Angels In The Backfield Friesz, Mirer Remain Close, No Matter Who’s Running Show

Don’t even try to call this a controversy - not with John Friesz and Rick Mirer involved.

It’s almost as if Emily Post were taking on Miss Manners for the Seattle Seahawks’ starting quarterback job.

Or like those old, courteous-to-a-fault Alphonse-and-Gastone routines:

“You should play quarterback.”

“Oh, no, you’re far better suited.”

“Only after you, my good man.”

“Well then, perhaps we could take the snaps simultaneously.”

By guiding the Seahawks to 65 points in the last five periods of play - in replacement of the injured Mirer - Friesz has clearly won the job.

Mirer had been effective in certain games (Cincinnati, Giants, Jacksonville, for instance), and a team leader as a captain in all of them, but he led the NFL in interceptions and had one of the lowest quarterback ratings in the league at 64.3.

His cost to the team, at least in terms of his salary-cap figure, is slightly less than $2 million.

Friesz, meanwhile, is beginning to look like a bargain at $700,000 as he has led the team on 10 scoring drives in the last game and a half after Mirer went down with a separated shoulder in the second quarter at Denver.

As Mirer returns to health, however, Friesz is entrenched in the position.

It all conspires to create the type of situation that often results in acrimony, jealousy and divisive bad-mouthing.

It’s possible, though, that there’s never been a more genial quarterback controversy, as Friesz and Mirer have been paragons of sportsmanship and class, and have been nothing but supportive of the other.

“I had hoped to play,” Friesz said of his intentions when signing with the Hawks as a free agent. “Yet I really didn’t want to because that would mean that Rick was hurt or Rick wasn’t playing well and the team was struggling.”

No. 17 for the Seahawks: Albert Schweitzer.

“Really, in an ideal world, I really didn’t want to play that way,” Friesz said. “It’s a weird deal, everybody in here wants to play, but not at the expense of others.”

So, the relationship between Friesz and Mirer remains close and unchanged, although the order on the depth chart is reversed.

“He’s happy for me, I was always happy when he played well and felt bad when he didn’t,” Friesz said. “All three of us (including third-teamer Stan Gelbaugh) are in this together and it’s a real healthy situation.”

It certainly is.

An example of the cooperation came before Sunday’s 44-10 win over Oakland in the Kingdome.

“Going into the game, (Rick) asked me ‘what do you want out of me’,” Friesz said. “He talked to me about what the corners were doing, what their technique was.”

Friesz clearly had little trouble scoping out the Raider schemes, but Mirer was there to help anyway.

“You like having it confirmed that you are seeing what you think you’re seeing,” Friesz said. “And a lot of times it’s easier to see from the sidelines or up above than it is from under center.”

After the game, a knot of two dozen reporters coagulated around Friesz’s locker. Mirer, right next door, slipped silently to his cubicle, dressed and was gone, careful not to disrupt the attention given to Friesz.

A month ago, it was Friesz tiptoeing around the gathering in front of Mirer’s locker.

Even when freshly deposed in Denver, Mirer was extremely happy about Friesz’s effort. “John did everything he needed to do to get the win - it was unbelievable,” Mirer said without a hint of bitterness. “I’m really happy about the comeback and the win.”

Friesz was asked this week if his strong recent performances were gratifying in that they might prove his value to former teams - San Diego and Washington - that let him go in free agency.

“Not at all, it’s not something I set out to do, to prove anybody wrong,” the University of Idaho and Coeur d’Alene High grad said. “It wasn’t like they just kicked me out the door. I never got that feeling. They were just situations where it was in everybody’s best interest for me to move on.

“I don’t have any hard feelings in that regard.”

In fact, Friesz has benefited greatly from his experiences with the Chargers and the Redskins. He said that the tutoring of Norv Turner, Redskins’ head coach, was particularly important in his ability to find receivers and get the ball to them quickly.

“He’s got great poise and experience,” Hawks coach Dennis Erickson said of Friesz. “There’s nothing like experience and having been there. This is not his first barbecue. He’s played the Raiders and he’s played in Kansas City. He’s a very composed guy anyway, but he also has a lot of experience.

“What makes him really smart is he knows what he can do and what he can’t do,” Erickson said. “He knows he’s not going to be scrambling around; when he drops back, he’s going to get rid of the ball.”

The fact that he’s been sacked only once in 94 pass attempts is proof of that. Ironically, the mobile Mirer has been sacked 40 times.

Because of the mutual respect and cooperation between Friesz and Mirer, the attitude throughout the Seahawks locker room is relaxed and focused on the field - not in breaking into factions that support one or the either.

“John really kept us going,” receiver Joey Galloway said after the Oakland win. “He was great out there. The entire team played well and that all starts with the quarterback.”

And for now, at least, that’s John Friesz.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)