THE NFL / BILL PLASCHKE : The Field Loosens Up for Tight Ends

It figures that even though he caught eight passes for a career-high 106 yards, one for a touchdown, the St. Louis Rams’ Troy Drayton was not awarded a game ball last week.

It also figures that it didn’t matter.

Because he took one.

“I took home the one from my touchdown,” Drayton said with a laugh. “It’s getting painted up right now. Going to put it on my mantle.”

Such is life this season for the NFL’s tight ends. If they want something, they are just taking it.

And people are starting to notice.

“You look around now, and everybody has not just one, but two good tight ends,” said Charles Bailey, Pittsburgh Steeler pro personnel coordinator. “These guys are going in motion. They are making bigger plays than ever.”

It is because with so many defenses forced to double-cover the league’s star receivers, that tight end has basically been set free.

“The days of Kellen Winslow and Todd Christensen are back,” said Steve Ortmayer, Ram vice president of football operations.

It seems there have always been Brent Jones, Jay Novacek, Eric Green and Shannon Sharpe. But now there are others.

Tony McGee, former Rose Bowl star from Michigan, now with the Cincinnati Bengals, has caught more passes, 20, than all but five other receivers in the AFC. Keith Cash has become the money receiver in Kansas City.

Wesley Walls, a New Orleans Saint journeyman, has scored two touchdowns in four games after having scored only five in his previous five seasons . Ben Coates still hasn’t caught a touchdown pass in New England, but his astonishing record of 96 catches for a tight end last season may never be broken.

Then there is Drayton, finally catching passes after complaining about boredom for two years in Anaheim. His team is unbeaten, he is playing like a potential heir to the NFC Pro Bowl berths held by Novacek and Jones, and he can’t wait to tell the world he told them so.

“The last couple of years in Los Angeles were like a bunch of broken promises,” said Drayton, a second-round draft pick. “I remember riding back on a bus after a game with Jim Everett, and he asked me how many balls did I catch that day. When the quarterback doesn’t know how many balls you’ve caught, you know you haven’t been thrown any.”

So far, new offensive coordinator Jack Reilly has spread out the offense enough that Drayton, who runs as well after a catch as any tight end in the league, has caught 202 yards’ worth of passes in the last three weeks.

He ought to. He works so hard. After an afternoon practice during the Rams’ grueling-hot training camp last summer, he passed out on a cafeteria floor.

His teammates thought he had died. He was carried, unconscious, to the training room, where it was discovered he was dehydrated. After a two-day hospital stay he returned to the field, demanding the ball, getting in people’s faces, a typical tight end.

THE ANTI-SHULAS

On the same weekend as the heralded second meeting of Coach Don Shula’s Miami Dolphins and son Dave Shula’s Cincinnati Bengals, another father-son reunion is taking place.

But the battle Monday night between Buffalo Bill offensive coordinator Tom Bresnahan and his son, Cleveland Brown linebacker coach Chuck, is not nearly so slick or scripted.

Chuck, facing his father for the first time, admitted that his two oldest girls have spent the week stomping on grandpa’s Buffalo Bill apparel in their bedrooms.

He also said that his mother, Elaine, is so torn up about the game, she cannot bear to watch it in person, and will not make the short drive down from Buffalo to attend.

He said he and his dad have talked only once this week, and only briefly. He said he would use his knowledge about his father against the Bills, and expected his father to do the same.

“Sure, I know some things he likes to do . . . and sure, I’ve talked about those things this week,” Chuck admitted. “We both realize what’s going on here.”

It’s called real life, something that seems oddly missing from the Shula sugarfest.

THE WAY WE HEAR IT

--Al Davis may ship AWOL Oakland safety Patrick Bates to buddy Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys before the trading deadline in two weeks. And won’t Bates and Darren Woodson make a pair. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Bates walked away from the Raiders and a guaranteed $955,000 contract. This 1993 first-round draft pick has hated the organization from the moment he was benched. He walked out last year after a fistfight with receiver Daryl Hobbs, but was coaxed into returning.

--One reason the 49ers are missing one cornerback and one featured running back is that President Carmen Policy might have been too involved in working with league policy this summer--like the Hollywood Park deal--to keep his sharp eyes on his own team.

