year.

The Seahawks, in fact, play three of their non-division road games in Florida, also facing Jacksonville and Tampa Bay.

Detroit is the other non-divisional road game.

Non-AFC West foes scheduled to visit Seattle are Houston, Buffalo, Green Bay and Minnesota.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo