HE’S IN THE . . .LINE OF FIRE : Has the Polish Rifle of Eagles Popped Off Too Often? Jaworski Is Now on the Bench

You’ll have to excuse Ron Jaworski for wondering why.

The starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles since 1977, the same quarterback teammates recently named offensive captain, the same Jaworski who led the Eagles to their only Super Bowl appearance in 1981, was told to go to the end of the bench last Monday.

Funny, a few weeks ago Eagle Coach Marion Campbell was telling someone that Jaworski was having his best camp in years.

But let it be known that this was strictly a football decision, Campbell said. They took a long, hard look at the films and suddenly realized that Jaworski was 34 years too old. Campbell quickly ordered the burning of all first-year film clips of John Elway at Denver and called rookie quarterback Randall Cunningham to give him the good news.

Jaworski was wondering out loud if it was something he’d said.

No, Ron, they told him, we realize that everybody now and then flies off the handle and raps the new owner in the local newspapers.

No problem. We just think this new kid, the one who was 1 for 7 after he replaced you in the opener against the New York Giants, is ready to open some eyes around the league.

“I had nothing to do with this at all,” said owner Norman Braman, who purchased the Eagles from Leonard Tose April 29. “I believe in separation of owner and coach.”

OK, there was that one time, the day before training camp opened, when reserve quarterback Joe Pisarcik’s name disappeared from the Eagle roster.

Campbell, the coach, read about it in the tiny type under the transactions listings in the back of the sports section. He admitted publicly that he had nothing to do with the decision.

But that was training camp. Anyway, who was Joe Pisarcik?

“If I was asked to do something that was this major of a move, and was told I should do it, I would walk right through the door,” Campbell said at the press conference announcing his decision.

Jaworski, who had started 116 consecutive games for the Eagles from 1977 to 1984, is coming back from a broken ankle that also snapped his streak and forced him to miss the final four games last season.

He started last Sunday’s 21-0 loss to the New York Giants and was lucky to walk away alive. Playing behind an offensive line that you could use to rinse fettuccine, Jaworski was sacked eight times for 73 yards.

So when he walked into Campbell’s office Monday afternoon, Jaworski probably thought the Eagles were going to improve his disability insurance.

“My question was whether I was losing my job because of something I said in the newspapers or because of my performance,” Jaworski said. “If a coach says, ‘Hey, we feel someone is better than you,’ I could understand that. But if I lost my job because of a comment I made, that’s not right. Coach Campbell assured me it was a football decision, but I’m not totally sure it was.”

The problem with Jaworski--and it always has been--is that he can’t keep his foot away from his mouth. He was that way when he played for the Rams back in the 1970s. He’s as honest as a 6-year-old kid, and sometimes he gets spanked. Jaworski is not the guy you would send to a summit meeting.

So when Braman took over as owner of the Eagles in April, Jaworski had some questions. The first, of course, was about the contract extension he had arranged with the previous owner, Leonard Tose. Jaworski, going into his 13th NFL season, had worked out a sweet deal that would have paid him, in addition to a $400,000 signing bonus, $900,000 in 1985 and $1 million in 1986.

But Braman, who made his fortune selling cars, wasn’t ready to stand on his head to give Jaworski a better deal.

Braman vowed to stop the wild spending the Eagles had done under Tose, who all but gambled away his franchise.

Jaworski agreed in principal that spending needed to be reduced, then blinked twice when he found out that the rookie Cunningham would be making $410,000 this season, $10,000 more than Jaworski.

But the kicker came in training camp, when Braman predicted that the Eagles, 6-9-1 last season, would make the playoffs.

Begging the owner’s pardon, Jaworski said in the papers, but did Mr. Braman notice that four of last year’s starters--wide receiver Mike Quick, linebackers Joel Williams and Jerry Robinson, and defensive end Dennis Harrison--were not in camp because of contract disputes?