--If the 1996 draft were held today, two of the top five picks would be from the Southland--UCLA tackle Jonathan Ogden and USC’s Keyshawn Johnson. The three others, in no particular order, would be Texas A&M; junior running back Leeland McElroy, Illinois linebacker Simeon Rice, and Florida State quarterback Danny Kanell.

Of course, this time last year, the consensus No. 1 pick was Brigham Young quarterback John Walsh. Seven months later he was taken by the Cincinnati Bengals in the seventh round, 213th overall.

BETWEEN THE LINES

--The Atlanta Falcons are 3-1, yet they have been outscored by 15 points, outgained by 14 yards, and defeated teams with a combined record of 1-10.

Meaning? With Craig Heyward hobbling, they might win three games the rest of the season.

--Since their opening-day, last-second loss to the New England Patriots, the Browns have yielded four touchdowns in three games, quarterback Vinny Testaverde has thrown 86 passes without an interception, and they have outscored opponents, 68-30.

Meaning? With only three of their final 12 games against teams with winning records, the Browns might not lose again.

--Since losing cornerback Kevin Smith to an Achilles’ tendon injury in the first game of the season--a shutout of the New York Giants--the Dallas Cowboy secondary has yielded seven touchdowns passing in three games.

Meaning? The problem with Deion Sanders’ contract is, they aren’t paying him enough .

--Steve Bono, Kansas City Chief quarterback, has completed passes to 10 teammates. There has been a different leading receiver in each of their four games--a wide receiver, a tight end, a fullback and a tailback.

Meaning? Bono is running the “West Coast” offense better than anyone dreamed he could. Watch this team in December.

--During their 240 minutes’ worth of games, the Jacksonville Jaguars have led for exactly 8 minutes 29 seconds.

Meaning? The league guessed wrong in thinking that with free agency, the league’s talent pool would be deep enough to stock two expansion teams. The Jaguars and Carolina Panthers are as bad as their expansion predecessors, none of which won more than three games.

FINAL NOTE FOR A FINE MAN

On draft day three years ago, Dick Steinberg, general manager of the New York Jets, picked a stumpy running back from West Virginia.

It was the fifth round. The Jets didn’t need a running back. Steinberg took him anyway, and spent the last two years telling this unbelieving fellow that he would one day be a star.

Well, on Sunday against the Raiders, Adrian Murrell will finally become the Jets’ starting running back.

“What irony,” said Gary Wichard, Murrell’s agent. “The week Dick is buried is the week one of his favorite picks is finally getting a chance.”

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QUICK KICKS

* THE RALPH FACTOR: Rich Brooks, new coach of the St. Louis Rams, admitted that for 10 or 11 years as coach at the University of Oregon, he nervously vomited before every game.

“You’d never walk out to the field with him because you never knew what you were going to step in,” said Steve Greatwood, Ram assistant coach.

Brooks says his stomach problems have been cured. We’ll take his word for it.

* STRANGE DESERT SIGHTINGS: Al Roberts, Arizona special teams coach, gave his team an unusual pep talk with large cards before a game.

On one of the cards was written, “Cal.” Another said, “Monica.”

The Cal card was to remind the players of Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles, in hopes that the team would develop a workmanlike spirit.

The Monica card, for tennis player Monica Seles, was to remind these wonderful team players not to stab each other in the back.

* MISCAST: Steve Young, San Francisco 49er quarterback, will film an episode of “Beverly Hills 90210” next week. He will play himself in an episode that has one of the students giving Young to another student as a birthday present.

This is occurring on the anniversary of Troy Aikman’s memorable screen debut in an episode of “Coach,” in which Hayden Fox wanted Aikman to impregnate his wife.

* ONLY IN CINCINNATI: You have to love the Brown family, the Bengal owners who seem charmingly caught in a time warp.

Nancy Brown, wife of Bengal President Mike Brown, painstakingly cut and pasted together bedsheet banners of 20 Bengal players--complete with names, photos and numbers. Then she, a niece and a nephew hung them in a Riverfront Stadium end zone.

“It’s just a thing to get the fans and players thinking positive,” she said.

One question: How long will it be before her players find a way to autograph the banners and sell them?