Eagles Outraged

Eagles outraged

-- PHILADELPHIA - Many of the Philadelphia Eagles may have been thinking it, but Keith Jackson and Reggie White came out and said it: If Buddy Ryan isn't going to be around, they don't want to be either.

``The owner's stupid,'' Jackson, an All-Pro tight end, said. ``Get that on the record.''

Defensive tackle Jerome Brown, another Pro Bowl starter, echoed, ``I think it's kind of stupid.''

Off in a different corner, defensive tackle Mike Pitts added, ``I think the feeling around the entire team is that this was a mistake.''

``Un-(bleeping)-believable,'' linebacker Seth Joyner said. ``I don't care who they bring in here. It's like all the positives about the team are just gone out the window right now.''

``I don't think I want to play here any more,'' All-Pro defensive end Reggie White said.

Jackson, who was named to the Pro Bowl for the third straight year, then said he probably would ask his agent to request that the Eagles leave him unprotected as a Plan B free agent.

``I'm going to see if I can get on Plan B and get out of here,'' Jackson said. ``I really want to do that. If I'm not, I'm going to cause a lot of trouble to get out of here.''

Notes

-- Jimmy Johnson didn't have a player of Pro Bowl caliber or one good enough to make even second team all-NFL.

Somehow, however, his Dallas Cowboys won seven games and got into playoff contention, and that was good enough to earn him NFL Coach of the Year honors in just his second season in the league.

Dallas, 1-15 in 1989, had a six-game improvement under Johnson, who brought Miami a national championship before he answered the call from Jerry Jones to replace Tom Landry. He didn't win in a landslide, just edging the Raiders' Art Shell, 18 1/2 votes to 16.

Seattle's Chuck Knox received four votes and finished eighth.

-- The New York Giants returned to practice for the first time since last week and worked out for two hours under a news blackout.

It marked the first time this year that practice was completely closed to the media.

``You missed it,'' Lawrence Taylor said after the workout to prepare for Sunday's NFC semifinal against the Chicago Bears. ``They were giving away prizes and free lunch. They used a new defense and I'm going to play quarterback.''

Compiled from Associated Press, Knight-Ridder Newspapers and Allentown Morning Call.