Jessie Tuggle, one of the greatest players in Atlanta Falcons history, is on the fence about whether to attend Super Bowl LI on Sunday.
Tuggle, the ex-middle linebacker known as “the Hammer” for his crushing hits, is coming off recent knee replacement surgery and isn’t sure he wants to “hop around” Houston’s NRG Stadium.
Tuggle will be well represented, either way.
Eighteen years after Tuggle started for the Falcons in their first Super Bowl appearance, his son, former Clemson star Grady Jarrett, will start at defensive tackle for the Falcons in their second Super Bowl.
Whether Tuggle comes to Houston or watches at home in Atlanta on his 130-inch screen, he has a feeling his son is coming home with the Lombardi Trophy that eluded Tuggle and the rest of his teammates on the 1998 Falcons.
“We all pull for him to do something special, and he’s about to do it. I truly believe he’s about to do it,” Tuggle said Tuesday in a phone interview. “And it would be so cool for my kid walk away with a championship ring.”
Before the Falcons flew to Houston on Sunday, Tuggle told his son to play loose and have fun against New England.
If Tuggle could go back 18 years to Jan. 31, 1999, that’s the advice he would give himself before the Falcons faced the John Elway-led Broncos.
Tuggle, the man who had more tackles than any NFL player in the 1990s, missed several tackles in Denver’ 34-19 victory because he was so jacked up.
“I feel I was too hype, too tense, and didn’t let the plays come to me,” Tuggle said.
Jarrett was 5 when the Falcons last made the Super Bowl, and he’s never watched tape of the game.
But he appreciates his place in Falcons history – and his dad’s parting words last week.
“It’s been pretty cool for me to be on a Falcons team that made it back to the Super Bowl. It’s awesome,” Jarrett said Tuesday. “He feels like he was a little too hype for the game. So he just said, ‘Just keep your head and stick with what you do.’”
What the 6-foot, 305-pound Jarrett does is clog the middle of the Falcons’ 4-3 scheme. He had 47 tackles and three sacks during the regular season, but he also helps keep blockers off Atlanta’s young and talented linebacker corps.
Rookie linebacker Deion Jones led the Falcons with 106 tackles this season. He’ll only need 11 more to match Tuggle’s mark of 12 consecutive 100-stop seasons.
Jarrett lived with his mom growing up in the Atlanta suburb of Conyers, but maintains a good relationship with Tuggle.
During his first two NFL seasons, Jarrett would look up during games and see his dad’s name on the Falcons’ Ring of Honor at the Georgia Dome. There’s also a huge banner of Tuggle in the Dome’s club section.
Jarrett didn’t need to see his dad play to know his reputation.
“It ain’t no secret. A great player. The Hammer, man. I know all about it. I lived it,” Jarrett said. “To see his name up in the rafters, it was great.”
The weekend Jarrett became a Falcon was Betkanyon not so great.
Jarrett and his mother, Elisha, held a party at their home on the second night of the 2015 draft because Jarrett thought he’d be picked in the second or third rounds. They invited about 30 friends and family over to watch the draft and celebrate.
During the second round, someone smelled an odd odor coming from the second floor. A small fire soon engulfed the game room, where some young children had been playing.
Everyone escaped the house safely. But by the time firefighters put out the blaze, a pool table and a TV were destroyed and a couch was incinerated.
Jarrett lost his youth football league trophies and all the college recruiting letters he’d kept. But he was able to save his game-worn Clemson jerseys, although they were slightly damaged by soot and water.
“Luckily my college jerseys weren’t in the room. They were outside hanging in the staircase,” Jarrett said. “They were just real smoky. They didn’t burn up.”
As for the other personal items that were destroyed, Jarrett said: “It sucks. So I’ve got to make more memories.”
Jarrett and his mom stayed at a hotel that night and went to a cousin’s house the following day for the final four rounds of the draft. That afternoon Jarrett received a call from a 770 number – one of Atlanta’s area codes – and heard a Falcons official tell him they were going to take him in the fifth round.
Meanwhile at the Falcons’ facility, Tuggle was standing next to the podium when a season-ticket holder announced the fifth-round pick. A surprised Tuggle pumped his fist upon hearing his son’s name announced.
Tuggle has two sons in the NFL. Justin Tuggle is a linebacker who spent three seasons with Houston and is currently looking for a team.
“Everything that I achieved and now I have the opportunity to see my sons play the game that I cherish so much,” Tuggle said. “And it’s just extra special to see (Jarrett) play in the Super Bowl.”
Tuggle still remembers his missed tackle on Denver running back Terrell Davis in the backfield during Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami, and his near-sack of Elway.
After the play, Tuggle says Elway told him: “Hey Tuggle, you’re not going to get me today.”
“He was joking,” Tuggle said. “But I never did get him.”
Tuggle, who retired in 2000 after 14 seasons, is 51 now and doesn’t get around as well as he’d like after his knee replacement.
He wants his son to win the Super Bowl ring that no Falcons player has worn in the team’s 51-year existence. And then Tuggle has a request.
“I think I’d like to try it on,” he said, “just to say I put a Super Bowl ring on.”
[MORE: Complete Carolina Panthers coverage]
Joseph Person: 704-358-5123, @josephperson
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
