NFL Notes: Mirer back as Seattle starting quarterback

Tuesday, Nov. 19, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

SUN WIRE REPORTS

The Seattle Seahawks are going back to Rick Mirer as their starting quarterback.

They don't have any choice.

John Friesz was on crutches Monday with a broken tibia in his right leg. He was injured in a 17-16 loss in Detroit on Sunday, just one day after signing a two-year, $4.5 million contract to become the team's franchise quarterback.

So Mirer, replaced by Friesz earlier this season after a disastrous start, will start the Seahawks' final five regular-season games, beginning with Oakland next Sunday in the Kingdome.

"It's ironic," wide receiver Mike Pritchard said. "I guess it completes the circle. Your starting quarterback is on the way out. Now he's asked to save the team that wanted to get rid of him."

"I feel like a lame duck," Mirer said.

He should. At the end of the season, the Seahawks are expected to trade him now that they've given Friesz No. 1 quarterback dollars.

"I know where I stand," Mirer said. "The best thing I can do for me and everyone is to play good and play hard now. Regardless of what happens in '97, we're still in '96."

* ODOMES ARRESTED: Nate Odomes is no longer one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL. Back-to-back injuries on his right knee took care of that. But the two-time Pro Bowler pushed himself back from a two-year layoff and was making an impact in the Atlanta Falcons' secondary. Odomes' career suffered another blow early Monday morning, just 24 hours after he took another step in his remarkable comeback by starting at cornerback for the Falcons in a 17-15 victory over New Orleans. Odomes was charged with drunken driving after his sports car slammed into a tree in the suburbs north of Atlanta, leaving him with a concussion and numerous cuts and abrasions. The 31-year-old was treated at a hospital and released a few hours after the 7:20 a.m. wreck, lucky to be alive judging from the near-total destruction of his Porsche 928 and the half-hour it took for rescue workers to free him from the wreckage.

* YOUNG CAN PLAY: Steve Young has the go-ahead from doctors to resume playing. He still has to convince 49ers coach George Seifert, who remains concerned about Young's susceptibility to another concussion. Young, who has suffered two concussions in three weeks, visited his neurologist Monday and received medical clearance to play. That left the final say on his playing status with Seifert, who expects to decide by Wednesday whether to start Elvis Grbac at Washington next Sunday or return Young to his starting job. Young, the two-time league MVP and four-time season passing efficiency leader, watched from the sidelines Sunday as Grbac ran for a score and passed for another in a 38-20 victory over Baltimore. Grbac completed 26 of 31 passes for 268 yards, the fourth-best completion percentage (83.9) in team history, to improve to 6-3 in his nine starts for Young the last two years.

* SUPER BOWL MVP OUT: In less than 10 months, Larry Brown has gone from Super Bowl MVP to reserve cornerback to spectator. Brown, signed to a $12 million free agent contract by the Oakland Raiders in February, will miss the rest of the year because of a foot injury that has severely limited his effectiveness all season. Brown, Super Bowl MVP for Dallas in January, was scheduled to have his right foot placed in a cast today hoping to heal an injury to the fascia -- tissue connecting the arch to the heel -- that has bothered him since training camp.