Buddy Ryan, head coach, is not impressed.
”This is no different from high school. Same thing. All you`ve got to do is win,” he said.
Ryan, 52, had not been a head coach since age 24, when he was also athletic director at Gainesville (Tex.) High School. But being head man in the National Football League is no big deal, he insists.
”Coaches try to make it a big deal. They think they`re too important. They get carried away,” he said.
Some of them get nervous, especially when they are coaching teams like the Philadelphia Eagles, whose fans are usually tougher than their players.
Ryan is getting his kicks.
”We`ll be the best defense in football,” he said as a matter of fact.
”Oh yeah, no question.”
The best defense is what Ryan coached during his last two years with the Bears, but these are the Eagles, who have had four winning seasons in the last 19.
He compares the personnel favorably.
”We`ve got great personnel here. Always have everywhere I`ve coached,”
he said with a laugh. ”Don`t have enough or Marion Campbell would still be here.
”We`ll win the division,” he said with a straight face.
What? The tough East Division of the NFC? The Giants, Redskins and Cowboys all have been favored, but only Ryan favors the Eagles.
”If I don`t believe it, how will the players believe it?” he asked.
”Barring injuries, we`ll be tough. We`ll be in the playoffs.”
But the Cowboys have Herschel Walker now from the United States Football League and the Redskins have Kelvin Bryant and Doug Williams.
”They talk about impact players,” said Ryan. ”We have the biggest impact player out of the USFL. That`s Reggie White. Best defensive lineman I`ve ever coached. Weighs 280 and runs 4.65. When the Good Lord built him, man alive, He built something.”
”The running backs are great running backs, but you can hand off to only one at a time.”
The only thing that appears to ruffle Ryan is the subject of Bears` coach Mike Ditka.
”I`m not going to help him sell his book,” said Ryan, who nevertheless can`t seem to help himself.
On a recent TV spot, Ryan called Ditka ”a jerk.”
”That`s because a guy said he said something and I countered with that,” explained Ryan. ”Something about personnel or something. I don`t want to make him a millionaire. I`m trying not to.”
During practices, Ryan appears more relaxed and informal than he did with the Bears, when he stood behind the defense in the middle of the field and cursed players by number.
In the middle of one recent practice, he posed for pictures with his former mentor, Weeb Ewbank, on the sidelines and greeted a group of handicapped visitors.
Twice a day, after each workout, he meets with the press and pops out eyes with his caustic candor.
When a reporter tiptoed onto the subject of rookie punter Ray Criswell and asked if reporting late had hurt his chances, Ryan responded:
”I think the fact he can`t punt might hurt his chances.”
He started calling second-year tackle Kevin Allen ”General” for General Hospital because a dehydration problem kept putting him into bed. It was later discovered that Allen has a kidney disorder.
On the first day of training camp, 10 Eagles were sent to the hospital. After two weeks, seven had bolted Camp Buddy, although four have since returned.
Bear players grew to love and respect Ryan, who had an uncanny ability to motivate. But middle linebacker Mike Singletary admitted it took two years to appreciate his method. The Eagles are wary at the moment. It took only a few days for them to withhold their reactions to his constant lineup shuffling.
When he criticized loquacious quarterback Ron Jaworski for calling an audible in the first exhibition game, Jaworski said: ”I have no comment on his comment.”
His team hits in practice more often than the Bears do. Privately, some players wonder why they have to prove their desire for physical contact at this level.
”Is that so?” asked Ryan. ”Well, I want to see them hit for myself. I don`t want anybody to tell me they`ll hit. I want to find out before we start playing games. We`ll keep the hitters.”
Reporters wondered why he promoted a young free agent named Andre Waters to a starting safety spot over veteran Ray Ellis.
Ryan`s answer revealed most of his football philosophy in a nutshell:
”He gets after them. Turns them upside down and laughs at them. My kind of player.”
Ryan has been quoted as saying, ”The Bears don`t have a chance to repeat.”
He explained: ”It`s not impossible, but it`s pretty darned hard. Too much off-season. Too many outside things. Plus, everything has to break for you. There`s luck involved. We had an injury-free year on defense last year. To think that can happen two or three years in a row is pretty hard.”
Ryan said he is going to respond to Ditka`s autobiography with a book of his own.
”I`m going to tell it all,” he said with a chuckle.
Ditka has accused Ryan of taking too much credit for the Bears` success. Ryan called Ditka`s charges ”pathetic. The players gave me credit.”
Ryan bragged that his Philadelphia job was better than Ditka`s.
”Maybe not now,” said Ryan. ”But I hired all my coaches.”
Ditka didn`t hire Ryan in Chicago and Ryan said Ditka had no input on defense and didn`t understand Ryan`s game plans.
After calling William Perry a ”wasted draft choice,” Ryan said it was his decision, not Ditka`s, to put him into the lineup.
”Even though something else was said, I know who made the change. I know exactly how it happened,” said Ryan.
Ditka and the Bears don`t seem to be Ryan`s only targets. When the Eagles spent a week practicing with the Detroit Lions in Rochester, Mich., before their opening preseason game, Ryan complained about the facilities and chastised the Lions for ”lying down and wallowing” during one practice.
”They didn`t do anything. No sense of urgency,” said Ryan. ”Maybe they accomplished what they wanted, but we didn`t.”
After reading the next day`s papers, the Lions were more animated, indicating Ryan has the ability to motivate more than one team at a time.
”Didn`t hurt, I guess,” he said.
The Bears and the Eagles play in Chicago on Sept. 14, second game of the season. Ryan is already setting his trap.
”We`ll be a young team trying to learn our defense and offense, playing the world champions. What the heck? But anything can happen on Sunday,” he said.
Jeff Fisher, a former Bear defensive back who joined Ryan as backfield coach, said the Eagles are hoping the autobiography by Bear quarterback Jim McMahon is released the week of the Eagles game and will cause enough intrasquad turmoil to distract the Bears.
The Eagles have the second-toughest schedule in the NFL based on last year`s records, but Ryan likes the way it falls. After opening against the Redskins in Washington, the Eagles don`t have to face another division rival until the sixth week.
By then, Ryan expects to have franchise running back Keith Byars of Ohio State completely rehabilitated from his foot injury.
By then, maybe Ryan will have tempered his remarks and sound more like the stereotypical head coach. Then again, maybe not.
”I`m still Buddy Ryan,” he said. ”I`m not going to change who I am.”
Ewbank remembered Ryan as outspoken, too.
”But he would do it behind the scenes. He wasn`t quoted as much,”
Ewbank told a group of Philadelphia reporters. ”I hope you don`t kill him. Sometimes he treads where angels fear. I like people who are themselves, but sometimes you`ve got to be careful what you say.”
