The Man in Black Is in a Dark Mood : NFL: Coach Jerry Glanville’s Atlanta team lost to San Francisco two weeks ago, 56-17, and is having difficulty building on last season’s success.

“Jerry was a big contrast to our last coach and that’s what we needed, an upbeat guy.”

--Falcons’ owner Rankin Smith, on why he hired Jerry Glanville

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Turns out Smith may have been only half right. These days, Glanville sounds just plain beat. After last year’s playoff splash, the Falcons are 2-5, and the man who looks as if he got Zorro’s luggage by mistake wears black more like a mourner than a mutineer.

Call him a rebel with a headache.

“You caught me with a giant headache,” said a substantially subdued Glanville the other day. “Somehow, that last game is still banging around inside my head. So I’ve loaded up on some aspirin trying to eliminate whoever’s inside there banging with a hammer trying to get out.”

The demon he’s attempting to exorcise first appeared in the form of a 56-17 humiliation two weeks ago in San Francisco, and Glanville has suffered through an unbearable two weeks bearing the cross.

“It’s an unusual job,” he said, softly. “You’ve either got the best job in Atlanta or the worst, and there’s not much in between. And prior to the invention of the bye week, either feeling only lasted about seven days.

“So, when you feel real bad about what happened to you and you’ve got a bye week, then you would just like to get rid of the miseries you’re carrying around. It’s just a terrible feeling.”

A loss is not always just a loss, either. When the Redskins beat the Falcons, 56-17, a year ago, Glanville was undaunted. Atlanta continued to blitz throughout the game, and Washington continued to complete long passes. After the game, Glanville said, “When we get beat, we get beat bad because we continue to play.”

Ever since he was the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech in the late 1960s--telling his tacklers that “if there’s no space left on the ballcarrier, then hit somebody on your own team”--few have ever suggested a Jerry Glanville-coached team quit.

The Falcons may not have given up against the 49ers, but they were so shell-shocked they were unable to defend themselves.

“Really, the score isn’t as important as how hard you play and what you’re doing correctly,” Glanville said. “If the score was 56-17 and we played hard and did what we’re supposed to do, we can live with that. But we sort of varied from what we normally do, and we drifted away from the plan.

“What happened is we were trying to make the big play, make something happen, but we were leaving the scheme. We were ignoring the assignment of the individual and ended up making a big play for the other team.

“We just didn’t look like ourselves, and that’s what hangs on you.”

So, is Atlanta’s Red Gun jammed? Hardly. Quarterback Chris Miller, the guy who pulls the trigger on Atlanta’s version of the run-and-shoot, is the third-ranked passer in the conference and has completed more than 60% of his passes for 1,592 yards and 14 touchdowns.

The only real problem has been the Falcons’ habit of running and shooting themselves in the foot when it’s showdown time.

Last season, Atlanta won six games with rallies in the fourth quarter, including a 20-17 playoff victory over New Orleans.

This year, they’ve had the ball and the chance to win or tie late in the game three times but lost all three games, at Washington (24-17), at New Orleans (10-7) and at Miami (21-17).

“Last year, we won a lot of games on the last drive, and this year we’ve gotten the ball on the last drive and we’re going down to win it and then we haven’t converted,” Glanville said. “If we take it in at the end of those three games, that drastically changes your record. But it doesn’t really mean you’re playing much differently.”

The Falcons’ reaction to the last two tough losses has distressed Glanville more than their inability to pull off miracle victories. Each was followed by an uninspired, unfocused performance.

Remember, this is a man who doesn’t fool around when it comes to commitment. He lives by a do-it-100%-or-don’t-do-it-at-all credo. After Glanville had driven a stock car at speeds up to 175 m.p.h. during a NASCAR Winston Cup exhibition race, a fellow driver asked him how he dared go so fast.

Glanville: “You’re trying to live forever. I’m just trying to win this race.”

So it’s no wonder Glanville headed straight for the aspirin after yet another viewing of the game against the 49ers when his players failed to put the pedal to the metal.

“You see, I thought we really played well, and we had a chance to win at Miami,” he said. “We played our hearts out. I never saw any players play harder and that takes a piece out of you. We did the same thing against the Saints.

“But we backed up both games with not our usual game. If we spill our guts and we don’t win, you don’t get a week off to get over it. You have to come back and play that hard again the next Sunday.”

You can question his methods, but few doubt Glanville’s ability to motivate players. He uses a mixed bag of paranoia, camaraderie, intimidation and good-old-boy back-slapping that only he can pull off.

Bank presidents look like a zany bunch compared to most NFL coaches, but in a world where computers decide play selection and organizational skills top everybody’s resume, Glanville likes to create chaos out of order.

The stereo in the Falcon dressing room blares at a volume that renders a tape recorder--and, in most instances, the human ear--useless. He says he doesn’t want distractions to bother his team on the field, so he creates them off the field.

When he noticed too many smiles on his players’ faces during training camp last year, he scheduled a four-hour scrimmage with Seattle in Portland, Ore.. The Falcons flew to Portland, played the Seahawks and flew straight home. No posh hotel beds for the weary.

Generally, the us-against-them Falcons fight their battles behind closed doors, but signs of a rift between Glanville and his players began to show this year. After a long holdout by Andre Rison, Glanville held the popular Pro Bowl receiver out of the season opener. And Deion Sanders blamed Glanville for stalling the decision to allow him to play for the Braves in the World Series.

“I don’t think the feelings between the players and the coaching staff has changed,” Glanville said. “We all know where we’re going and what we’re trying to get done. But winning helps bury a lot of little problems that fester up when you don’t win.”

Are Glanville’s histrionics losing their effect? Or are the Falcons just getting sick of those awful belt buckles?

Rison says the “air is clean” in terms of his relationship with Glanville, and he thinks the team still respects the man in black.

“I can’t speak for every individual player on this team,” he said, “but as far as the team morale around Jerry, it’s still the same as last year. As far as I can see, the team is fine.”

Rison might not have checked the NFL standings lately, but you can bet the good folks of Atlanta have. However, in the words of another famous Atlanta rogue, frankly, Glanville doesn’t give a damn.

But he desperately wants to win. He wants it more than most rational people can fathom.

“Our expectations never change,” he said. “We want to play as hard as we can on each and every play and get into the playoffs. Our goal is always to get into the playoffs. Then, if you get in, you adjust your goals.

“You know, nobody can put more pressure on a coach than what he puts on himself. Nobody could make me feel any worse than I do when we don’t do things correctly, so I really don’t listen to others’ views. I don’t care about them.

“And I don’t care who they are. No owner, no general manager can put as much pressure on a coach as he puts on himself.”

OK, Jerry, but your owner does have one suggestion:

Cheer up.