PAT HADEN : TNT’s Eye on the NFL

Pat Haden will again provide expert analysis when Turner Network Television opens its second season of NFL regular season coverage today as the Washington

Redskins play host to the Detroit Lions.

Haden joined the Rams in 1976 after a season with the Southern California Sun of the now-defunct World Football League and quarterbacking USC to United Press International’s version of the national title in 1974.

After retiring from the NFL following the 1981 season, he joined CBS, where he spent eight seasons as a college football announcer. Haden, an attorney, is a general partner with Riordan, Lewis & Haden, a Los Angeles venture capital firm. He is also on the board of trustees of USC, Boys Town, the Lifesavers Foundation and the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Los Angeles.

Haden discussed pro and college football with Steven Herbert.

Who do you see as the team to beat in the NFL this season?

When it’s the start of the season and everybody is healthy, it’s easy to pick who you think the best teams are. But the NFL is very much a classic case of Darwinism. Those teams that are healthy at the end have the greatest chance of winning. Having said that, to pick two teams that are going to be in the Super Bowl, I’d pick the Buffalo Bills in the AFC and the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC.

I still think with Joe Montana and Jerry Rice on offense, a pretty good defensive team and a well-coached team makes San Francisco the class of the NFC. But if Montana gets hurt, it’s a different team.

With the Bills, I think you learn a lot when you get to the brink of a Super Bowl win as they did in January. They’ve been very close the last few years. I think they are immensely talented and very well coached.

How far do you see the Rams coming back from 5-11?

I think they’ll be a wild card team. I do believe they have a lot of offensive talent. Many of the problems have been defensively. They are attempting an entirely new defensive outlook, so that will take some time and it’s still a big question mark. My instincts tell me they are going to be a much better defensive team than a year ago.

How far do you see the Raiders going?

The Raiders have an opportunity to play in the big one again. In their division, the Kansas City Chiefs will give them a good run for their money.

The Raiders really play well for Art Shell. I don’t know if it’s because he’s the first modern-day black head coach in the NFL and players feel there’s something at risk for them because of that and they play harder for him, but there’s a real affection for him as a head coach.

Let’s turn to college football, because you’re also identified with that sport. Seemingly everyone under the sun has suggestions on how to clean up college sports, so what are yours?

I’m not sanctimonious enough to say how to clean it up because there have been problems with it forever. It’s a trite statement that you can’t legislate morality, but it’s probably true.

You can point to some examples-Notre Dame, Michigan, Penn State and Stanford, to name four-that you can play at the highest level of competition, win and graduate a high percentage of your players and do it for the most part without cheating. I’m not giving specific reasons how you clean it up, just saying the paradigm is there and that it can be done. All those who say it can’t be done are kidding themselves because it is being done at certain places. So why can’t it be done at USC, UCLA, Oklahoma, Florida and everywhere else? It’s a cop-out to say you can’t do it.

We read so much today of college athletes being convicted of crimes. From what you know, are players engaged in that type of behavior more or is the media keeping track of it better than when you were in college?

There are two parts to the answer. I don’t think people were concerned, or it was covered up, not investigated or it didn’t make the news.

But in the last 15 to 20 years, there’s a different kind of young athlete. A lot of it is in the influence of money and television. They watch professional football. They hear about the kind of salaries these guys are making. They see the outlandish behavior some guys get away with. Brian Bosworth made a reputation more with his mouth than he did with his football instincts. And they say, ‘Hey, that’s the way I’m going to sign a $10-million contract, to be an obnoxious jerk.’

There’s a big difference between being an obnoxious jerk and a criminal, and there is no excuse for that. In certain circumstances, players change some when they get to a college campus. A lot of things happen to a guy from when he’s 18 to 21. A lot of things he never had a chance to become involved with before. Or sometimes they make mistakes and shouldn’t recruit these kids.

That was my next question. Are colleges admitting more athletes now who are “at risk” so they can go to bowls and get more money?

I don’t think so. I know USC, although its had its share of problems, well-documented in The Times, is much more difficult in admissions than when I was there. Absolutely no doubt.

Do you think part of the problem comes from the fact that athletes are coddled and treated special at such a young age today?

I was treated differently and specially from the time I was 14 years old. It is more so now. They didn’t have USA Today, where your picture is plastered all over the country.

I see this happen to athletes all the time. They get to feeling different and special. That’s our fault, not their fault. Back in the grammar school we should be patting the guy on the back who’s the top in the English class, math class or music class, as well as the guy who runs fast or jumps high.

It’s easy for me to say that, it’s hard to do that. Why give these guys so much more attention than people who achieve in other areas? Athletes are coddled. I was a product of that. But I had enough brothers and sisters where it didn’t go to my head, but a lot of people don’t, and it’s a dangerous trap an athlete can fall into.

The Detroit Lions visit the Washington Redskins today at 5 p.m. on TNT.