Jaworski also mentioned that he thought Braman was one of those owners who “seems to be a non-football person getting involved in the running of a football team, which may lead to problems down the road.”

Ouch.

“I heard through the grapevine that he was not too happy with the comments I made,” Jaworski said. “I’ve been around the press for 12 years, and they know the one thing I haven’t been is a yes-man. I’ve always been up front. If people can’t accept me, there’s not much I can do.

“I have to go to bed at night and not worry about telling lies. When you tell lies, you can’t remember them all. I’ve always been too damn honest, and maybe too opinionated. But that’s the way I am.”

And that’s why something didn’t click with Jaworski when he was benched Monday.

“Campbell said I had my best training camp,” he said. “That’s why the all the pieces of the puzzle just don’t fit. If I was going to lose my job as quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, I think I would have lost it at the end of the preseason. To lose on opening day on a day when I was sacked eight times and was 12 for 25 passing and we don’t score, well, it seemed like a good time to put the noose around somebody.”

Jaworski said he wants to finish his career in Philadelphia, but he will become a free agent Feb. 1.

And he’s not quarterbacking with blinders.

Braman, a slick politician who’s chummy with New York Congressman Jack Kemp and the Reagans, is an aggressive and visible owner--he’s on the cover of the Eagles’ media guide--who isn’t about to stand by and watch the Eagles lay another egg.

There are 14 new players with the Eagles this season. Only 10 players remain from the 1981 Super Bowl team.

And Braman has stood firm with the holdouts. Only Quick has returned.

W. C. Fields would have liked Robinson, the Eagle star linebacker, who wants out of Philadelphia in the worst way. He told Braman so on television Sunday night. A Philadelphia television station filmed Robinson watching the Eagles-Giants game at home.

Afterward, Robinson, mimicking comedian Eddie Murphy’s take-off on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, took the microphone, looked into the camera and made his plea to the city.

“ Hellooooo Mr. Braman,” Robinson said. “This is Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood. Could you please trade me to the West Coast? I’d like to play for either the 49ers or the Raiders.”

Star running back Wilbert Montgomery was traded to Detroit a week before the season opener.

The Eagles are making a move toward youth. Unfortunately for them last Sunday, the offensive line played like the Mouseketeers.

Left tackle Kevin Allen, the team’s No. 1 draft choice, has probably been replaying nightmares of Giants Leonard Marshall and Lawrence Taylor.

Allen was so embarrassed that he eventually was pulled and replaced by Tom Jelesky, also celebrating his NFL baptism.

Ken Reeves, a rookie, may start at right guard this week because of an ankle injury to Ron Baker.

And it didn’t help when left tackle Dean Miraldi reported to camp late this season, only to tell Campbell that he didn’t think he could play in Philadelphia because of the humidity.

Of course, the weak offensive line is one of the reasons that Campbell is going to the quicker Cunningham, who presumably will be more effective at a new game in Philadelphia called “Run for Your Life.”

“Mobility is a benefit, period,” Campbell said. “But that’s not going to take the heat off the offensive line. They’ve got to get better.”

Jaworski, although he thinks Cunningham is a swell guy, isn’t buying all the mobility talk.

“I’ve been playing this game for 13 years, and that’s the first time I’ve heard of a guy getting the starting job because he’s got more mobility,” Jaworski said. “If you select your quarterback on the ability to run, maybe you ought to make him a halfback.”

He said that Cunningham doesn’t realize what he’s walking in to.

Remember, this is Philadelphia, the city in which fans threw snowballs at Santa Claus a few years ago during a halftime show. These are people who wouldn’t think twice about booing the Phillies’ Mike Schmidt, who has just moved into 17th place on the all-time home run list.

Imagine what they could do to a rookie quarterback?

“I like Randall Cunningham,” Jaworski said. “I think he’s going to be a fine player. But this is a very difficult town to play in, especially at the quarterback position.”

Jaworski knows all about the fans of Philadelphia. In nine years, they’ve filled his ears with a few expletives.

