NEWSMAKER : Falcons’ Bruce Improves, Along With His Clippings

When it came time to personalize his locker-room cubicle earlier this season, Aundray Bruce, budding interior decorator and then-struggling Atlanta Falcons linebacker, decided to go with a journalistic motif.

It’s now. It’s hip. It’s annoying.

With that in mind, Bruce, the first pick in the 1988 draft, chose something from the Atlanta Journal and Constitution collection, a smart-looking headline that now graces his inner sanctum. It reads:

“Falcons’ No. 1 Question:

Is Aundray Bruce a Bust?”

Four months, 6 sacks and 2 interceptions later, it seems as if the answer is no. But it was touch and go for a while as the celebrated Bruce stumbled in the darkness of rookiedom, bruising his ego and prompting questions about his ability in the process.

Now all is supposedly well. Bruce is improving and so are the Falcons, who will play the Rams Sunday at Anaheim Stadium.

“I don’t think that the fans realize that you’re only human,” Bruce said. “All they see is a guy who was picked first, and they expect him to come out and be an instant star. But it isn’t like that.

“You’ve got to make some errors to learn. I think I’ve learned. I’m not a wizard at it yet, but I’m beginning to get a total view of what this ballgame is about.”

About time, what with the occasional Bruce-bashing that was going on.

Former Raider coach John Madden, now a TV football analyst, watched Bruce in a game against the New York Giants Oct. 23--the season’s midpoint--and later suggested that the linebacker lacked the knack.

“I’ve always believed that playing linebacker is 95% instinct,” Madden told Glenn Sheeley of the Journal and Constitution. “That’s the thing that worries me about Aundray Bruce. Once the ball is snapped, the instincts take over, and I think that’s where you evaluate him. And from what I’ve seen so far, they are not great instincts.”

Ernie Zampese, who directs the Ram offense, fondly remembers an October visit to Atlanta this season. The Rams scored 5 times in the first half and eventually won, 33-0, in part because of the many mistakes made by Bruce and his fellow rookie linebacker, Marcus Cotton of USC.

“When we played them the first time, they had the two rookie linebackers, so we were going (at both of them),” Zampese said. “There’s a lot of things they have to think about. Like all young guys, they’ve got to rush the passer, cover somebody, play the run, start getting the formations . . . It’s hard to sort it all out. It takes experience. That’s a tough spot.”

Tell it to Bruce, who just recently said he is beginning to feel and play less like a rookie and more like a veteran. For the first time in months, those many formations no longer boggle his mind. Stuffing the run is becoming second nature. Pass coverage is now a strength.

“He’s really, really playing well,” Zampese said. “He’s just playing a heck of a lot more freely.”

Bruce leads the Falcons in sacks and has the most of any rookie. He and Cotton have as many sacks as the New York Giants’ Lawrence Taylor and Byron Hunt had in 1981 and more than Buffalo’s Cornelius Bennett and Shane Conlan had in 1987. So there.

Two games ago, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Bruce dropped back in pass coverage and made off with quarterback Vinny Testaverde’s first attempt.

Big deal, you say. Testaverde, who leads the planet in interceptions, threw another errant pass.

But how about the game against the Raiders, when Bruce matched steps with Mr. Amazing himself, Bo Jackson, for 30 yards and intercepted the pass meant for Jackson’s hands?

“I wasn’t supposed to be there,” Bruce said. “I can’t explain it. I just felt it. I reacted.”

Anyone have Madden’s home number? Maybe he should know about this.

Bruce isn’t Pro Bowl material yet. Far from it. But he has his moments. And for a change, he can count them on more than one hand.

“I think I’m playing 100% better,” he said. “Everything is coming to me quickly now. I’m not out there looking; I’m reacting to everything I see.

“Mainly, at the beginning of the season . . . every time an offense came out, they were going to challenge my side. I could tell. I would have done the same, try to attack a young guy who’s trying to learn the system and learn the pressure of not playing well.

“Now I feel like a football player.”

Part of the problem has been location. Bruce was a sack specialist at Auburn. When he arrived in Atlanta and suddenly found himself ankle-deep in Coach Marion Campbell’s defensive schemes, Bruce became frustrated and eventually let loose with a bit of a mini-fit.

He complained--carefully--about having to line up and often cover the tight end. Why couldn’t he simply rush the quarterback? After all, that’s what he did best.

The Falcons had other ideas. They wanted a complete linebacker. At last, Bruce understands this.

“When they drafted me, I thought it was strictly Operation Rush,” he said. “I didn’t come into a situation where I could just line up on the open side and run free. It takes time. But as soon as I got the opportunity to get the taste of my Auburn days, it got much easier.”

Still, Bruce gives himself a grade of C for his first season. Too many mistakes, he said. Too long to understand his duties.

Now he knows. And if he ever forgets, there’s always that headline.