PRO FOOTBALL / BOB OATES : Youngblood Belongs in the Hall of Fame

At long last, someone has recognized Jack Youngblood. Someone knows. Someone remembers that Youngblood, who will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame tonight, was probably the greatest defensive end of his time.

Beginning in the early 1970s, Youngblood played 14 years for the Rams. He never missed a game. He played three games--the 1980 Super Bowl among them--with a broken leg. He played in seven Pro Bowls.

Thus, it should be the Pro Football Hall of Fame that recognizes Youngblood on Jan. 30, the Saturday before the Pasadena Super Bowl.

That day, however, while the Hall of Fame board is meeting in Los Angeles, Youngblood will be playing for the flag football championship of Mexico in the Cuervo Margarita Bowl at Cancun.

He will serve as captain of one of the competing teams but it is conceivable that the Hall of Fame voters will remember him, too.

Why does it take so long?

“I was never on a Super Bowl champion,” Youngblood said the other day. “That game is so big that winning it, once, gives you more Hall of Fame exposure than playing eight or 10 regular seasons.”

A Sacramento radio station announcer now, Youngblood remembers that the many division winners for which he played in his Ram days all had a quarterback shortage.

“If we’d had Roger Staubach as our 1970s quarterback, I think we’d have won five Super Bowls,” he said.

With even one or two championship rings, Youngblood might have joined his friend Staubach in the Hall of Fame this year. Instead, he will be holding what he calls a public tryout camp for would-be Cancun flag football players Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Airport Marriott.

“Staubach was one of the two best I played against in 14 years,” Youngblood said. “The best was Walter Payton.”

Brister again: It has been a dozen years or more since anyone said that the road to the Super Bowl runs through Pittsburgh.

But this week, that’s where the most distinguished of the others in the AFC can be found, bound for playoff appearances in the snows and freezing winds of Three Rivers Stadium.

What is the difference between the 7-9 Pittsburgh Steelers of last season and this season’s 10-3 team?

“The new coach,” said all-pro cornerback Rod Woodson, identifying Bill Cowher, who has succeeded the retired Chuck Noll. “This is the same group of guys we had on the team last year.”

The Buffalo Bills, 9-4 after losing at home to the New York Jets on Sunday, can look forward to perhaps the tougher remaining schedule. After Denver Sunday, the Bills finish at New Orleans and at Houston.

The Steelers, at Chicago Sunday to play the fast-fading Bears, will close with home games against Minnesota and Cleveland.

Although the Steelers have lost quarterback Neil O’Donnell to a broken leg, that isn’t the same as losing Joe Namath. The new leader, Bubby Brister, has been the Pittsburgh starter for most of the last five seasons.

Cunningham again: On rare big days for quarterbacks Randall Cunningham and Mark Rypien, the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins edged back into the playoff picture Sunday, and the Eagles, at least, seem likely to stay there.

The Redskins (8-5) could lose their last three against Dallas, at Philadelphia, and against the Raiders.

In Philadelphia, the Cunningham story is probably the most curious of the year in the NFL. Benched not long ago, he played the last half so effectively in San Francisco last week that the Eagles would have had an upset, many said, had the officials spotted the ball correctly on the turning-point play in the fourth quarter.

Then against the charging Minnesota defense Sunday, Cunningham scrambled 12 times for 121 yards and completed 16 of 23 passes for 164 yards.

“It was like the old days,” Eagle tackle Ron Heller said.

Cunningham in the old days played spontaneously. Never a role-model quarterback, he went at it with the enthusiasm of a sandlotter. Though an uncommonly accurate passer, he relishes the give and take of a contact sport so much that to this day, he would really rather run than throw.

It was several weeks ago, after Cunningham’s return from an injury in 1991, that Philadelphia Coach Rich Kotite decided that the time had come to change Cunningham’s style. He tried to make a great improviser into an NFL pocket passer, and the results were disastrous.

Kotite’s lectures boomeranged. Thinking about passing made Cunningham fret about his passes instead of simply passing. And inevitably, he was overcome by doubts. Dissuaded from reacting freely, he began to aim the ball, and any baseball pitcher can tell you what happened then. Aiming at his receivers, he hit the ground instead, or the bleachers.

Kotite reversed gears last week. He told Cunningham to go out and just play. And in a wink, the old Cunningham returned.

Tennis’ Arthur Ashe calls it “playing in the zone.” NBA players call it unconscious when they talk about a teammate who has a can’t-miss night.

Or as Cunningham himself said: “This is just me--having the mind I (formerly) had.”

Injuries to their all-pro safeties probably will keep the Eagles out of the Super Bowl. But with their superb improviser playing unconsciously again, they have a chance.

Sims’ law: In San Francisco on Sunday, the Miami Dolphins’ above-average runners and blockers were somehow held to 40 yards rushing.

What difference should that make to a team that has Dan Marino at quarterback?

“If you can’t run the ball, then they tee off on the passer,” said Miami’s 305-pound guard, Keith Sims.

There in one sentence you have the NFL today.

But as Sims said, if a pro club can’t run, it can’t pass. It can’t protect the quarterback against defensive players who can rush the passer without worrying that a ballcarrier will run past them.

A winning team is simply one with the capability to earn first downs running in order to earn touchdowns passing.

And so Marino lost in San Francisco, where two other things seemed obvious:

--Ricky Watters’ injury is hurting the 49ers. The yards that Watters gained earlier on running plays this season have put them where they are. Without him in the January playoffs, they would be in big trouble.

--Marino is taking more sacks this year not because his offensive line is weaker but because he’s on a better team than usual.

Having a chance to win makes it worthwhile for him to wait longer for receivers to break open, a course of action that helps the defense get to him.

In the years when the Dolphins were setting records for fewest sacks, Marino threw the ball at the first sign of a rush. His reasoning probably was: Why take a licking when you can’t win anyway?

Quote Department:

--Irv Eatman, New York Jet tackle, on the retirement of wide receiver Al Toon after a series of concussions: “You look at Mike Utley and (Dennis Byrd), and I don’t think you can get paid too much to play this game.”

--Dave Shula, Cincinnati coach, on special teams: “I think they’re a good barometer for the effort and enthusiasm of the entire football team. You combine offensive and defensive players on special teams.”

--Tommy Maddox, Denver quarterback, on throwing three touchdown passes after two disastrous interceptions on his first two passes: “You can either crawl in a hole, or you can get mad and go out there and fight.”

--Lamar Lathon, Houston linebacker, on Cincinnati’s benching of quarterback Boomer Esiason: “Guys like Bernie Kosar and (Steve DeBerg), they’re good at the play-action, but Boomer is the best. He does that hump back, and you don’t know if he has the ball or not.”