Yes, the same Jaworski who holds Eagle passing records for attempts, completions, yardage and touchdowns. And don’t forget Super Bowl XV, that little thing Jaworski directed the Eagles to back in January of 1981.

He remembers a time when he completed nine passes in a row and got booed when he missed on the 10th.

You’d think that Jaworski, from Lackawanna, N.Y., son of lumber-mill worker, would have been as appreciated by Philadelphians as cheese steak.

“If I was Joe Fan in the stands, I’d think Ron Jaworski would be the kind of guy he could associate with,” Jaworski said. “I’m not a classy guy, I don’t have a lot of flair, I don’t run around with a lot of women. I’m down to earth. I’ve missed only one practice in 13 years and I’ve come back from every injury you can name.

“If I was a fan, I’d say, ‘That’s the kind of guy I like.’ But I haven’t been accepted. You don’t know how many nights I haven’t fallen to sleep thinking about that.”

Jaworski says he’ll help Cunningham all he can. And Cunningham is thankful for that.

“The decision is over with,” Cunningham said. “I can’t worry about it. I have to get down to business. Ron and I are good friends. He came up to me the day after and said, ‘Anything you need, I’ll help you with.’ When he told me that, it made me more relaxed about our friendship. That really was what I was worried about.”

Jaworski said he wants to play at least three more years and wants to play in Philly. He’s been around long enough to know he may soon be back in the starting lineup if Cunningham plays the way most rookie quarterbacks do.

But he can also sense a changing of the guard. He figures that the low-budget Eagles don’t have much use for a $400,000 reserve quarterback.

“When you’ve been around as long as I have, you know the business,” he said. “I was around Carroll Rosenbloom (the late owner of the Rams) for four years, and no one was tougher than that man. Then it was Leonard Tose and now Norman Braman.

“The man that owns the team now, he’s not going to stand pat, he’s going to keep moving. There will be changes week in and week out. Time will tell whether this was the right move.”

And maybe in Jaworski’s next city he’ll be able to break bread with the owner and make a complimentary remark about the picture of his wife on the desk. Maybe, the next time around, Jaworski will be able to run the other way when he sees a reporter on deadline who needs a scoop.

Maybe. . . . Naaahhh . RON JAWORSKI’S CAREER STATISTICS

REGULAR SEASON

YEAR TEAM G/S ATT. COMP. PCT. YARDS LG INT. TD 1974 Rams 5/0 24 10 41.7 144 22 1 0 1975 Rams 14/1 48 24 50.0 302 25 2 0 1976 Rams 5/2 52 20 38.5 273 42 5 1 1977 Eagles 14/14 346 166 48.0 2,183 55t 21 18 1978 Eagles 16/16 398 206 51.8 2,487 56t 16 16 1979 Eagles 16/16 374 190 50.8 2,669 53t 12 18 1980 Eagles 16/16 451 257 57.0 3,529 56t 12 27 1981 Eagles 16/16 461 250 54.2 3,095 85t 20 23 1982 Eagles 9/9 286 167 58.4 2,076 57 12 12 1983 Eagles 16/16 446 235 52.7 3,315 83t 18 20 1984 Eagles 13/13 427 234 54.8 2,754 90t 14 16 1985 Eagles 1/1 25 12 48.0 137 28 0 0 Totals 141/120 3,338 1,771 53.1 22,964 90t 133 151

PLAYOFFS

YEAR TEAM G/S ATT. COMP. PCT. YARDS LG INT. TD 1975 Rams 2/1 45 23 51.1 350 66 2 2 1976 Rams 1/0 0 0 00.0 0 0 0 0 1978 Eagles 1/1 35 19 54.3 190 27 0 1 1979 Eagles 2/2 61 27 44.3 403 63t 1 5 1980 Eagles 3/3 105 44 41.9 572 43 7 2 1981 Eagles 1/1 24 13 54.2 154 28 0 1 Totals 10/8 270 126 46.6 1,669 66 10 11