Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 75

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1992 THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS PAGE 75 1 You i "Tint Ant i- fostr i si 3k i 4r this rook by his cover 'ft 8 1 my clothes on and I pay taxes. Mark McMillian ark McMillian first put on a pair of shoulder pads when he was a 17-year-old high school senior. He did it at the suggestion of his mother, Gloria, who told him that lllllllflillllli jiKrt of ths W- lji'lblSeggxiitbBi) cofnmentctqr Cook. 1 from the 49ers' game yesterday against the Rams," Kotite said. "Bud Carsonl and his staff are going to evaluate the matchups 1 they're very important this week.

"McMillian did a very good job. He's a big cover kid. He made some great plays. I could see him playing more and more." Could he start? "He played well when he was in there," Kotite said. "Well talk about it further The 49ers have a great running game.

We have to have excellent support from our the only way he was going to be able to afford college was on a scholarship. She made the suggestion even though he weighed only about 135 pounds at the j' As he says now, "I really wasn't into it before then. I liked to play street ball, but my size was always a factor. They always said, 'You're too small, you're too A 1 1 49ers' Young taking all kinds of heat AROUND THE BLOCK list season, for the first time in their four-year history, the -Charlotte Hornets This is the problem. The 49ers still have their space-age passing game.

John Taylor is healthy again, Jerry Rice needs only one touchdown catch for 100 in his career, and quarterback Steve Young is the best in the NFL this season. And that, rightly, attracts a ton of attention. But the fact is that the Niners have become an excellent running team first in the league in rushing yards per game and yards "I always talked a big game, but I never did anything about," i McMillian said. One year later, he was playing at Glendale Community College in California. Two years after that, he was the best coverage corner- back at the University of Alabama.

Two years after that, he was taken in the 10th round of the NFL draft by the Eagles. And now, he's playing in nickel i managed to block more shots (309) than the NBA's individual leader (David Robinson, 305). Here's how Charlotte fared among the league's blocked-shot leaders In Its first three seasons: Everybody's talking about The Quarterback Problem. CBS's John Madden says the offense isn't suited to the guy who's starting and that the wise, old, broken-down veteran prowling the sidelines every week is the one who should be playing. Teammates say the starter scrambles too much and can't read defenses.

Opponents are dumping on him. Fans say his league-leading quarterback rating is as misleading as some of his throws. The Eagles, right? Well, not exactly. Madden likes the guy they have starting even if no one else does. But like so many of the fine, frozen, fog-breathing citizens of the Bay area, he's got some problems with the guy who will be starting against the Birds Sunday 49ers quarterback Steve Young.

Madden worked the 49ers' 27-10 win over the Rams this past Sunday and he -clearly wasnt impressed with what he saw. It wasn't just Young's mediocre numbers (l4-for-26 for 167 yards and a touchdown), it was the three sacks, the missed receivers, the Things Joe Montana Never Would Have Done If He Were Healthy Enough To Be Out There. Madden replayed one incomple-tion and described it as a case of Jerry Rice running "Joe Montana patterns" that couldn't work with Young. And that was just what Madden said on the air. Off the air, he told the San Francisco Examiner's Frank Cooney that the 49ers ought to think about using Montana, whose various elbow surgeries have kept him out of action for nearly two years, against the Eagles.

"I stood next to him and watched him throw," Madden said. "He is throwing hard, with authority. I was really impressed. He's ready." Meanwhile, in the visitors' locker room "I think he gets a little confused out there if you disguise things," Rams defensive back Anthony Newman said of Young. "He's no Joe Montana." And in the home quarters 1988- 89 Manute Bol 345 Mark Eaton 315 Hakeem Olajuwon 282 Patrick Ewing 281 Hornets 264 1989- 90 Hakeem Olajuwon 6 Patrick Ewing 327 David Robinson 319 HORNETS .252 1990- 91 David Robinson 320 HORNETS 304 per carry.

