Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 27, 1995                   TAG: 9507270058
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: FROSTBURG, MD.                                LENGTH: Medium

`SKINS HIT MOTHER LODE OF TALENT WITH PATTON

``My mom was a big hitter,'' said the Washington Redskins' new starting right linebacker.

She played softball, right?

``She played football,'' Patton said. ``There was a women's pro football league, and she was a linebacker, too. ... She split open another woman's helmet making a tackle once.''

Barbara Patton was a 5-foot-4, 130-pound linebacker from 1972-76 for the Los Angeles Dandelions in the National Women's Football League. She made $25 a game.

Her 6-foot-2, 240-pound son, having moved from Buffalo to the Redskins as a free agent, has a four-year contract for $6.8 million that includes a $2 million signing bonus and a base salary of $900,000 this season.

So, Marvcus Patton, 28, comes by his football ability honestly. He's part of a retooled and improved Washington defense, and he's switching from the Bills' 3-4 set to the Redskins' 4-3. Actually, the scheme isn't that important to Patton, an eighth-round Buffalo draftee from UCLA in 1990.

``I came here because they really wanted me,'' Patton said a few days ago at the Redskins' training camp at Frostburg State. ``It's going to be fun playing with this defense and next to players like Rod Stephens and Ken Harvey. We're all big, strong guys and we all like to attack the ball.''

Harvey, a free-agent signee in 1994, went to the Pro Bowl from the left side of Washington's defense. Stephens, a former Georgia Tech star, moved from Seattle to fill the Redskins' middle linebacker spot. It's a $5.9 million trio this season, and one that's expected to make most of the tackles.

``In the 3-4 at Buffalo, I had to take on guards,'' Patton said. ``Here, the linemen tie up the blockers, leaving the linebackers free to make plays. That sounds good to me.''

Andre Collins, who wasn't re-signed by Washington in the off-season, played what is now Patton's spot for three years and had 551 tackles the past four seasons. It is those kind of numbers that make Patton smile. And he has the kind of ability and speed to be a great hit man. In the past two seasons with Buffalo, Patton's 219 tackles ranked second only to another Bill who left via free agency, West Virginia alumnus Darryl Talley.

``I thought we'd done what we could do in Buffalo,'' said Patton, who didn't miss a regular-season game in five seasons with the Bills. ``Some of the guys were starting to get up there [in age] and other guys left. I thought it was time for me to get to a team for a fresh start.

``I thought about going to Denver. I thought about Chicago. They sold me on the philosophy here and what they were trying to build. The reputation this team has in treating players well meant something.''

Patton is one of five players in NFL history - all with Buffalo backgrounds - to play in a Super Bowl at the end of his first four seasons in the league. He said the pressure to win in Washington, considering the Redskins' addition of high-priced signees this off-season, will be no different than it was for Buffalo to repeat three times as the AFC champion.

Coach Norv Turner likes Patton for a similar reason he liked Harvey and wanted Stephens. While former coach Joe Gibbs played more situation football in his Redskins substitutions, Turner seeks a more versatile player.

``Marvcus is very aggressive and does a good job playing the run and the pass,'' said the Redskins' second-year coach. ``He played inside and outside [for Buffalo]. Hopefully, he's a guy who can be on the field the entire game.''

Patton wasn't a starter until his senior year at UCLA, where he was a walk-on as a freshman after turning down grant-in-aid offers from San Diego State and Cal State-Fullerton. He also made a name for himself because his late father, a Los Angeles policeman killed in the line of duty, gave him an extra consonant.

``My father liked the name `Marcus,' but he wanted me to be special,'' said Patton, who was 9 when his dad was killed. ``So, he put the `v' in my name. I guess it worked. I'm the only Marvcus I know.''