For Openers, It’s Raiders-Jets, Rams-Broncos : New York Will Show Bears-Style Defense at Coliseum Today

For their opening attraction, the Raiders present the new-look New York Jets, making their first appearance here, aside from exhibitions, since Jan. 15, 1983, the day they knocked the Raiders out of the playoffs.

A lot has changed since then. To find anyone who thinks the new look is an improvement, you might have to check Coach Joe Walton’s blood relatives.

What happened?

Says a New York reporter: “We were just talking about it the other day. It all started with a phone call from a bar owner in Queens.”

In 1983, the Jets were thought to have the best young talent in football. Freeman McNeil was coming into his own, along with quarterback Richard Todd and the Sack Exchange. They had waffled the defending AFC champion Bengals in Cincinnati the week before, 44-17.

Then they upset the Raiders, 17-14, after linebacker Lance Mehl intercepted a Jim Plunkett pass on a late Raider drive.

Whereupon then-Coach Walt Michaels embarked on a little post-game tirade that turned out to be hilarious or tragic, depending on your perspective.

The same people who were saying that the Jets were so talented, and that offensive coordinator Walton was the real genius on the sideline, were suggesting that Michaels was succumbing to his own intensity. This impression wasn’t undermined by what happened that day.

Michaels, having just won his biggest game as a coach, stormed out of the dressing room and told how he was called away at halftime to take a telephone call. He charged that it was a Raider dirty trick ordered by “a sick individual (whose) initials are A. D.”

Michaels said the caller told him, “Tell (Mark) Gastineau to stop acting like an ass.”

Michaels said he replied, “Al Davis, I’ll choke you when I see you!”

Davis denied any participation, calling Michaels totally insecure and an idiot.

In the dressing room, the usually inaccessible Jet owner Leon Hess, Mr. Hess Oil, criticized Davis. Michaels said it had to be the Raiders. Who else would know the number of the pay phone outside the Coliseum’s visiting dressing room?

He found out. The pay phone rang again. The New York Daily News’ Phil Pepe answered. The caller said he was talking from his bar in Queens, the Winfield Inn, that his name was Larry Hammond, and he had placed the halftime call.

A week later, the Jets lost the AFC championship in a Miami monsoon.

Not long thereafter, Michaels resigned, reportedly at the suggestion of Hess Oil. Walton became coach. It hasn’t worked out as smoothly as it might have.

That off-season, the Jets became one of 26 NFL teams to guess wrong on Dan Marino.

Five QBs were taken ahead of Marino--John Elway, Todd Blackledge, Jim Kelly, Tony Eason and the one the Jets selected, Ken O’Brien, an unknown from UC Davis. It was not a good year to be an unknown quarterback taken in the first round.

Walton’s first team went 7-9. Todd, who’d been growing s-l-o-w-l-y into the mantle of Namath, came apart and the Jets traded him to the Saints for a draft pick.

Walton’s second team started 6-2, but finished 1-7. Add it up and it’s still 7-9. Walton got tough, threatening trades, cutting starters for breaking training rules (fullback Dwayne Crutchfield) and not making weight (Chris Ward).

In this training camp, he cut linebacker Greg Buttle, who was banged up but still considered useful. Free safety Darrol Ray was cut two days after separating a shoulder and there was muttering among Jet players.

Then there were the holdouts. Al Toon, the first receiver taken in the draft, is the only unsigned first-round pick. The 10th choice overall, Toon is reportedly asking $2 million. The eighth pick, Tampa linebacker Ron Holmes, got $2 million. The 11th, Houston defensive back Richard Johnson, got $1.85 million.

Both starting offensive tackles, five-time Pro Bowl player Marvin Powell and Reggie McElroy, are holding out. The Jets ran their payroll to the top of the NFL, according to the NFL Players Assn., but now they’re getting tough again.

Also, 18 players limped out of camp and onto the injured-reserve list. Included are wide receivers Wesley Walker and Lam Jones.

The Sack Exchange is gone. Under former Ram defensive coordinator Bud Carson, the Jets have scrapped their four-man line for a 3-4.

They intend to play it Bears-style, with eight men on the line in some passing situations, and most of them coming for the quarterback. No one in black and silver is going to forget last year’s Bear game too quickly. This is the season’s first test of the Raiders’ ability to block such schemes.

This is the first test for the Jets, period.

Nose tackle Joe Klecko: “Right now, we’re a little unsure what’s going to happen, ourselves.

Walton: “I can’t control anything that’s being written or said. I’m just trying to get my football team ready to play. We’ll show up Sunday.”

Raider Notes Wednesday Joe Walton said Mark Gastineau wouldn’t dress. Friday the Jets jumped Gastineau from “out” over “doubtful” to “questionable.” A Jet spokesman said that Gastineau has a “50-50 chance of seeing some spot duty.” . . . Ken O’Brien finally opens as the starting QB, coming off a good exhibition season completing 63.4%, throwing four touchdown passes and having only two interceptions. Jet officials say he still may turn out better than Dan Marino in the long run. Good luck. . . . Freeman McNeil averaged 6.8 yards a carry in the exhibition season. Ex-Bruin and Express players JoJo Townsell will start at wide receiver. . . . The Raiders’ Dokie Williams and Kenny King (sprained knees) and Shelby Jordan (stomach pull) have been upgraded to probable and are expected to play. . . . Raider officials once hoped for 80,000, with the big New York expatriate walkup crowd, but are now talking mid-50s. The Mets are also in town. . . . Kickoff for today’s game at the Coliseum is at 1 p.m.