JUST BARELY 5-2 : Raiders Win, 21-20, on a Pass From Wilson to Christiansen With Just 29 Seconds Left

With 29 seconds left, the governor called with a reprieve in the form of an eight-yard touchdown pass from the embattled Marc Wilson to the entangled Todd Christensen, and guess who had come from behind again?

Right, the Raiders, just as in days of old.

Christensen was wearing the Brown strong safety on his back like another flak jacket, but he caught the ball anyway, completing the 60-yard drive through the scrappy Dog defense that gave the Raiders a 21-20 victory Sunday before 77,928 in Cleveland Stadium, known locally as the Temple of Doom.

“What did I think when Todd caught it?” Dokie Williams asked. “How do you spell ‘relief?’ ”

“The play before, they kept me in to block,” Christensen said. “I couldn’t understand that at all. Marc said, ‘Stay in and block.’ I said, ‘Swell.’

“I figured inside the 20 is my domain.”

It is, once more. The Brown strong safety, Al Gross, lay on the ground for 30 seconds, while flags flew around him, signaling pass interference against him. The Raiders were happy to decline.

Chris Bahr kicked the extra point that won the game and linebacker Eddie Johnson was called for throwing his helmet, also declined. Cornerback Frank Minnifield, one of the men who helped popularize the Dogs, took off his helmet and slammed it to the ground. Gross did the same thing. At this point, the Browns were threatening to run out of headgear.

The fans, who’d come in dog masks, Dawg Pound T-shirts and caps with doggie bones on top, pelted the departing Raiders with Brown megaphones. The Raiders laughed all the way to the dressing room.

The Raiders have now won four straight, but this wasn’t much like the others, which were great defensive efforts with the offense just trying to stay out of trouble.

They tried the same thing Sunday and succeeded until a couple of Raider turnovers and the Browns’ rookie quarterback, Bernie Kosar, turned a 14-7 lead into a 20-14 deficit with 7:07 left.

The Raiders were leading, 14-7, in the third period when Marcus Allen, looking downfield on what was going to be a halfback pass, couldn’t handle a pitchout. The Browns recovered and drove for Matt Bahr’s 31-yard field goal.

The Raiders were leading, 14-10, when Wilson’s pass was intercepted by Gross and returned to the Raider 15. Wilson helped tackle him and the defense held. Matt Millen later called Wilson’s tackle one of the biggest plays in the game.

Matt Bahr kicked another 31-yarder and it was 14-13.

Then the Browns scored without benefit of a turnover. Kosar marched them 52 yards, finishing the drive with a seven-yard swing pass to halfback Kevin Mack. This time, Matt Bahr got to kick an extra point and did, giving the Browns a 20-14 lead.

The Raiders then ran three plays and punted. Their four previous possessions had been 1) three plays and a punt, 2) three plays and a punt, 3) the Wilson interception, and 4) the mishandled pitchout that the Browns recovered.

So you couldn’t say the offense was red hot. But the defense stopped the Browns and the Raiders had the ball again, at their 40, with 2:53 left.

On the first play, Wilson hit Jessie Hester for 12 yards. On the second, he hit the rookie again, for nine. Frank Hawkins swept left for two yards and a first down at the Brown 37, just before the two-minute warning.

Nineteen seconds later, they were looking at third and 15. The crowd was so loud that even at midfield, Wilson had to back away from the ball several times. Once he stood behind center for two minutes before taking a snap, while behind him, the Raider coaching staff kept yelling to Allen to tell Wilson to re-huddle the team.

Allen waved it off. The referee, Ben Dreith, had told them to stay lined up.

Allen: “No question about it, it was hard to stay calm. It was coming down to one play. I’m sure everybody was panicking.”

Wilson finally made himself heard and hit Williams over the middle for 17 and a first down with 1:41 left.

Allen went 12 yards on a draw and the Raiders had a first down at the 13, with 1:07 left.

Veteran Brown writers remembered later that was almost the exact spot from which Brian Sipe threw his famous interception in the ’81 Ice Bowl. The Raiders took three cracks from the 13. The first was a post to Hester, who beat the corner on his side, Hanford Dixon . . . and dropped the ball at the goal line.

The third was the same play. This time, Dixon was called for pass interference and the Raiders had a first-and-goal at the 8 with :48 left.

The Dogs held them for three plays. Dixon got his hands on one Wilson pass, but couldn’t hold it. On third down, the Raiders sent Williams at Dixon, but the Brown corner batted the pass away.

On fourth down, Tom Flores sent in something else.

“The play is called 94 option,” Christensen said. “I have the option of going inside or outside. We ran it to Chip Banks’ side. We know he’s their best pass rusher and we were hoping for an isolation on the strong safety.

“As it turned out, Al Gross (the strong safety) played it quite well. He took away the outside, where I wanted to go. I couldn’t go inside because Don Rogers was there. I made a little shake and kind of swam across him. Marc made a great throw.

“How high off the ground was the ball? I’m not Ted Williams. Maybe a foot-and-a-half. Ted Williams used to say he could see the seams on a baseball. I couldn’t see the seams. There was only one L in Rozelle, though.

“How important was it? Very important. The quarterback needed it. He showed a lot of self-assertiveness. I think he showed a lot of toughness. Like the times in the third quarter when we couldn’t get going, he never showed any frustration. He made some big plays. The play to Dokie on third and 15 was gigantic. Give credit where it’s due. No. 6 did a great job today.”

A Raider aide reached through the crowd around Christensen and handed him his paycheck.

“I earned it, too,” Christensen said.

Raider Notes Howie Long on Marc Wilson: “I think this was very important for him. He sucked it up last week. The kid played with a separated shoulder, but this is football. This isn’t baseball. He’s going to take some hits. After the ball is thrown, nobody sees the quarterback taking the big hit. I don’t want to second guess him but I never looked at him as a physically and mentally tough kind of guy.”. . . The Raiders have re-signed defensive back Odis McKinney, who they cut in training camp. McKinney was subsequently signed and cut by Kansas City. The Raiders wanted him back for his special teams ability. . . . The club also activated guard Curt Marsh, cut rookie tackle Kevin Belcher and put wide receiver Jim Smith on injured reserve with a hamstring pull. . . . Without Smith, the Raiders played with three wide receivers, including rookie Tim Moffett, who hasn’t caught an NFL pass. The Raiders may now may attempt to activate Cliff Branch. . . .Raider back-up quarterback Rusty Hilger was ill with the flu Sunday and available only in an emergency. . . . Dokie Williams and Frank Minnifield had a couple of skirmishes, with Williams called for pass interference on one play and then getting called for unnecessary roughness in the same series. Williams: “Yeah, he’s a talker. We were talking back and forth a little bit. The play before, he held me and I didn’t appreciate it. Then he told me about it. We ran a running play and I blocked him a little extra to show him I didn’t appreciate it.”