Jessie Tuggle was a Georgia man. He was born in Griffin, Georgia and starred at Griffin High. He went to Valdosta State, in Valdosta, Georgia, and was a three-time All-Conference pick and the Gulf South Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year in his senior season. He went undrafted, so he joined the Atlanta Falcons for training camp in 1987. Tuggle made the team, and proceeded to miss just one game due to injury over his first 12 seasons. Tuggle wound up playing his entire 14-year career with the Falcons, set the Atlanta record for games played by a defensive player, and made five Pro Bowls. And if he hadn’t been on some of the worst defenses of his era, he might be remembered more fondly today.
How bad were the Falcons defenses during the Tuggle era? The graph below shows Atlanta’s defensive DVOA in each year (using estimated DVOA for ’87 and ’88) plotted against the left Y-Axis (and remember, a positive number indicates a below-average defense) and the Falcons rank in points allowed plotted against the right Y-Axis (here, a larger number means a worse defense). In ’87, ’89, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’96, 99, and ’00, the Falcons defense had a DVOA of worse than 10%:
Why was the Atlanta defense so bad? Excluding Elbert Shelley, who made the Pro Bowl four times as a special teams player, just five defensive players other than Tuggle made the Pro Bowl a total of just 7 times for the Falcons during those 14 years.
- Cornerback Scott Case made the Pro Bowl in 1988, thanks to a league-high 10 interceptions.
- Cornerback Deion Sanders made the Pro Bowl three years in a row, from ’91 to ’93.
- Defensive end Chris Doleman, in one of his two years with the Falcons, went to Hawaii in 1995.
- Cornerback Ray Buchanan and safety Eugene Robinson earned Pro Bowl nods for the ’98 Falcons.
And that was it. The coaching staff wasn’t exactly populated with defensive powerhouses, either:
| Reg. Season | Playoffs | Coordinators | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year ▲ |
Coach | G | W | L | T | W-L% | G | W | L | Result | Offense | Defense |
| 1987 | Marion Campbell | 15 | 3 | 12 | 0 | .200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Rod Dowhower | ||
| 1988 | Marion Campbell | 16 | 5 | 11 | 0 | .313 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Rod Dowhower | ||
| 1989 | Campbell/Hanifan | 16 | 3 | 13 | 0 | .188 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Rod Dowhower | ||
| 1990 | Jerry Glanville | 16 | 5 | 11 | 0 | .313 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ray Sherman | Doug Shivley | |
| 1991 | Jerry Glanville | 16 | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Lost Div | June Jones | Doug Shivley |
| 1992 | Jerry Glanville | 16 | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 0 | 0 | 0 | June Jones | Doug Shivley | |
| 1993 | Jerry Glanville | 16 | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 0 | 0 | 0 | June Jones | Doug Shivley | |
| 1994 | June Jones | 16 | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Jim Bates | ||
| 1995 | June Jones | 16 | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Lost WC | Joe Haering | |
| 1996 | June Jones | 16 | 3 | 13 | 0 | .188 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Rod Rust | ||
| 1997 | Dan Reeves | 16 | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 0 | 0 | 0 | George Sefcik | Rich Brooks | |
| 1998 | Dan Reeves | 16 | 14 | 2 | 0 | .875 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Lost SB | George Sefcik | Rich Brooks |
| 1999 | Dan Reeves | 16 | 5 | 11 | 0 | .313 | 0 | 0 | 0 | George Sefcik | Rich Brooks | |
| 2000 | Dan Reeves | 16 | 4 | 12 | 0 | .250 | 0 | 0 | 0 | George Sefcik | Rich Brooks | |
Tuggle’s average defense was terrible by any standard for a top level defender. From ’87 to ’00, no team allowed more yards or allowed more points than the Falcons. Tuggle started 189 games for Atlanta during that time, more than Scott Case and Lester Archambeau — the two defenders with the most starts in that period other than Tuggle — combined.
So how good was Tuggle? Did the Atlanta defense make him look worse than he was? Would he have been a Hall of Famer on a competent defense?