Salisbury Gets Chance With Vikings

Where else but a few miles down the freeway from Hollywood?

Handsome high school football hero returns home to make his first NFL start in front of family, friends and many fans. Oh, but it hasn’t come easy. It’s been seven years since he played quarterback in college here, and he has wandered through the hinterlands of pro football with stops in Seattle, Indianapolis, Winnipeg and Eden Prairie, Minn. It’s been a journey fraught with rejection and disappointment, but now--under the same sunny fall skies where he experienced his greatest athletic successes--he will get the chance to prove himself again. And the test will come against a team that is coached by the man who first cut him from the NFL and by his former college coach.

The climactic scene will unfold Sunday afternoon at Anaheim Stadium when the Minnesota Vikings get their first offensive possession and Sean Salisbury--former San Diego County athlete of the year at Escondido Orange Glen High and USC star--takes his first snap as an NFL starting quarterback.

Pan to the opposite sideline and closeups of Ted Tollner, the Rams’ quarterback coach and former USC head coach who once benched Salisbury, and Ram Coach Chuck Knox, who signed Salisbury as a free agent at Seattle and later cut him.

“It’s ironic that I’m making my first start in Los Angeles, and it is extra special, but it’s not going to be a distraction,” Salisbury said. “There’s no grudges. I’m fond of Chuck Knox, and I think Ted is a brilliant technician and a good guy.

“I’m focused on business and it doesn’t really seem like my first start. I know what it takes to prepare to win. I’m not overwhelmed.”

Knox says he isn’t surprised to find himself trying to devise ways to stop an NFL offense led by Salisbury.

“Sean was a quarterback who had the physical abilities,” Knox said. “He had a good arm, an accurate arm and he could move around. He liked football. He just got caught up in a quarterback logjam after we signed him.”

And Tollner admits he will watch it all play out with mixed emotions.

“I hope he doesn’t find it all this week, for our sake, but I feel real good for him because he’s had to be really persistent,” he said. “Sean has bounced around and he’s really matured. I’m happy he’s getting an opportunity.

“I think he had as much raw ability as any quarterback I’ve ever been around, so I’m not surprised that he’s been able to stay alive. But when you’re frustrated, the question is will you be persistent enough to fight through all the years looking for your opportunity. Guys get weeded out because they’re not mentally tough enough.

“Sean has survived without ever being the guy. He has such a strong desire to prove he can be a starter in this league, he’s been able to overcome it all.”

And there’s been a lot to overcome.

Sean Salisbury knows this isn’t a made-for-television movie, and the hero isn’t guaranteed of throwing a game-winning touchdown as the clock ticks down to 0:00 in the background.

In fact, a Kelly Girl has as much job security.

A case in point: Minnesota is cruising along toward the NFC Central title with an 8-3 record when Coach Dennis Green decides to remove Rich Gannon and insert Salisbury.

Ask Gannon if quarterbacking in the NFL is a fickle business.

Green, who says he is used to a higher degree of offensive productivity, didn’t like the way the Vikings struggled to put the ball in the end zone during the last couple of games. And he very much liked the way Salisbury was running the offense. In six relief appearances, Salisbury had completed 35 of 68 passes for 420 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.

“We are a team that has high expectations,” Green said. “Sean came in during the second half against the Browns (last week) and we seemed to click a little better, so we thought we’d give him a shot to see if he can get our offense going.”

Salisbury was just four of 12 for 30 yards against Cleveland, but he threw a fourth-quarter touchdown pass on third and goal from the three-yard line as the Vikings rallied from a 13-0 halftime deficit to win, 17-13.

“The biggest thing is that he came in in relief against Tampa Bay, he did well and we won,” Green said. “He came in in relief against Detroit, he played well and we won. He came in in relief against Browns, the team did well and we won.

“We were very dangerously close to losing two games in a row, and our offense was not hitting on all cylinders. As a result, we thought it was time to take a look at Sean.”

It was a decision Salisbury has awaited for almost seven years.

“When it happened, it wasn’t one of those things that floored me,” he said. “You just take it and run with it.”

He has had a week of practice as the No. 1 guy, but after a season of taking just a few snaps sporadically during practice, Salisbury clearly doesn’t enter the game with all the advantages of a regular starting quarterback.

“That’s the way it is in this business,” Salisbury said. “I’ve always taken pride in staying ready because I have a responsibility to this team. There’s nothing worse than having to call on your backup and having him go out there and lay an egg because he’s not prepared.

“When you’re not getting any work on the practice field, you go home and study. I play the game over in my mind. Everybody wants to win, but the will to prepare is what it takes. I’ve learned that much over the years.”

Salisbury insists he won’t be swept up in the moment Sunday. He says he will keep his poise and do the things that will help the Vikings win: He won’t be timid if the play is there, but he won’t try to force his way into a big play, either.

He hopes to be a steadying, calming influence, even as the spotlight glares in his eyes, even though he admits he’s standing squarely at the crossroads of his career.

“This is something I’ve waited for since I left school, to be honest,” he said, “and any opportunity you get, you never know when it will come again, so you take advantage of it.

“I’ve never doubted my talents, and although I may be 29, I feel younger because I haven’t played that much. Everywhere I’ve been, I felt like I was there with an opportunity to perform, but for whatever reason, it’s taken this long to get here.”

Talk about your long and winding roads. . .

Salisbury wasn’t drafted out of college and eventually was signed by Knox in Seattle as a free agent in 1986. He never played and was released the next summer. He was picked up by Indianapolis and played in two games in 1987, but the Colts waived him the next year.

“I was in a situation where I knew I was talented and could play, but it was a question of how much longer do you want to keep doing this without getting the opportunity to play?” he said. “I was losing my enjoyment with the game by the end of ’87 season, so I decided to go up to Canada because I would have been ashamed to give up on something I knew I could still do.”

Salisbury was aware he was taking a last-resort risk. Anything less than a rousing success in the Canadian Football League would surely end all chances of a career in the NFL. But Salisbury helped the Winnipeg Blue Bombers win the Grey Cup in 1988 and then led the CFL in passing yardage in 1989.

“I begged Indianapolis to release me because I wasn’t getting a chance to play, and I didn’t want to stand around and watch anymore,” he said. “I decided to go to the CFL, and it was the best decision I’ve made in football until I chose the Vikings.

“I went up there with it in my mind to play two years as good as I could and then try to come back. We won the Grey Cup, then I led the league in passing, and I had dozen teams after me when I came back as a free agent.”

Salisbury narrowed his choices to the Saints and the Vikings and decided on Minnesota. He was active for 14 games in 1990 but didn’t play. Last year, he was inactive for all 16 games.

Just when the Vikings began to look like another dead end, Green arrived as head coach and immediately started making good on his promise that the Vikings would win or lose on the worth of all the players on the roster.

“I’ve been in this business long enough to know that you shouldn’t set yourself up for disappointment, but there’s a part of you that holds out that hope that you’ll get to play,” Salisbury said. “The last three seasons, it’s just been a week-to-week thing. I play as hard as I can when they call on me. I know that’s a cliche, but that’s all you can do.

“There have been times when I’ve wondered if it was worth it, but it has been worth every bit of it. And I appreciate it a heck of a lot more now than I did when I came out of high school and went to ‘SC. Then, everything was a bed of roses and everything came easy. Now, I’ve had to work for everything I’ve gotten.”

And so far, that’s only been this one chance.