Here Comes Plunkett Again . . . : . . . But This Time the Raiders Might Stay With Wilson

The Comeback Kid, Jim Plunkett, just turned 37 and a kid no longer, is practicing with the Raiders again, primed to make the latest of his last stands.

But when?

Next week? Next season? In the next life?

Bet on next season. This one isn’t like the last one, when Plunkett returned from injury and got his job back just in time for the playoffs. This one belongs to Marc Wilson.

“I’d love to play again,” Plunkett said Wednesday. “But whether I’m in their plans this year. . . . I don’t seem to be, let’s put it that way.

“There are different things they go by. I’ve been hurt the last two years. I’m getting up there in years. There are a few negatives and a few positives. I was throwing the ball as well as I could throw it. I’m experienced. I still play well.

“But sometimes, teams want to make a change. Right now, I don’t know what their thinking is.”

The Raiders--in other words, Al Davis--haven’t begun to decide. At issue is the future of the Raider quarterback position. Will they continue with Wilson? Give Plunkett a last hurrah? Let the rookie, Rusty Hilger, compete for it?

Wilson, the current starter, has shaky numbers that include the AFC high in interceptions, 20; the low in completion percentage, 48.4%, and the second-worst overall rating, to that of Vince Ferragamo. Ferragamo, of course, was waived by Buffalo but signed Wednesday with Green Bay.

On the other hand, Wilson is 9-2 as a starter, the only number Davis cares about. Should Wilson end the season 14-2, they’d all have another ring and he’d keep the job.

Of course, it could be asked, have the Raiders done it with Wilson, in spite of him, or both?

They’re going to gather a little more data before they make a final determination.

No team enjoys its inevitable quarterback controversy, and none less than the Raiders, who sizzle at having management prerogatives infringed upon by fans, sportswriters and radio talk-show hosts.

The Raiders make any lineup change v-e-r-y slowly, almost reluctantly. Half their players under 28 were recently broadcasting oblique appeals that Mickey Marvin be replaced by younger, stronger Curt Marsh, but the coaches kept Marvin at right guard, and the offensive line came around.

And right guard isn’t quite as hot a spot as quarterback.

But in the third game of the season, Plunkett disappeared under the 49ers’ Jeff Stover and came up with a dislocated left shoulder. Major surgery was debated for several days, until finally the shoulder began to heal.

“He had me in his grasp,” said Plunkett, matter-of-factly. “He could have put me down naturally. He pulled me to him and just drove me to the ground. It was not what you’d call a clean sack.

“I got a note from him. I got a note from (49er Coach Bill) Walsh.”

Did they help?

“Of course not,” Plunkett said, with a smile. “(Stover) has a different perspective than I did on what happened.”

Maybe sometimes defenders don’t realize how easily a quarterback can be hurt?

“They know,” Plunkett said.

Ready or not, the Raiders needed a new quarterback. The non-football side of the organization and part of the playing roster were leading cheers for Hilger. Among the decision-makers, however, experience counts, and it was an easy choice: Wilson.

Who knows what would have happened if the season had then gone south? It didn’t.

“I defend him (Wilson) because of the fact he wins,” Flores said at Wednesday’s media breakfast. “I know he’s made some errors, but he’ll make a key run, he’ll make a key pass. If we don’t drop a pass (Todd Christensen, at the Denver 22 in the closing seconds of regulation), that game Sunday might not go into overtime.

“He did make some errors in judgment, but he knows it. But he still kept coming back.

“I defend him because I’ve been there . . . and you people haven’t.”

From Gentleman Tom, this was a stinging rebuke. Flores has also said that this season “is a lot different than last year,” and “I don’t want Marc to be looking back over his shoulder. He’s got to lead us.”

That means Plunkett has to follow. He says he understands.

“I have an option year left,” he said. “Obviously, it’s their option. I’d love to play another year. I was throwing the ball as good as I can at the beginning of the year (68.9%, 3 touchdowns, 3 interceptions, 13 sacks, playing behind a line that hadn’t begun to regroup).

“If it was an open competition for quarterback next season? That would be fine with me. I’d have no choice.

“Would I play if it meant going somewhere else? I don’t know. That would depend on who it was. I find it hard to believe that somebody would pick me up, because of my age. Maybe I’m thinking too lowly of myself, but that’s taking a risk for a team.”

So the sands appear to be running low for Jim Plunkett, but they appeared that way before, in 1978 when he was a beaten-up 30 and the 49ers waived him, or in 1983, when Wilson took the Raiders’ No. 1 job. He came back in each case to quarterback a Super Bowl victory.

“Maybe it’s because of my personality as I get older,” he said. “I can step into situations and not get overly emotional about it. I don’t think I could have done the same thing my first 10 years. I’d get too excited. I’d think too many things. I’d worry about what people think.

“Little things don’t bother me anymore. I know there’s going to be another time, if I throw an interception. I’ve been booed in New England, San Francisco, Los Angeles. People ask me about the crowd booing Marc. Fans boo because they want to boo. When they don’t want to boo anymore, they stop.”

Raider Notes The Raiders can activate three more players from their injured list. Tom Flores expects to restore strong safety Mike Davis, who is practicing again after having arthroscopic knee surgery, but may not do it this week. Flores: “We were premature in putting Vann McElroy back in the lineup (McElroy subsequently re-pulled a hamstring). We want to make sure Mike is ready. Mike is very physical. If he’s going to be out there, he’s going to be right in the middle of it.” . . . The Raiders are thought to be waiting to make sure no one else gets hurt. If not, they’re expected to reactivate Jim Plunkett before the playoffs, where his experience would make him preferable to Rusty Hilger. The third move would probably be wide receiver Jim Smith, who has been out with a hamstring pull. . . . Linebacker Bob Nelson, who underwent knee surgery in camp and has missed the season, was scheduled to undergo another operation on the knee Wednesday night. . . . The Raiders and U.S. Marines will participate in a Toys for Tots program at Sunday’s game. Members of the Marine Corps Reserve will collect new, unwrapped toys for distribution to needy children.