Just Lose, Baby; Giants Prolong Raiders’ Agony

They were the Silver, they were the Black, but now they’re just an 0-3 team in a division with two 3-0 teams. And their offense has gone AWOL.

What ever happened to the Silver and Black Attack, the offense, not the video?

For the second straight week, it produced no (0) touchdowns. For the third straight week, the Raiders lost, this time, 14-6, to the New York Giants Sunday before 71,164 in a home opener that looked suspiciously like the curtain going down, too.

It was a loss to remember in what has started out as a season to forget, including:

--The Raiders playing back-to-back games without a touchdown for the first time since 1981, the last year in Oakland, when the defending Super Bowl champions were completely shut out three straight times. They went 7-9 that season.

--Marcus Allen getting knocked out of the game after the Giants had taken the lead in the third period with what was initially described as a sprained right ankle.

Description was provided by Allen, himself, as he limped from the locker room with no shoe on his right foot, to be taken away for further treatment in a golf-cart convoy.

Allen’s teammates went home praying publicly that a sprain is all it is. Anyone who doesn’t know what impact Allen’s absence would have, hasn’t been paying attention.

“I just know when Marcus kinda went down, I think that was a telling blow for everybody,” defensive end Greg Townsend said. “We just thought, ‘What are we gonna do now?’ We go to him all the time.”

Team doctors, however, were ordered by Raider management not to make any comment on anyone’s injuries. Thus, there are only unconfirmed reports from several players that tight end Trey Junkin has been lost for the season with an injury to his left knee.

--Allen being held to 40 yards in 15 carries, breaking his record streak of 100-yard games at 11. It was the fewest yards he had gained since the final game of the 1984 season when the Steelers held him to 38.

--Joe Morris of the Giants, held to 32 yards in 11 carries for three periods, getting 78 yards in his final 7 carries against a demoralized Raider defensive unit. Morris becomes the first runner to get 100 against them in 18 games--since that Steeler game in ’84 when Walter Abercrombie got 111.

With less drama, this was last week’s game all over, with Jim Plunkett as the hunter/hunted instead of Marc Wilson:

The Raiders scored a couple of field goals. This time Chris Bahr was good from 22 and 35 yards.

The Raider defense made six points stand up until the third period.

The opposition punched in one touchdown, which is all it will need.

This time, it was Giant quarterback Phil Simms who unleashed a 4-play 50-yard drive, finishing it with an 18-yard shot to Lionel Manuel, who beat Lester Hayes on a crossing pattern. Manuel juggled the ball at the goal line, but when he latched onto it in the end zone, the Raiders were looking into a deeper hole than most of them can remember.

“That was just a great call by the Giants,” Hayes said. “The Giants guessed properly that the weak side receiver (Hayes plays the strong side) would be double-covered and he was double-covered. So be it.”

For good measure, the Giants scored another of those elusive six-pointers, with a 69-yard drive, 52 of them coming on one Morris sweep. This one ended when Manuel beat the other cornerback, Mike Haynes, for an 11-yard touchdown reception. Safety Vann McElroy tipped the ball, which then deflected off Haynes before Manuel snatched it out of the air, a piece of bad luck for Haynes, who has had some in the last two seasons.

“We both tipped it,” Haynes said. “It was coming right to me, a sure interception but Vann tipped it. Then it hit off my forearm.”

Like the week before, when Stacey Toran was embarrassed, the Raiders didn’t lose because of anything that happened on defense.

Nor did they lose because of Allen’s injury. He was around and taking a beating as the Raider offense succumbed and the tide turned.

A look at their first eight possession suggests some of their problems:

1. They go 75 yards for Bahr’s first field goal. Plunkett hits Allen with a 13-yard pass on third and 12, hits Junkin with a 19-yarder on third and five, then hits Junkin with another 19-yarder.

Junkin, however, is tackled by Lawrence Taylor at the 10 and leaves. That he was playing at all is significant. Junkin was the second of two tight ends, even lining up as a wide receiver opposite Dokie Williams at times, suggesting the Raiders are becoming frustrated with the drops of Rod Barksdale and Jessie Hester.

