Raiders Look to Instant Replay for Help : They’re Hoping to Re-Run Plunkett Comeback Story Against New York Giants

Seems like old times.

Jim Plunkett, the world’s oldest quarterback, makes his latest comeback today against the New York Giants. Can he be only 38? Hasn’t he been doing this for the last century? Did Mathew Brady really take his first team photo?

Or as Plunkett himself remarked wryly Thursday, when everyone learned that Marc Wilson couldn’t play: “It’s not like I haven’t been here before.”

It’s not like the Raiders have ever needed him more. They’re 0-2 and a mere three-point favorite over a Giant team that was one of the preseason Super Bowl picks. If an 0-2 start is a hole that seems shallow enough to crawl out of, 0-3 sounds like real trouble.

“We already have our backs against the wall,” cornerback Mike Haynes said last week. “If we lose this game, I guess our backs will be through the wall.”

Some Raiders are leery of being asked to exit through the door, instead, but you get the idea.

The Giants are only 1-1 themselves, their own proud defense having given up 392 yards and 31 points in a loss to the supposedly ripe-for-the-taking Dallas Cowboys in the Monday night opener.

In New York, this is being billed as the game neither team can afford to lose.

“As far as I’m concerned, they can afford to lose one,” said Haynes, laughing.

As a current movie promo goes, “Heroes aren’t made, they’re cornered.”

The Raiders are a rough group to have cornered, but there they are. They played well in Denver and Washington, but they’re 0-2, and there’s no such thing as a merit badge for effort.

“Is this a bad time to be playing the Raiders?” Giant Coach Bill Parcells was asked last week.

“There’s never a good time to play the Raiders,” he said.

The Raiders held the obligatory players-only meeting. It’s as much a cliche for them as anyone, but a year ago they met when they were 1-2. Wilson was just taking over for the fallen Plunkett, and the team was headed for New England, where the Patriots were off to a surprising 2-1 start and where the surface is the artificial turf the Raiders hate so much.

Wilson’s first pass was intercepted. He was knocked out of the game. He was replaced by rookie Rusty Hilger, whose first six passes were incompletions that zoomed all over Massachusetts. The defense scored three touchdowns, however, and the Raiders won, 35-20.

In terms of how they’ve played this season, the Raiders are actually going in with some momentum.

But consider:

--Their pass protection broke down last week in Washington, to the tune of five sacks and one separated shoulder for Wilson.

Since then, guard Curt Marsh has gone on injured reserve with a knee injury, which means Charley Hannah will be playing as a starter for the first time since his holdout.

The Giants, with Lawrence Taylor and all those other menaces at linebacker, were last season’s sack champions, their 68 eclipsing the Raiders’ 65 and the Chicago Bears’ 64.

--The Raiders have a new quarterback, even if he is one they know well, and a change poses the problem of disruption, however minor. Whatever the local opinion of him, Wilson was playing well this season.

On the other hand, the Raiders will have the solace of playing before a home crowd that won’t be all over their quarterback as soon as he throws his first incompletion in warmups.

The Giants could be a little happier, themselves. They were 10-6 last season, winning the title in the NFC East on a tiebreaker with the Cowboys and the Redskins, who were also 10-6.

Besides leading the league in sacks, the Giants allowed 3.5 yards a rush, tying the Raiders and New York Jets for No. 1. They had a 29-year-old fast-gun quarterback who had seen it all in Phil Simms and a 1,300-yard rusher in Joe Morris. They were obvious comers.

They opened at Dallas, where Tony Dorsett and Herschel Walker were supposed to be waging a civil war for playing time and Danny White was supposed to be floundering in Paul Hackett’s new passing game.

Surprise! The Giants scored 28 points and lost.

Backed into their own corner, they went home and blasted Air Coryell out of the sky, 20-7. The San Diego Chargers scored 50 points the week before against Miami, but when they played the Giants they got six yards in the first 20 minutes. Any Raider who lived through last season’s 593-yard shelling in San Diego can appreciate that accomplishment.

Only time will tell what either of these teams can afford. Right now, they’re just two big, strong, unhappy teams, so everyone is in trouble.

Raider Notes

One Giant problem has been Joe Morris, who was unsigned and stayed out of contact drills and exhibitions. Since signing, he has had his share of contact. He has a 3.5-yard average per game, compared to 4.5 last season. Last week against the Chargers, he gained zero or minus yardage on 13 carries. In 1985, it took him eight games to get that many. . . . The Raiders haven’t given up 100 yards rushing to any back in 18 regular-season games. The Giants haven’t allowed 100 yards to any rusher in eight regular-season games plus two playoffs. Marcus Allen has 11 straight 100-yard games. . . . Mike Haynes: “I didn’t realize the Redskins blitzed as much as they did last week. They hadn’t? We didn’t expect that much. You have to give their defensive coordinator a lot of credit. Maybe they thought because of our young receivers, with Rod Barksdale in there, they had a good chance. I think if I was a defensive coordinator, I’d do the same thing. If you’re a cornerback, and they have fast receivers like Jessie Hester, Dokie Williams and Barksdale, you hope you get a lot of pressure on the quarterback. Because if you give those guys all day to get open, it’s going to be a long day in the secondary. I think people are starting to realize that. They’re starting to blitz a little more.” . . . For both teams, this is the second game in the NFC East-AFC West series. A year ago, the Raiders went 3-1 against the NFC West, beating the Rams, Atlanta and New Orleans and losing to San Francisco. This year, they’ve played at Washington, will play at Dallas and will play the Giants and Philadelphia here. Giant Coach Bill Parcells: “I think because of that schedule, there will be a couple of pretty good football teams not making it.”