Raiders Can Tell You That 49ers’ Montana Is the State-of-the-Art Among Quarterbacks

The Raiders played a bad game Sunday.

But don’t tell the 49ers about bad games, pal. They know all about bad games. They had one once.

They really did. It was two weeks ago, and it was so bad that when the 49ers returned home to play the following week, the San Francisco fans booed ‘em. Booing the ‘Niners in San Francisco is like booing the bridge.

Things are back to normal with the 49ers. The Dynasty by the Bay rolled over the Raiders Sunday in the Coliseum. Now the Raiders know how Mary Decker felt.

It was like two dynasties passing in the smog. The Raiders were headed south.

If it’s any consolation to the Raiders, it was a difficult day for Montana.

Joe? No, not Joe. Jennifer. Jennifer Montana is about 8 7/8 months pregnant, and she braved the heat and excitement to watch her husband break another city’s heart.

“I saw her walking up to her seat before the game,” Joe said after the game, cringing at the thought. “It was about seventy-five rows up. She’s due in a week.”

Fortunately, Joe was the only Montana who delivered Sunday.

He completed 14 of 24 passes for 255 yards and 2 touchdowns. No interceptions. One sack.

Raider quarterback Jim Plunkett threw for three more yards than Montana. But Plunkett, bless his heart and his left shoulder, paid a fearful price for his completions. He was sacked four times and smacked around real good about a dozen other times.

Montana? If the Raiders defensive line is rush-hour freeway traffic, Montana is a motorcycle. Catch him? All you can do is yell at him as he breezes by.

Howie Long, the Raider defensive end, chased Montana all day long, applied real pressure, but mostly wound up grasping air.

A few times, after the whistle, Howie engaged Montana in lively conversation, apparently good natured.

“He was telling me to stay still once in a while,” Montana said.

Montana and Plunkett were a study in opposite styles. Montana bobs and weaves. Plunkett leads with his arm, closely followed by his chin. A hard way to make a living.

Montana, with apologies to another famous hit-and-run man, floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee.

He has been sacked only six times this season.

“I’ve always felt unless someone comes clean up the middle, if there’s any kind of angle, I can get away, from most anyone,” he said. “Not completely away, but enough to throw the ball away without taking a sack.”

Or enough to dash for the occasional defense-crumbling 12-yard scramble, as he did in the first quarter, to set up the 49ers’ first touchdown.

Or enough to find a receiver scrambling around, like he found Dwight Clark for a 14-yard touchdown in the third quarter to sew up the game. Clark wasn’t the primary receiver on that play. Or the secondary receiver. Or even the third receiver.

Clark just ran around until he got open in the end zone and Montana spotted him and threw him the ball. It’s this kind of playground nonsense that drives opponents wild. Ask the Dallas Cowboys.

“We work on a scramble drill,” Montana said. “I just take off running, see the movement of the play, try to find someone open.”

This is a simple explanation of the M.O. of the NFL’s state-of-the-art quarterback. You talk about your Marinos and your Foutses and your Lomaxes. Most coaches would settle for your Montanas.

A popular theory is that Montana is merely the creation of a genius coach, Bill Walsh. Another theory, gaining ground, is that it’s the other way around.

Montana, ever modest, declines the credit for the 49ers’ unstopability last season and this season, not counting two weeks ago.

“For the folks down in Australia,” an Australian radio man asked Montana in the 49er locker room, “What makes Joe Montana so great?”

Those Aussies really know how to set up a guy to deliver a cliche, don’t they?

“It’s the design of our offense, more than anything,” the ever-modest Montana said. “And our offensive line does a hell of a job.”

OK, so maybe Montana gets too much credit for the 49ers’ success. After all, is he the whole offense?

“You can’t put all your eggs in one basket,” Dwight Clark said, when asked about Montana. “But if you had to, it’s not a bad basket to have.”

Speaking of basket cases, the Raiders will probably be scrambling around this week, searching for an offense, pondering the state of their quarterback position, among other ponderables.

In Montana and the 49ers Sunday, the Raiders met their match. They met everybody’s match.