Thanks in large part to the defensive linemen, the Eagles outrushed their opponents in 1978 for only the second time in 12 seasons. Ninth-year defensive end Manny Sistrunk was joined up front by young veterans Carl Hairston, Charlie Johnson, Lem Burnham and a couple of rookies: Dennis Harrison and Ken Clarke.

Drafted in the fourth round out of Vanderbilt, the 6-foot-8, 275- pound Harrison came to Philadelphia just happy to have been selected.

"If you go and look at press clippings back then, I wasn't supposed to make it to the NFL," said Harrison.

Fortunately for the defensive end who was nicknamed "Big Foot," his teammates apparently didn't read the clippings and took him under their wings.

"We had a very tight group of linemen. (They showed me) how to work out, how to be a leader," he recalled. "Just do your job and try to be better than anybody else."

Things started to turn around for the Eagles around the same time Harrison joined the team. Posting their first winning season since 1966 and their first trip to the playoffs in 28 years, they finished the 1978 campaign at 9-7. Two seasons later, Philadelphia won 12 of 16 games en route to the NFC title and a trip to Super Bowl XV in New Orleans.

DE Dennis Harrison

"We just didn't think we would lose," Harrison said. "It was a feeling. Everybody felt like they were on the same page about everything. And I think it was just determination from having the last couple years of frustration. Finally making the playoffs in '78 and then losing in the first round to Atlanta and then the next year losing to Tampa Bay, it just felt like this is going to be our time and we all felt that way."

Actually, it was not their time. The Oakland Raiders won the Lombardi Trophy by beating the Eagles, 27-10. Disappointed? Certainly, but the players and the fans had more to think about on that particular "Super Sunday" than touchdowns and tackles.

"You know, it's one of those things ... you didn't know what to expect," Harrison said. "People tend to forget that our Super Bowl, I think, showed the perspective of how football should be - where it's not all this grand thing. Because it was also the day that they released the hostages (52 Americans who had been held for 444 days after the United States embassy had been taken over in Tehran, Iran).

"If you remember, they had the big (80-foot long and 30-foot wide) yellow ribbon around the New Orleans Superdome (main entrance). They were thinking about flying them in for the Super Bowl and all that kind of stuff, so a lot more attention that Sunday was spent on the hostages being released than the Super Bowl, and rightfully so. That was more important than a football game."

In 1982, Harrison's fifth season, the NFL began officially keeping statistics for quarterback sacks. He led the Eagles with 10.5, six more than teammate Clarke and just one shy of league-leading Doug Martin of Minnesota.

"It was a shortened season that year (because of a players strike), but I'll take anything I can get," laughed Harrison, who was credited with 34 sacks during his seven seasons with Philadelphia.

The following year, Harrison was the only Eagle selected to play in the Pro Bowl. While appreciative of the recognition, he believed a teammate should have been acknowledged, as well.

"You had (Tampa Bay's Lee Roy) Selmon and (Dallas' Ed) "Too Tall' (Jones), guys who normally made Pro Bowls from the NFC, and we had Carl Hairston, probably the most underrated defensive end I've played with," Harrison explained. "If you look up stats and numbers of guys who made Pro Bowls at that time, their stats and numbers can't compare to Carl Hairston's.

"I don't think Carl got the recognition that he deserved. It's one of those things where you play and you get it and you're thankful that you get it, but you've also got to be satisfied with yourself as a player. I know Carl was that way. He was satisfied with himself as a player."

As was Harrison.

"When I look back on my career I think I did everything I could do. I felt like I always did my job," Harrison said. "I finished up with the Rams, 49ers and Falcons, but I loved Philadelphia's fans. I think they are the best and the worst and the best ... if that makes any sense."

Harrison's job now is to teach and coach football, girls basketball and boys track at Brentwood (Tenn.) Middle School.

"I've been here the last five years. I coached (football) for five years at Vanderbilt before that," he said. "I enjoy coaching. People can write as many books as they want about X's and O's, but coaching is coaching. You've just got to adapt to your level and I've worked on each level.

"In college, you have a better athlete and in middle school you take what you have and you work with it the best you can. You've got to be a little bit more patient. If you just work fundamental stuff, you should be safe from pee-wee football all the way up to pro football. It's all about fundamentals. And if you know me or you know anybody that knows me, I have fun at whatever I do."

Making his home in Nashville with his wife, Ida, the Harrisons have 12 children, including seven daughters: Idette, Danielle, Dianne, Della, Deedee, Isabelle and Dorie; and five sons: D.J., David, Daniel, Isaiah and Ian; and three grandchildren. David (NBA's Indiana Pacers) and D.J. (Finland) are professional basketball players.