MIAMI – This is for William Andrews and Gerald Riggs and Buddy Curry, players he admired while growing up a loyal fan of the beleaguered Falcons.
This is for the 7,000 who bothered to show up at Fulton County Stadium on Christmas Eve, 1989, to check out a last-place battle with the Lions to close out another desultory season.
This is for the late Rankin Smith, the owner of the Falcons who passed away last year never having seen this ugly duckling of a franchise finally blossom into a thing of beauty.
“This is for them,” Jessie Tuggle says.
This is also for Jessie Tuggle, called “The Hammer” for his fearsome tackles, someone who also could be known simply as Mr. Falcon. No one has given more for 12 years to what often appeared to be a lost cause. No one has been disappointed more often, no one has agonized so passionately about the sorry state of his beloved, hometown Falcons.
For those dozen seasons, Tuggle has been the best linebacker you don’t know much about. He has hit virtually everything that’s moved, making more stops than your local train. Year after year, Tuggle has been more machine than man when it comes to dropping ballcarriers, yet his efforts could not lift the Falcons out of the gutter.
Through it all, this Georgia native, once deemed too small to ever make it in the NFL, refused to ever consider moving on in search of the success that always eluded him. There would be no jumping teams for Jessie Tuggle, who was determined to stick it out in Atlanta.
That is why of all the Falcons here this week, Tuggle most deserves to bask in the glow of a job well done. He has finally arrived at a Super Bowl and now that he’s here, Tuggle knows it was worth the long, long wait.
“What kept me going was trying to get here, to a Super Bowl,” Tuggle said. “I felt one day things would turn around for this organization. I didn’t know when. It’s been 33 years, this franchise has never, ever been to a Super Bowl, but now we’re here. This is something I worked for for a long time, something I wanted for a long time. This is something I helped make happen.”
On Sunday, Tuggle figures to emerge as a central figure in Super Bowl XXXIII, as he’s been one of the league’s best run-stoppers for a decade. The first order of business when facing the Broncos is containing Terrell Davis, and as the middle linebacker, Tuggle is the focal point in that quest.
“It’s a challenge for our defense to stop him, and I take that challenge personally,” Tuggle said.
There’s much about the Falcons Tuggle takes personally. He’s played his entire career in the state of Georgia, first at Griffin High, later at Division II Valdosta State. Barely 5-11 and 230 pounds, Tuggle was not selected in the 1987 NFL Draft, which is not exactly an endorsement of the scouting industry.
As the leading active tackler in the league, Tuggle has 11 consecutive seasons with at least 100 tackles and has missed only one game in his career. Yet prior to this season, he had played in only three playoff games, with his inspired play often going to waste on uninspired teams.
“If Jessie Tuggle is anywhere else the last seven years, he’s a guaranteed Hall of Famer,” said defensive end Chuck Smith, a teammate for seven years. “If he’s with the Niners or Cowboys or Broncos, there’s no questions asked.
“No one hits like this guy. On Sunday, he’s going to hit some people and knock the hell out of somebody. I’m talking about one of those ‘Ooohhh’ hits. He can really put a guy out for the day with the way he hits.”
Tuggle, 33, admits it was difficult growing up a Falcons fan, always asking himself “Why can’t they win?” When he was signed by the Falcons, he started to learn the reasons why. “We just couldn’t win no matter how hard we tried,” he said. “It seemed like there was a jinx on the organization.”
Others tried their best in Atlanta and then escaped to get Super Bowl rings elsewhere. Deion Sanders, Andre Rison. Even Brett Favre for one year. Tuggle stayed.
“I didn’t want to leave,” Tuggle said. “I never pictured myself playing for another team. I love this state and I love the city of Atlanta and I never thought about leaving, I really didn’t. I wanted to bring a championship to this city. It’s easy to jump teams, take the easy way out. It means so much more to me now, being on a team that three years ago only won three games ago to finding ourselves playing in the Super Bowl.
“There are so many great athletes that have been a part of the Atlanta Falcons that left to get rings, but I don’t know if it felt as good to them as how good it’s going to feel to me if we win this thing.”