Comeback by Raiders Is Short, 28-21

Rusty Hilger called it “made for TV,” the way the Raiders came back and nearly pulled out Saturday night’s NFL exhibition opener against the San Francisco 49ers.

Hilger, a rookie quarterback out of Oklahoma, has watched a lot more NFL games than he has played in, so he knows a little something about it.

Alas, the show had an unhappy ending. The Raiders lost, 28-21, because after recovering two onside kicks, their bid for perhaps a memorable comeback ended when Hilger fumbled away a snap from center with 1:28 to play.

Too bad, too, because the game was attended by a lot of people--not counting those who left when the Raiders fell behind, 28-7, early in the fourth quarter.

The tickets-issued count of 61,784 was the highest for a Raider home exhibition in Los Angeles and higher than any exhibition they played in Oakland. Not counting no-shows, the actual attendance in the Coliseum was 54,990.

Trailing by three touchdowns, the Raiders finally brought their fans to life when rookie Dwayne Greene scooped up a Ricky Moore fumble and ran 42 yards for a touchdown. With only 3:40 left to play at the time, there seemed little chance the Raiders would get back in the game.

But Chris Bahr’s onside kick was recovered at the 49er 48. Hilger hit Trey Junkin three times with passes, and rookie Ronnie James jumped over from the one for the score. It was 28-21 with 1:29 to go. Time for another onside kick.

The Raiders recovered this one as well, at their 45. But on the first snap from center, Hilger fumbled, David Wood recovered for San Francisco, and that was that.

At the start, the Raider offense emerged blinking against the light after its long offseason rest, fired briefly and then succumbed to a bad case of leaving the football behind.

San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana stuck around long enough to throw 22 passes, one of which went to tight end John Frank for a nine-yard touchdown early in the second period. The game was 7-0 at halftime.

In the third period, Marc Wilson’s 35-yard scoring pass to Dokie Williams tied the score. But Frank scored again, this time on a two-yard pass from Scott Barry, to make it 14-7. Barry, a rookie from UC Davis, had replaced second-string quarterback Matt Cavanaugh, who twisted an ankle in the second period.

Moore’s one-yard run early in the fourth quarter gave the 49ers a 21-7 lead, and when rookie Charles Huff returned a intercepted Hilger pass 34 yards for a touchdown, the 49ers were home free. At least, until the Raiders got their onside kicking game in gear.

Raider Coach Tom Flores said: “There were some things I was definitely pleased with, among them the chance to play all three quarterbacks.” Hilger, too, was pleased about that. He just wished he could have put on a better show.

“The guys go out and do a great job getting the ball back for us, and we go and blow it,” Hilger said.

“I mean, it was perfect. It was made for TV. All the while when we were recovering those onside kicks, I kept telling myself, ‘Man, this is made for TV!’ It was real exciting, down-to-the-last-minute pro football.”

The sixth-round pick had flown his family from Oklahoma City to Los Angeles, just in case he got a chance to do something big. “I feel like I let them down as much as I let the team down,” Hilger said. “It was a big night of letdowns.”

Guys who have been around longer than Hilger were able to shrug the whole thing off.

Flores said, “We actually were executing plays on offense a lot better than we were last year at this time,” and he complimented the slashing rushing of Kenny King and the sure-handed receiving of Williams and Junkin. “I thought Junkin had a pretty good game for his first game at tight end,” Flores said. “He made some pretty impressive catches.”

Williams, whose touchdown catch accounted for the only Raider points in the first three periods, sang a familiar refrain, saying: “Usually the offense comes around a little slower than the defense. It’s just a matter of getting our timing down.”

Along those same lines, offensive tackle Henry Lawrence, a 12-year veteran, said there was no reason to be concerned, it being so early and all.

Nonetheless, Lawrence said, “We were pretty sloppy. You just can’t have those kinds of things happen. You can always turn around and rationalize everything by saying there’s a lot of time left, that the offense isn’t in a groove yet, but they’re (the 49ers’) offense went out there and looked pretty sharp, so maybe we shouldn’t take it too lightly.”

The Raiders will get another shot at the 49ers Sept. 22 at the Coliseum in the third game of the regular season.

They will have to play a little better than they did Saturday night if they want to give the Super Bowl champions a better game. That’s for sure.

“We’ve been down this road before,” Lawrence said. “It’s not a big deal. We’ve had some atrocious preseasons before. Come September, nobody will even be talking about this.”

In the 49er locker room, Montana said: “I think our defense played fairly well, but the offense didn’t play as well as we should have.

“We wanted to get some things done, and I don’t think we accomplished what we set out to do.”

Coach Bill Walsh said: “All in all, I wasn’t excited about our performance. It took a game to work things out.”

Walsh said he is considering carrying three quarterbacks this season as insurance against injuries after Cavanaugh left the game in the second quarter.

“It (Cavanaugh’s injury) sobers you up to the fact that something like this can happen,” Walsh said. “Cavanaugh twisted his ankle, but I think he’ll be OK next week. I thought Scott Barry played well.”

Frank, who caught two touchdown passes, said: “It was exciting to get into the end zone. The first game after the Super Bowl was important.”

Frank’s first touchdown came after Montana had to scramble away from several Raider defenders.

“A lot of our offense is scrambling,” he said. “I moved with him (Montana) when I saw he was in trouble, and it was a perfect pass.”

Raider Notes Raider third-year tackle Randy Van Divier suffered a broken right leg. “That was the only truly bad part of the whole night,” Coach Tom Flores said. . . . Joe Montana hit half of his 22 passes, but none longer than 14 yards. . . . Jim Plunkett was 4 of 8 for 26 yards. . . . In usual midseason form was punter Ray Guy. His five kicks averaged 45.4 yards. . . . Jeff Carter, the Raiders’ rookie punter from Long Beach, did even better. He kicked twice for an average of 51 yards.