Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 126

PHILADELPHIA DAILVNEWS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1 996 PAGE E-2 lteDD gonini-slhiw 6v Dick Jerardi Daily News Sports Writer he very best part about Atlanta's Red Gun offense, or whatever they call the Falcons' version of the run-and-shoot these HQ Undrafted out of Valdosta State, Tuggle has made nearly 1,500 tackles in his nine seasons. He's been a truly great player surrounded by truly mediocre teammates. Only twice in Tuggle's tenure have the Falcons' won more than they've lost. They've never won a playoff game. And when Tuggle looks at the Eagles, he sees a team that won a playoff game a year ago, has been a pretty consistent winner for a decade, and appears on the upswing.

"They're ready to win," Tuggle said. "They feel like they're a playoff-caliber team I truly feel it they think The defense is Soy new for all aiia days, is that most everybody talks about that. And forgets about the defense, merely the worst statistically against the pass in NFL history last year. You can be certain Eagles coach Ray Rhodes and offensive coordinator Jon Gruden know the numbers. And if the Eagles don't of us.

It's a little let down right run up and down the field against the Falcons Sunday at the Georgia Dome, they'll be the first. How bad was Atlanta's defense last year? How bad has it been? Two years ago, DEP Ml CHAR Falcons defense Eagles of fence 1 i Lj MNlUtiwn Anthony Phillips 26 M. Irving Fryar 80 McKyer 22 JS Ujl MarKSeaV81 Lester Archambeau 92 CJZ 31 Jj Ricky Watters 32 John Burrough 91 aW jrr? Charlie Gamer 30 7 If -v Cornelius Bennett 97 3 Jason Dunn 87 Vf David Brandon 51 Ed West 83 Travis Hall 98 llB A Richard Cooper 77 Devm Bush 25 Kevin Turner 34 Vfiyl) faf Louis Riddick29 Adam Walker 29 Moe Gardner 67 JT3 WWK Lester Holmes 73 JIJ Dan Owens 93 TJT Joe Panos 72 r-iiMmmmm AU Jessie Tuggle 58 Pj C'(fr Jl I Lorenzo Styles 59 6rX Raleigh McKenzie 63 1 1 i fWh Joe Panos 72 -HffSni 11113'? JLmm- I lijlrUJJnMHiT Ron George 50 Craig Sauir 52 rtfT Rodney Peete 9 fiXS) TyDetmeri4 I lLChuck Smith 90 Joe Panos 72 yJ Clay Matthews 57 rMj Guy Mclntyre 62 ijj Patrick Bates 24 IWK Barrett Brooks 76 nff Brad Edwards 27 jA Troy Drake 75 Darnell Walker 45 Chris T. Jones 82 Lenny McGill 28 Sfj) Mark Ingram 85 V5-' rmm if M. nmm' iM i Dan Stryzinski 4 Jjf jLj Gary Anderson 1 Eagles defense Falcons offense a SgS3 ftVT mil EricMetcalf21 llj Freddie Scott 84 rrlJLfwn fth Bert Emanuel 87 Greg jy rson79 Jil Roell Preston 85 Marc Woodard 57 ir" 'H' 1 t' Ray Farmer 55 SWA Dave Richards 62 I' 1 1 f5 'II Davis 76 Kevin Johnson 94 AWJB -XIO Jiilrilif 'Mt'H Hollis Thomas sVVx Jeff PahuKoa 64 FTv'MJ "'1 fT i Mlke Zandofsky 72 i Michael Zordich 36 -mjm i 111 HlliillT ill Barry Wilburn 45 Jamal Anderson 32 vff-i I), 'P ljBHl Craig Heyward 34 Rhett Hell RomanVortm 65 RormDixon90M Robbie Tooeck 61 nvmmmni iw JV James Willis 50 f) Jl 1 -eft iilL-Joe Kelly 56 WVt obb'e Jok ill William Thomas 51 Pf Sylvester 52 BottJ Heblrl I i Mike Mamula 59 ES 1 ''DarwnCcmnereei Antone Davls 76 uimML 2JL- jczssnsnmszn Brian Dawkins 20 Terance Mathis 81 Boykm 25 Freddie Scott 84 Bobby Taylor 21 AjV -vj.

g9 -Don Gnffln 28 Tyrone Brown 80 I Tom Hutton 4 Jir Morten Andersen 4 4 different type of nianta 5 offensive in- novator, the Linebacker Jessie Tuggle iast man standing in support of the run-and-shoot. He believes in his offense and has watched the game change as teams have copied some of it. "I think the game has changed kind of toward what we do," Jones said. "Everybody's running three and four wideouts. It's leveled the playing field quite a bit.

We have an effective way of moving the football. It's a system you can win with. I don't think it's a whole lot different than what other teams are doing." He knows, however, that you can run and shoot forever, but you won't win unless you can keep the other team from running and shooting you right off the field. "We think we have a pretty good football team," Jones said hopefully. "We think we'll prove that out through a 16-game schedule." The Falcons, however, are going nowhere unless George puts up big numbers.

The defense, changes or no, is still the defense. "George has played well at times and not so well at times," Jones said. "I think he's been a little like our whole group." The city of Atlanta, gearing up for the Braves' run at another World Series title and still trying to recover from the Summer Olympics, has reacted to the Falcons season with overwhelming apathy. There were 28,540 empty seats at the Georgia Dome for the home opener against the Vikings. Apparently, all those folks have waited just a little too long to see some defense.

Some things just never change. More than 130 years after Gen. William T. Sherman passed through, they still can't defend in Atlanta. FALCONS NOTES Former Eagle Antone Davis is a backup offensive lineman and did not play the first two games Rookie wideout Freddie Scott, from Penn State, made the team as a free agent and has caught one pass for 27 yards.

Atlanta ranked 27th among 28 teams in total defense. Last year, it was 29th of 30. Somehow, the Falcons managed nine wins last year and made the playoffs, despite giving up more passing yards than any team in NFL history. So, the Falcons went out and named their fourth defensive coordinator in five years Rod Rust, 68. They signed nine free agents, eight of them defensive players.

They drafted six players, four for defense. Their marquee free agent was linebacker Cornelius Bennett, the former NFL defensive player of the year for the Buffalo Bills and five-time Pro Bowler who signed a four-year, $13.6 million contract in March. The results have been more of the same. The only Sunday this year when a team didn't rack up yards on the Falcons was the last one. They refused to let Team Bye gain an inch.

But the first two Sundays, they gave up 680 total yards to Carolina and Minnesota. They got crushed, 29-6, by the Panthers and gave up a fourth-quarter lead to the Vikings and lost, 23-17. So, Atlanta is 0-2 and it's almost business as usual. All that's missing is the gun from the Red Gun. Even the offense has been somnambu-lant thus far.

Quarterback Jeff George, who appears perpetually mad at the world, didn't appear for the first three weeks of training camp before finally signing a one-year, $3,636 million deal. George, who passed for 7,877 yards and 47 touchdowns his first two years at Atlanta, has just been average. And when you play defense the way the Falcons do, average isn't acceptable from the quarterback. "The defense is new for all of us," Atlanta linebacker Jessie Tuggle said. "It's a different type of scheme It will come with time." Easy for him to say.

He knows about time, specifically about being sentenced to an interminable wait for his team to catch up to his success..