TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Bert Emanuel insists there's one reason he's in a hurry to get back in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lineup, and it has nothing to do with the Atlanta Falcons coming to town.

The sixth-year receiver has been a major disappointment since signing a $16.4 million contract as a restricted free agent in 1998. He is feeling some pressure to prove he was worth the deal his former coach, Dan Reeves, wouldn't give him.

Reeves, also the Falcons' executive vice president of football operations, declined to match the lucrative offer Emanuel received after four productive seasons in Atlanta and hasn't looked back.

And as much as the receiver would like to prove his old coach wrong when the Bucs face the Falcons on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium, there is a more pressing reason he wants to get back in the lineup.

He simply needs to play -- for himself, as well as the Bucs, after missing five games and parts or two others because of a strained right hamstring suffered in the second week of the season.

"I don't want the emphasis to be on me. I just want to get back out there," Emanuel said, shrugging off the importance of returning to face the Falcons, for whom he had 260 receptions and scored 24 touchdowns from 1994-97.

"Everybody's tired of hearing about my injuries. I'm tired of hearing about my injuries. I'm tired of talking about it. I just want to get back out there. I want to play. I want to perform. I want to be there for the team. I want the team to be able to count on me."

Emanuel only missed two games in four seasons for Atlanta. Since joining the Bucs, he's been hard-pressed to stay on the field. He missed five games in 1998 because of a variety of injuries, then sat out a portion of training camp this summer after suffering a concussion in practice.

After finishing with 41 receptions for 636 yards and two touchdowns -- all career lows -- last season, he's off to an even worse start in 1999 with seven catches for 94 yards and one TD.

Adding to his frustration since leaving Atlanta was the Falcons' success of a year ago, when his former team went to the Super Bowl. He admits it was painful to watch them prosper while he struggled to remain healthy.

"I'm not going to lie. It's been tough. It's been very tough. But I just want to keep my mind clear and focus on positive things now," Emanuel said. "We still have seven games. And we're right in the middle of this thing right now."

Sure enough, the Bucs (5-4) have won two straight to climb over .500 for the just the second time since 1997. They trail NFC Central leader Detroit by one game and second-place Minnesota by a half-game, despite early-season problems on offense.

Problems that Emanuel thinks the club might have avoided if he hadn't strained his right hamstring attempting a tackle on an interception return at Philadelphia on Sept. 19. He aggravated the injury on three different occasions and has seen limited action in two games in the past eight weeks.

"I think if I had been healthy that I definitely would have made a difference," Emanuel said of the Bucs' passing attack, which has rebounded with the emergence of Jacquez Green as a deep threat the past two games.

"Three or four weeks ago, we talked among ourselves in the receivers room that we just wanted to make plays. We had been under a lot of pressure. We had been under attack, basically since I've been here. We said: `The biggest thing for us to do is go out there and not concentrate on what's being said outside this room. Just go out and make plays.' We've done that the last three weeks."

Emanuel began running full-speed in practice again last Wednesday and is eager to play against the Falcons (2-7), though he insists it's a coincidence that the game targeted for his return is against his old team.

The nature of hamstring injuries has made Bucs coach Tony Dungy reluctant to declare the receiver definitely will play. And with Green catching two long touchdown passes from rejuvenated quarterback Trent Dilfer in the past two games, there is less of a sense of urgency for Emanuel to rush.

Emanuel, meanwhile, stressed he doesn't have a personal score to settle against Reeves or his former team. He is just tired of sitting.

"There were no hard feelings. We basically shook hands and parted ways. We agreed to disagree," he said, adding that he returned to Atlanta for one of the team's playoff games last year and spoke with Reeves.

"I shook his hand after the game and gave him a hug," Emanuel said. "It came down to a business decision, and I had to make a choice."

ATLANTA Season schedule and results

TAMPA BAY Season schedule and results

September 12 Minnesota L 14-17 September 20 @Dallas L 7-24 September 26 @St. Louis L 7-35 October 3 Baltimore L 13-19 October 10 @New Orleans W 20-17 October 17 St. Louis L 13-41 October 25 @Pittsburgh L 9-13 October 31 Carolina W 27-20 November 7 Jacksonville L 7-30 November 21 @Tampa Bay 1:00pm ET November 28 @Carolina 8:20pm ET December 5 New Orleans 1:00pm ET December 12 @San Francisco 4:15pm ET December 19 @Tennessee 1:00pm ET December 26 Arizona 1:00pm ET January 3 San Francisco 9:00pm ET

September 12 NY Giants L 13-17 September 19 @Philadelphia W 19-5 September 26 Denver W 13-10 October 3 @Minnesota L 14-21 October 10 @Green Bay L 23-26 October 24 Chicago W 6-3 October 31 @Detroit L 3-20 November 7 @New Orleans W 31-16 November 14 Kansas City W 17-10 November 21 Atlanta 1:00pm ET November 28 @Seattle 4:05pm ET December 6 Minnesota 9:00pm ET December 12 Detroit 1:00pm ET December 19 @Oakland 4:05pm ET December 26 Green Bay 4:15pm ET January 2 @Chicago 1:00pm ET

Records source: STATS, Inc.

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