Plunkett Shows Browns He Still Has That Spunk

You want spirals as tight as an artillery shell? Go watch John Elway.

You want quotes worthy of Johnny Carson? Go talk to Lester (Muhammad Ali Was Just a Warmup for Me) Hayes.

You want to know how Jim Plunkett’s latest tenure as starting Raider quarterback began? He threw lots of passes where the nose of the ball plows into the breeze like a rowboat in a tidal wave. Three went for touchdowns Sunday at the Coliseum, including two to Dokie Williams who now has caught four in three halves from his Plunker.

Thus did the Raiders dump the Cleveland Browns, 27-14, before a crowd of 65,461, many of whom seemed to have come just to welcome Plunkett back.

There was a lively business in the parking lots on Plunkett posters, and T-shirts with unkind suggestions about Marc Wilson. The crowd gave Plunkett a standing ovation upon introduction and booed Wilson when he went out to hold for placements.

Plunkett then completed 14 of 26 pass attempts for 220 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. And what did he think of his performance?

“Same as most, better than some but not as good as others,” he said.

Said defensive end Greg Townsend: “I always know when Plunkett’s in there, something good is going to happen for our offense. . . . Not to put a rap on Marc, but it just doesn’t feel that same way when he’s in.”

If the plot line was popular locally, this game was less like a fairy tale and more like something out of Raider tradition: In which the silver and black overpower an opponent, then toy with it like a cat with a mouse until the mouse turns around and bites the cat in the nose.

The Raiders took a 17-0 lead one play into the second period.

The Raiders held the Browns without a first down or a pass completion for the entire first period.

The Raiders then let them get to within 17-14 in the third.

The Raiders got serious again. Plunkett and Williams combined on a 43-yard scoring play on the first play of the fourth period. The Browns went back into their hole.

The first time the Raiders touched the ball, Plunkett marched them 80 yards for a touchdown. On the second play, Plunkett hit Rod Barksdale crossing against Hanford Dixon for 24 yards, only the second play over 20 yards that Dixon has allowed all season. On the fifth, Plunkett hit Williams running a fly behind the other Brown cornerback, Frank Minnifield. Williams caught the ball at the 17, shrugged off a dive from the Brown defender and finished a 46-yard play.

The second Raider possession was a 30-yard drive that set up Chris Bahr’s 39-yard field goal.

The fifth Raider possession started at the Cleveland seven, after Stacey Toran jumped in front of Ozzie Newsome and became the first man to catch a Bernie Kosar pass Sunday. That was on Kosar’s sixth throw. On third and goal, Plunkett hit Todd Christensen, unguarded in the end zone. Two Browns, including free safety Chris Rockins, had followed the play’s primary receiver, Marcus Allen, into the right flat but Plunkett located the missing Raider.

That made it 17-0. Here the plot thickened.

The Browns drove 58 yards to score, even if the Raiders said they didn’t. The officials ruled that Kevin Mack dove over the top on a fourth and goal from the one.

James Davis got a 15-yard penalty for complaining to the referee. Matt Millen might have gotten another 15 for kicking the football, except he missed it.

“Everyone has a Refrigerator look-alike these days,” Millen said. “They’ve got Dave Puzzuoli (a 260-pound nose tackle playing fullback on the short-yardage team). I know Dave, he’s a tough hard-nosed kid but I’m watching him and he looks up at the line. I say, ‘Oh, I wonder where the back is going.’ I take off and I hit him (Mack) on the other side of the line.”

However, Millen slid off after hitting Mack. Mack, who appeared to be stopped short initially, seemed to roll down the other side of the pile toward the goal.

“Mack told me after the game he didn’t get in,” Millen said.

Mack didn’t tell that to the referee and it was 17-7.

Were the Raiders unimpressed? Early in the third period, facing a second and 18, Kosar hit Brian Brennan behind Hayes for 51 yards to the Raider six.

“That shouldn’t have happened,” Millen said. “We were in a three-deep zone. But it did.”

Two plays later, Mack went two yards into the end zone, without dispute. It was about to be 17-14.

Before you could say overconfidence , Plunkett big-played them back. At the Brown 43, with Chip Banks flying into his face, Plunkett lofted one in the (very) general direction of Williams, who was flying down the right sideline, guarded by Mark Harper, a first-year player who had replaced an injured Minnifield.

The pass was short. Harper was trying to stay with Williams, as Everson Walls had last week in Dallas. Harper never looked back for the ball, as Walls hadn’t. As he did to Walls, Williams came back to the ball, caught it at the 18, then cut back across the field, behind the pursuing Brown defenders and dove over the goal line.

“Jim is willing to take a chance,” Williams said. “He’ll throw it up there when it’s maybe 50-50. The second touchdown, that was pretty good coverage. The defensive back was right there. Plunk just put it in position where I had the best opportunity to get the ball.

“To be honest, the last four touchdowns--I hate to say it--they really haven’t been that difficult. In all of them, the defensive backs really didn’t know what was going on.”

Had Plunkett, that old fox, deliberately underthrown the ball?

In the Cleveland dressing room, Dixon said he might have.

Actually, the old fox was just unloading and hoping for the best.

“I really didn’t see him (Williams) at all,” said Plunkett. “I just threw it where I knew he’d be.”

It’ll look like a line drive in the box score. Plunkett is now up to eight touchdown passes against one interception and 65,461 decided they could go to the ballet some other day.

Raider Notes

The Raiders sacked Bernie Kosar 6 times (Greg Townsend 3, Sean Jones 2, Bill Pickel 1). The Raider offensive line allowed only two sacks. . . . Howie Long, listed as probable all week, didn’t dress with a hematoma above his bruised left knee that was said to have worsened Sunday morning. There was a rumor that Long was facing arthroscopic surgery, but Raider orthopedist Robert Rosenberg said it was “absolutely not true.” He thinks Long will be able to play Thursday in San Diego. . . . Two other Raiders got blows they’ll have a tough time getting over in a three-day preparation week. Henry Lawrence got someone’s thumb in one of his eyes and had bruised ribs. Mickey Marvin has bruised ribs and begged off an interview late in the afternoon. “I’ll tell you what, I’m in real pain right now,” Marvin said. . . . Dokie Williams, on his brush with the Browns’ Hanford Dixon in the end zone: “It was just emotion. I’m not very proud of it.” Williams was penalized for taunting. . . . Jessie Hester had a drop on a potential big play for the third straight week.