Wednesday, December 29, 1999

Gailey: Tucker's breakout game could be 'beginning of something big'
By JAIME ARON
AP Sports Writer

IRVING, Texas (AP) — Throughout his ill-fated training camp in Cincinnati, his six weeks on the Green Bay practice squad and his spring in Europe, Jason Tucker always believed he could make it in the NFL.

Now, he has proof.

Tucker, the last player to make the Dallas Cowboys coming out of training camp, caught seven passes for 128 yards and a touchdown and returned six kickoffs for 203 yards in a 31-24 loss to New Orleans last Friday.

The lanky receiver set club records for total yards (331) and kickoff yards, upping his season average to 26 yards per kickoff return, third-best in the NFL.

He would've had even more against the Saints, but a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown was chopped to 32 yards because of a holding penalty.

“I thought it was going to be my first touchdown,” Tucker said, smiling broadly as he shook his head. “Then I saw the flag and said, `Oh, no. Not after that long run.' ”

Two quarters later, Tucker got his TD.

On a drive that began with him returning a kickoff 34 yards and on the play after he made a stretching 15-yard grab, Tucker caught a pass over the middle and dragged two defenders just enough to fall into the end zone. The 21-yard play gave Dallas a 14-10 lead.

The most impressive part of Tucker's big game was that all his catches came in key situations.

An 18-yard slant set up the Cowboys' first touchdown. Consecutive catches for 22 and 11 yards enabled Dallas to escape its own end zone in the second quarter. And, in the final minutes, his 31-yard grab on third-and-10 put the Cowboys on the Saints' 6.

“You hope it's the beginning of something big for Jason,” Dallas coach Chan Gailey said. “The thing that gives you a bit of an idea that it might be is that he had been somewhat building up to that.

“To say that we can sustain that type of performance over a long time might be stretching it. But something similar to that, you'd hope we could get.”

Quarterback Troy Aikman thinks it's possible.

“He's really made the most of his opportunities,” Aikman said. “He's probably been one of the most consistent guys we've had.”

Tucker's career has blossomed quickly after a slow, bumpy start.

After a nice junior season at Texas Christian in 1996, he was suspended for his senior season because of unspecifed off-field violations. Still, the Bengals took him in the sixth round of last summer's draft.

A hamstring problem limited him in camp and Cincinnati released him. The Packers later signed Tucker, then waived him without ever putting him on the active roster.

He joined the Cowboys soon after, but instead of working out with the team he was sent to NFL Europe, where he caught 26 passes for 454 yards and three touchdowns for the Rhein Fire. A month later, he was in the Cowboys training camp.

Gailey first saw the 6-foot-1, 182-pound Tucker as “a pretty skinny guy who can run fast.” The more he saw, the more he liked, eventually keeping Tucker as a sixth receiver, one more than usual.

His first catch, a 6-yarder, came in the fourth game, against Philadelphia, after Michael Irvin was injured. By November, he had moved up to No. 3. Then Ernie Mills pulled a muscle warming up for a Dec. 5 game and Tucker became a starter.

Mills was supposed to return against New Orleans. Instead, Tucker got his fourth start and had his best game.

“There was nothing that said I was going to have a big game, you just go out and expect to have one,” he said. “All great players do that. Maybe I can get to that status of being a great player one day.”

At Christmas, Tucker reflected on his whirlwind year.

“It's been a long haul, knowing where I came from in training camp, being the last man to make the roster, not expecting to play much this season and now I'm here in the starting role,” Tucker said. “There's no pressure on me. I don't have the label of being a big playmaker, so I can just go out there, enjoy myself and make the big plays when they come my way.”