The drive dies at the seven, when Plunkett, who is not noted for scrambling, escapes the rush and throws a floater to Allen that takes Allen just over the end line. Bahr kicks a 22-yard field goal.

2. A drive that goes nowhere, after Haynes intercepts Simms and returns it 22 yards to the Giant 23.

On third and five at the 18, Plunkett throws a pass for Barksdale, expecting him to cut to the post. Barksdale cuts to the sideline, instead. The ball falls incomplete.

Bahr kicks a 35-yarder and it’s 6-0.

3. They go 57 yards from their 5 to the Giant 26. Plunkett completes two more third-down passes to Allen, for 34 and 23 yards.

On third and six at the 26, Plunkett gets blind-sided by blitzing Giant linebacker Andy Headen. Headen beats Allen, who is, for a great running back, usually a great blocker. Plunkett fumbles the ball away.

4-5-6-7. All three plays and out.

After hitting 7 of his first 11 passes, Plunkett goes 0 for 9.

By the time the Raiders get to No. 8, the Giants have finally scored and it’s 7-6.

8. They go 56 yards to the New York 12, featuring the return of Hester. The fleet wide receiver, who was sidelined last week with an injury and didn’t start this week although he’d recovered, catches passes for gains of 24 and 20 yards. Allen is hurt after catching a short pass over the middle.

Finally, with second and 10 at the Giant 12, Plunkett is sacked by safety Terry Kinard and fumbles the ball away.

“They brought a safety,” Coach Tom Flores said. “We worked on it but Jim just didn’t recognize it. It’s one of those things, they bring a safety and you have to make a slight adjustment. The Giants do that in that part of the field.”

Some problems keep recurring, the erratic young wide receivers, the difficulty dodging blitzes. Perhaps a too-simple scheme that this unit is no longer capable of executing against quality opposition?

What happened after the first two Raider possessions when they were moving the ball?

“We went deep quite a lot,” Plunkett said. “That tends to get to your percentage. They were playing cover-eight, a double zone on the wide receivers. It makes it hard to get to your wide receivers.”

Or, from another perspective. . . .

“The Raiders were rather predictable,” Giant linebacker Harry Carson said. “They show you what they’re going to do and dare you to stop it.”

The Raiders were uncharacteristic in defeat. Usually, they have a lot to say. Sunday, they were eerily subdued.

The difference is that losing has always been uncharacteristic for them. In 1986, it has become the rule.

“This doesn’t feel like reality, but we’re living it now,” Townsend said. “This is something else.

“What can I say? We just lost. It’s not a good feeling. I don’t know where we’re headed from here or anything. Almost, we don’t have anything to lose. . . .

“This is a weird feeling.”

Howie Long, asked on the CBS pre-game show what would happen if the Raiders lost, answered laughingly, “Gas chamber.” After the game, he said that every player would have to start re-evaluating his own performance.

“I hope and pray our No. 1 offensive weapon is healthy,” said Lester Hayes late Sunday afternoon. “Because without him, it’s going to be even tougher scoring points.

“And next Sunday, we face the best passer in the last half-century.”

That’s Dan Fouts and the San Diego Chargers. Even if it is another home game, six points probably won’t win that one either.

Raider Notes

Add mistakes: punt returners aren’t supposed to field kicks inside the 10-yard line but newly activated Fulton Walker caught Sean Landeta’s third-period punt at the five and was tackled at the 10. When the Raiders went nowhere, Ray Guy had to punt out of his end zone, and the Giants only had to march 50 yards, which they did. . . . Greg Townsend had 2 1/2 sacks. One play into the second half, the Raiders had sacked Phil Simms four times, but they didn’t get him again. Chris Bahr is now 6 for 6 this season on field goals. . . . Napoleon McCallum normally would have backed up Marcus Allen, but he had a hamstring pull. Vance Mueller, the rookie from Occidental, got his first action aside from special teams, and would have broken a short pass for a 70-yard gain, but a video review showed that he had stepped out of bounds after a 16-yard gain.