Falcons Taking Time to Start ‘Prime Time’

Who pulled the plug on Deion’s neon? Why the sour face? Don’t say the media’s been duped again by a player who milked the press during contract negotiations and then stuck everyone with an empty carton.

It may be too soon to tell with Atlanta’s Deion Sanders, who’s been in the league less than a month. But he’s definitely lowered the wattage on his prime-time image. In Wednesday’s conference call with Los Angeles reporters, Sanders was more exciting than a dial tone, but it was close.

Apparently in the mood to reach out and touch no one, Sanders might as well have left a 1-900 number. Word is that Sanders has been throwing the cold shoulder to everyone lately. He even walked out of an ESPN interview recently.

The first mistake was asking Sanders about his two faces, Prime Time Deion vs. Quiet Time Deion.

“I usually hang up on that question,” he said.

Was the caller still there? Yes, he was. Barely.

Sanders doesn’t yet qualify for Brian Bosworth’s take-the-money-and-bust status, because it appears Sanders actually will play regularly in the National Football League.

In fact, Sanders seems more upset that the Falcons have taken their sweet time in getting Prime Time on the field.

What are they waiting for? Three days after he signed, Sanders returned a punt 68 yards for a touchdown against the Rams. Last week against Green Bay, he had a 96-yard kickoff return called back because of a penalty.

Yet, Sanders has played sparingly at cornerback, his chosen position.

“I never sat on the bench for anyone in my whole life,” Sanders said. “You know, I promised to get in there and play and contribute, and I haven’t been able to do so, except on special teams. Anybody can play special teams.”

Sanders talked his way onto the kickoff return team last week, and hinted he wouldn’t mind being switched to offense to get closer to the action.

“I don’t think they would let me, but I would definitely like to play offense,” he said. “I love to get that ball when it’s supposed to come to me instead of on punts and kickoffs, when they kick away from us.”

Sanders played a bit at wide receiver in last year’s Hula Bowl, but didn’t catch a pass.

It’s very clear, though, Falcon Coach Marion Campbell, a defensive mind, will keep Sanders in the secondary, with perhaps an occasional excursion on offense. Campbell said Wednesday that Sanders’ future is at cornerback, not quarterback.

“Yes,” Campbell said. “And he’s going to be outstanding. He has talent like I haven’t seen.”

Sanders wants to know when everyone else gets to see it.

“He’s a very confident guy,” Campbell said. “He wants to play, he’s anxious to play, we want him to play. Our intention is to start getting him out there when we feel everything’s in place.”

Through four weeks, Sanders has been relegated to the prevent safety position in the Falcons’ eight-defensive back pass defense.

He’s being worked more into the regular defense this week, but hasn’t quite caught on to the Falcons’ schemes.

“We have a very complicated system,” Sanders said. “I think our system is the most complicated in the NFL right now. It takes time to learn all the stuff. I think they really make it more complicated than it really is.”

Sanders, an obvious physical talent, wonders why he couldn’t just go out and cover Henry Ellard this weekend and see what happens.

“Yeah, that’s what I think,” Sanders said. “I just think you go up there and everybody gets a man. And if you get beat, you know who gets beat.”

And what of Sanders vs. Ellard?

“That doesn’t excite me,” Sanders said. “Just to see how I could do against him. Handling him out there, that’s what excites me. I don’t put none of those guys up on me, just like I don’t put me up on them. That wouldn’t make me happy just to line up against him. To be successful against him, that would make me happy.”

For now, Sanders does what he can. His kickoff return last week against the Packers was a typical Sanders crowd-pleaser, and it might have been the game-winner had it not been called back.

Yet Sanders, the league’s $4.4-million dollar man, felt worthless.

“Before the kickoff I told them, ‘we got to take this one back, you know, we need anything we can.’ And I took it back and they called it back. And it was just like I didn’t do nothing, I didn’t even play.”

Operator Sanders then interrupted to inform the media that three minutes were up. Prime Time was over.

Former Ram quarterback Hugh Millen came close to starting this week’s game against his former teammates at Anaheim Stadium. But it now appears that Atlanta starter Chris Miller will be back in time for Sunday’s game with the Rams.

Miller suffered bruised ribs in the third quarter of the Falcons’ loss to Indianapolis two weeks ago and sat out last week’s game against Green Bay.

In his first NFL start, Millen completed 20 of 28 passes for 294 yards against the Packers with a touchdown and one interception.

“He did a fine job moving the football team,” Campbell said of Millen. “All the players said he was excellent in the huddle. He was really excited about a chance to start. It just adds another good football player to our team.”

Millen was the Rams’ third-round pick of 1986, but was lost on waivers to the Falcons last season.

Ram Notes

Irv Pankey, who missed the 49er game with a lower back strain, practiced Wednesday and should start against the Falcons. . . . Gaston Green’s sore hamstring reportedly is better. . . . Frank Stams (thigh bruise) didn’t practice Wednesday and is questionable for Sunday. . . . The Rams have the NFL’s top-rated passer, Jim Everett, the leading rusher, Greg Bell, and the second-leading receiver in yardage, Henry Ellard. . . . Darryl Henley leads the NFL in punt returns with 17.8 yards per return.