Washington Is the Perfect Setting for Intrigue : Raiders’ Soap Opera Continues With Latest Episode Against Redskins

The Raiders are back in the nation’s capital for the first rematch of the ’84 Super Bowl finalists. This may mean something to the Washington Redskins, who got flattened in Tampa, but it’s not real important to the Raiders, who have more pressing concerns.

Two weeks into the season, their predicament looks like a soap opera:

--Can they find a way to forget last week’s heartbreak in Denver?

--Can they find happiness with Marc Wilson?

If the answers aren’t yes, they’re in trouble. The Redskins are already showing signs of regaining their former greatness. Once again, the Raiders are on the road and once again they’re underdogs, today by two points.

If they lose again, they’ll be 0-2. One of the statistics being thrown around here is that no team has ever gone to the Super Bowl after an 0-2 start.

The Redskins, like the Broncos, had victories in double figures last season and still missed the playoffs. They were 10-6, tied with the Giants and Cowboys, but lost out in the tiebreaking system.

The Giants were the early favorite to win the NFC East title, but it’s not that early anymore. The Giants lost their opener in Dallas, after the Redskins had crushed Buddy Ryan’s Philadelphia Eagles, 41-14.

You’ve heard of Branch Rickey’s theory of improving by subtraction? The Redskins axed Joe Theismann and John Riggins, who might have been links to past glories but later were more like links in an anchor chain.

Redskin players now whisper that Theismann had become gun-shy and that his fastball had lost more than a few m.p.h. Riggins’ great significance was keeping the younger, faster, almost-as-big George Rogers out of the lineup.

The Redskins were 5-5 last season when Lawrence Taylor broke Theismann’s leg. Jay Schroeder, the former Bruin, took over, was the quarterback in that win and went 4-1 the rest of the way.

Schroeder is a prodigy with almost no experience. He started one football game at UCLA before leaving after his sophomore year to sign a baseball contract as a catcher. The Toronto Blue Jays made him the third player selected in the 1979 draft, suggesting that he was the next Johnny Bench. Only after he had flopped in the batter’s box did he go back to football.

As a physical talent, Schroeder isn’t bad at quarterback. He has a big arm and a cool head. In his last 246 passes, he has thrown just 5 interceptions.

Rogers, 10 pounds lighter at 230 than Riggins and as fast as Riggins was 10 years ago, gained 104 yards last week.

For relief, Coach Joe Gibbs sent in Kelvin Bryant, newly liberated from the USFL, whom the Redskins are just wild about.

Said owner Jack Kent Cooke, with bombast similar to that of his old Forum/Lakers/Kings days: “I believe that he may be the ultimate link in a chain that will find its ultimate source you know where, a town on the West Coast with the initial P.”

Pomona? Poway? Oh, Pasadena.

In his first game as a Redskin, Bryant rushed 6 times for a 6.0 average, caught 4 passes for a 19-yard average and scored twice.

A week ago, the Raiders controlled the line of scrimmage both on defense and offense, only to be out-opportuned by the Broncos. This, however, is a different kettle of Redskins.

Remember the Hogs? Most of the huge Redskin offensive line is intact. Only one starter, right tackle Mark May, has not been to the Pro Bowl.

The defensive line, led by Dave Butz, Dexter Manley and Charles Mann, is formidable. The Raiders’ Marcus Allen will be going for his 11th straight 100-yard rushing game against a unit that has given up 100 yards to a running back just four times in the last 47 games--to Gerald Riggs (twice), Joe Morris and Stump Mitchell.

Last week, the Redskins limited the entire Eagles backfield to 66 yards, the biggest gain coming on a 19-yard scramble by Philadelphia quarterback Randall Cunningham.

Aside from that, the Raiders have nothing to worry about.

Actually, they are just trying to regroup. They have taken few recent regular-season losses as hard as last week’s, which they led, 19-7, 29-21 and 36-28 before falling.

Howie Long, taking it hard as usual, said, “The defense choked.”

The Raiders will be tested again today by a Redskin offense that compiled 433 yards last week. Schroeder, who threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, said he expects the Raider defense will try to “intimidate” the Redskins, but he claims Washington will not turn the other cheek.

“We won’t back down,” Schroeder said. “If they start getting rough, so will we.”

In Super Bowl XVIII, Allen gained 191 yards as the Raiders breezed, 38-9, in what was at the time the most lopsided Super Bowl in history.

That was more than 2 1/2 years ago, but some of the Redskins haven’t forgotten it, including Butz, who was voted NFC defensive player of the week for his play against Philadelphia.

“It was one of the worst games I can ever remember,” said Butz, 36, a veteran of 173 NFL contests.

Today’s game marks a rare meeting of twin brothers, Reggie and Raleigh McKenzie, on opposite sides of the line of scrimmage. Reggie, the Raiders’ 260-pound linebacker, and Raleigh, the Redskins’ 235-pound offensive guard, will be playing for family bragging rights.

“When we were growing up, we always played on the same team,” Raleigh said. “This is the first time I can remember us playing a game on opposite sides. I know this much, whoever loses this game is going to hear about it till whenever.”