A TOUGH SEASON FOR THE BUDDY SYSTEM : Who Made a Mistake, Ryan or Eagles? Or Did Rookie Coach Talk Too Much?

For James David Buddy (I Didn’t Make a Mistake, Either) Ryan, the famous rookie head coach, the Eagles have come home to roost, and not in first place in the NFC East, as he predicted.

They’re tied for last. Nor will they go 8-0 in the division, as he said they would.

Try 0-5 so far.

Of course, in Philadelphia, which has a long history of patience, some observers think everyone understands.

“I think most of the Philadelphia fans are knowledgeable,” Ryan said in a telephone hookup from Anaheim, where his team has taken refuge between last week’s loss in Seattle and Sunday’s game against the Raiders. “My mail is running about 90-1 positive.

“They realize I didn’t take a dynasty over there. We had to get rid of some people, and I made those decisions quick. The only thing, I wanted people I thought could put us in the Super Bowl. We made a lot of changes, but if they didn’t need to be made, well, (former Coach Marion) Campbell’d still be there.”

Uh-huh. Well, maybe they aren’t that patient.

Said Howard Eskin, a Philadelphia TV anchorman and host of one of the city’s several rough-and-tumble radio talk shows: “I’d say the callers are probably 5-1 against. To be kind, maybe 4-1 against. Some of them even want to fire the guy. I think it’s early for that.

“I don’t think he’s a bad guy, but I think the Eagles made a mistake. They could have had Jim Mora (the old USFL Philadelphia-Baltimore Stars coach who is now busy turning around the New Orleans Saints). He was right here.

“Buddy thinks people are after him. He comes in with this attitude of infallibility. Great, you’ve got to be positive. But I think everybody would understand if he’d just say, ‘Hey, I’ve made some mistakes, I’ve learned from them, they’re going to make me a better head coach.’

“He was asked a couple of weeks ago. He said, ‘The only mistake I’ve made was not taking Jimmy Giles off the waiver wire.’ ”

Giles is a tight end. This was interpreted as a shot at Ryan’s own tight end, John Spagnola, who has been criticized more than occasionally, though he remains an Eagle.

Dozens of others, such as halfback Earnest Jackson, learned they were flunking the course by picking up newspapers or turning on radios. Then they hit the waiver wire. Ryan, on his own radio show, said of Jackson: “There are only three things he can’t do: run, catch and block.”

Of course, Ryan’s conduct came as no surprise. As an assistant with the Bears, Ryan wreaked almost as much havoc on his team as his 46 defense did on opponents. He delighted in reminding people that Coach Mike Ditka had nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with it. He called William Perry “a wasted draft choice” and, when Mike Singletary was a rookie, verbally laid him out. Singletary, of course, wound up considering Ryan a second father.

So it shouldn’t have shocked anyone that day in Ryan’s first camp in Chester, Pa., when he picked up a microphone and told a crowd, estimated at 4,000: “We’re going to win the NFC East.”

Had he left himself room to maneuver?

He then added they’d go undefeated in division games.

Had he been talking too much?

“Oh, not really,” Ryan said Wednesday. “I knew we were going to have a young football team. I figured if I gave ‘em somebody to get on besides those young players, they’d get me instead. I can handle it. It doesn’t bother me.”

You think the bald eagle is an endangered species? It had nothing on the Philadelphia Eagles in that camp. Dozens of them got their comeuppance publicly and an airplane ticket soon thereafter.

Many are starting elsewhere, including Jackson in Pittsburgh; safety Ray Ellis, who was cut, and linebacker Anthony Griggs, who was traded for a low draft pick, for the Cleveland Browns; linebackers Reggie Wilkes and Joel Williams, both traded for low picks, for the Atlanta Falcons.

“The handwriting was definitely on the wall,” Ellis said from Cleveland, where Coach Marty Schottenheimer has said Ellis should get Pro Bowl votes.

“Buddy even said to the media, ‘Ray Ellis seems to be concerned with getting his starting job back. Hell, he’s in jeopardy of not making the team.’

“I think I was just a victim, someone Buddy Ryan didn’t like. Sometimes you run a guy off if you just don’t like him. Maybe he just liked someone more than Ray Ellis.

“There’s nothing personal. I respect any man who stands up and is his own man. There’s no doubt, Buddy Ryan is his own man.

“Again, it’s just my opinion but I would say they’re a very unhappy club. A lot of players have been shipped in and shipped out. A lot of things aren’t going their way. A lot of predictions haven’t been lived up to. And they aren’t winning. They’re coming down to the end of the schedule and they have a lot of tough games left. They don’t have much to look forward to, other than Christmas.”

There have been fiascoes aplenty. Ryan tried pulling quarterback Ron Jaworski for Randall Cunningham on third and long. The Eagles allowed 600 yards rushing in the first three games.

Ryan demoted the old left guard, Steve Kenney, a starter since 1981, saying he wanted to “upgrade the position.” Then he went through five players before settling on one, Nick Haden, whom the Raiders cut last summer.

The Eagles have allowed 73 sacks, breaking the NFL record, with four games left.

At the same time, his defense is improving. From weeks 8-11, the Eagles were second in the NFL in yards allowed, sixth against the rush and fifth in points allowed. They have some talented young players, who say they’re up to the challenge of playing for their Buddy.

Doesn’t it add a lot of pressure?

“It brings out the man in you,” Cunningham says.

Ryan thinks it’s all worked out for the best.

“I really thought we’d have 4-5 more wins now and have a chance” he says. “I wish it had come true. But I did it for a purpose. Right now, the players are relaxed. They’ve got great morale.

“People out to blame me for predicting a win are going to blame me next year, too. Because I’m a positive guy.”

Now that he’s already forecast a division title, what’s left?

Of course, Super Bowl XXII. San Diego, here he comes. Nothing can stop him now.