Ricky Waiters already has 965 rushing yards on 191 carries a 5.1-yard rushing average as well as nine rushing touchdowns. Only Dallas's Emmitt Smith and Pittsburgh's Barry Foster have gained more on the ground and both of them have had at least 70 more carries. The 49ers' George Seifert is just like any other football coach with long-term survival instincts. If the run is there, he will run it and run it and run it until he receives some significant discouragement from the defense. He did that last year at Veterans Stadium.

They only gained 137 yards on the ground, but the 49ers ran the ball 40 times and threw it only IS in a 23-7 win over the Eagles. So, there's the Eagles' problem. Their best -run-supporting cornerback probably is Izel Jenkins. Their best pass-covering corner-back probably is McMillian. John Booty, who has been their starter the last few weeks, Is the most likely to get the most out of his ability, and probably the least likely to blow a coverage or make the really horrendous error.

What to do? Teams used to get discouraged about running against the Eagles. They used to get discouraged way early often in the second quarter, and sometimes earlier than that Giants coach Bill Parcells once came into the Vet a couple of years ago with a 10-0 team that was doing monumental damage on the ground, and outsmarted himself by passing his team into a defeat That was the psychological effect the Eagles' run defense had. Now, well, it's different The opposing rushing totals have been unnervingly impressive lately 696 yards in the last six weeks, an average of 116 yards per game. And, to repeat the most significant truth about this Eagles defense, everything is based upon their ability to stop the run. And so, in this era of hyper-specialization in the NFL, it seems to me that McMillian has found his niche.

He has proved he's fast having run a 4.29 in the 40 for the Eagles. He also has proved to have good coverage instincts and what might be the most important skill good recovery skills. And so, it's true that a 162-pound rookie cornerback can play in this league on a playoff-caliber team. Just not on every down. Not yet anyway.

situations. Now, he could be playing in a game against the San Francisco 49ers, with Jerry Rice and John Taylor and all the rest of these guys McMillian once knew only from his television set. "When you're not in the league, you're kind of awestruck," said McMillian, who saw his first extended action of the season against the Giants on Sunday. "But now that I'm in the league, I've just got to do my best I had been pretty anxious, waiting for my chance. I was full of energy when I got the call." The Eagles used to have this cornerback named Eric Everett It was a few years ago, back when the NFL really was, both literally and figuratively, the land of the Giants.

Everett was 5-10 and 161 pounds. He never fit in. Every time he stepped on the field, a learned friend would turn and say, simply, "Bug on a windshield." This year, the Eagles have this cornerback named Mark McMillian. He's listed at 5-7 and 162 pounds. McMillian covered well against the Giants.

In fact, McMillian gave the Eagles coverage on that corner that they haven't had all year. A week or so ago, someone suggested to coach Rich Kotite that the left corner position had become something of a black hole in space for this team. Kotite disagreed. But he's faced with a decision now McMillian or not? And here's the dilemma: Is he big enough to play every down? Are the 49ers an oncoming windshield? You know McMillian's answer. This is his message for opponents: "If they dont think I can tackle, they can come in here and try me." Rest assured, the other teams will He could be the toughest 162-pound player in the history of the NFL, and teams still would come right at him.

I mean, there's a reason that players in this league have used steroids. Size isn't everything, but size combined with ability beats ability without size every time in the NFL. And, again, that's the Eagles' dilemma with McMillian. Can a team that suddenly Is having so much trouble stopping the run afford to have a 162-pound cornerback out there on every down? And the fact that he's a rookie, and potentially prone to rookie mistakes, just multiplies the risk. "Right now, we're still waiting for tapes "The thing is with Steve and Joe, Ithere is a big difference," Rice said.

"I have to be patient because I get very frustrated at times. I feel like if I could get my hands on the ball, I could make something happen." Some teams are just a mess. Without question. Jeff Samuels 73 NHL Report A Hoe man Bill Hanzlik, in his second year as a Hornets assistant, played for Doug Moe with the Denver -Nuggets and credits -the first-year Sixers' coach with his success. Page 66 NFL Roundup 71 Stan Hochman 70 Fast Facts 69 NBA Report 67 Boxing 62 Hanzlik.