For Raiders, Immediate Future Is in Past : Plunkett Expected to Start at Quarterback Against Colts as Season Ends Today

It’s all over now, baby black and silver. Destiny finally rid itself of the ’86 Raiders, who were eliminated from further playoff consideration by Saturday’s Seattle Seahawk victory. For the first time since the Raiders arrived in town, they’ll be home for Christmas.

Nevertheless, 39-year-old Jim Plunkett, who is not the quarterback of the very distant future, is expected to open against the Indianapolis Colts today at the Coliseum, rather than Rusty Hilger, the young No. 3 quarterback. Marc Wilson, so long defended by the coaching staff, seems to have all but disappeared from their thinking.

If that’s true, who is it they’re thinking about?

Best guess: They don’t know. No one and everyone.

And if Hilger is a candidate--best guess: he is--might this not be a golden chance to see him under game conditions, albeit relatively meaningless ones?

“I’m not saying Rusty can’t play or won’t play,” Coach Tom Flores said a couple of days ago. “But right now, we’re going with Jim.”

Flores has his heart set on closing with a victory, rather than a four-game losing streak, “to get that feeling back into the club.” Since 9-7 will not be remembered much more fondly than 8-8, it serves only as a suggestion of how emotionally devastating the Raider plummet has been and how keenly Flores wants it behind him.

Hoosiers?

Of course, everyone in this league is a professional and any team can beat you on any given Sunday, but the Colts?

“We’d better be ready to play,” vowed Rod Martin after last week’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. “If we lost to the Colts, that’d really be embarrassing.”

Said Vann McElroy: “You look back and realize what you’ve lost and it’s such a letdown. The opponent we’re playing doesn’t have a real good record, and that doesn’t add to the excitement. Right now, we’re just not in a very good mood.”

And said Howie Long, the week after the upset by the Philadelphia Eagles: “Some of the guys in the locker room were saying we’d just lost to the worst team in football. I said, ‘No, that’s the last game of the season.’ Around here, there’s always been a tendency to talk the opposition down.”

The Colts are 2-13, and even when they win, they lose. Their recent two-game winning streak under new Coach Ron Meyer removed them neatly from the Vinny Testaverde sweepstakes, barring a Tampa Bay victory in St. Louis today.

There were already rumors that the Colts would be asking for five players and/or draft choices for Vinny. If there was any truth to the rumors of packages about to be proffered--Marcus Allen-Jessie Hester, Kenny Easley-Jacob Green, Tony Casillas-Gerald Riggs--they might have come close.

Instead of rebuilding in one draft choice, Meyer gets to keep the existing nucleus. The Colts have a lot of fine, young players, the result of drafting so high for so many years and trades like the one that John Elway demanded. That brought All-Pro offensive lineman Chris Hinton.

When healthy, the Colt defense includes linebacker Barry Krauss, the sixth pick in the ’79 draft; cornerback Leonard Coleman, eighth in ‘84, former USC linebacker Duane Bickett, fifth in ‘85, and defensive end Jon Hand, the fourth pick last spring.

Of course, this hasn’t always been good news all around. Bickett, for example, went into a monumental funk on draft day and talked about it to every mini-cam crew that asked.

“All the problems they had with the front office,” Bickett said last week. “The problems with the team not being very good, the disgruntled players after the past coach (Frank Kush, who preceded Rod Dowhower, who preceded Meyer). All that stuff was going through my mind. Yeah, I was a little apprehensive.

“It’s much better than it was. You meet the guys. That’s the best part of it, the camaraderie. I would have been happier if we’d won some more games, but it’s been a lot better than I anticipated.”

The worst part of it has been the games. The Colts, 5-11 last season, suffered a number of injuries early, including the one that sidelined the new quarterback, Gary Hogeboom. They were forced to endanger the life of rookie Jack Trudeau, who became the lowest-rated starter in the NFL.

The much-sought fullback, Randy McMillan, took a beating, and his rushing average dropped from 4.5 to 3.1 The running game, first in the AFC last season, is 27th and hasn’t had a 100-yard game, something that hasn’t happened to the Colts since 1970. The defense is 19th against the run, 23rd against the pass, 24th overall.

Even in Indianapolis, where one of the newspapers’ top editors instructed his sports staff to pull in its talons after an early season wipeout, this was disappointing. The Colts’ last five home games have produced four nonsellouts, the first since the famous night ride out of Baltimore three seasons ago. Some of the remaining fans brought posters with a new team acronym-- C ount O n L osing T his S unday.

So owner Robert Irsay canned Dowhower and apprehended Meyer, who was just about to say yes to Purdue. The rifle-armed Hogeboom returned and completed 38 of 62 passes for 4 touchdowns as the Colts upset the Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills. You might argue that that was one upset too many, but the Colts aren’t buying it.

One more upset, however, and Al Davis might swap Irsay rosters, even-up.

Before they’re forgotten, three Raiders whose excellence this season was overshadowed:

Bill Pickel--His 11 1/2 sacks were high among interior linemen in the NFL. He knocked down a lot of passes and played the run well, but he still can’t make the Pro Bowl. He has a lot of competition--the Chiefs’ Bill Maas and the Jets’ Joe Klecko, when he’s healthy, not to forget Bob Golic of the Cleveland Browns, who helps himself by being great copy--all going for one spot on the team. Recognition seems to lag a year behind reputation, and if so, Pickel’s time is coming.

Vann McElroy--He made a fine comeback after his hamstring-slowed ’85 season with seven interceptions and big hits. The Pro Bowl picked one free safety who had more interceptions, Deron Cherry, plus two strong safeties.

Sean Jones--He took over for Lyle Alzado, and in his first season as a starter is tied for third in the AFC with 13 1/2 sacks.

And one who is never quite overshadowed:

Todd Christensen--For all his faults--so-so blocking, reminding the quarterbacks that he’s open--if they throw it near him, he catches it. He’s the first NFL player with 80 catches in four straight seasons. He had 1,000 yards in three of them and missed by 13 yards last season of making it four for four.

Raider Notes

The Raiders are nine-point favorites. . . . They’ll be without wide receiver Dokie Williams and nose tackle Bill Pickel, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery last week. Tim Moffett will start in Williams’ place and Mitch Willis in Pickel’s. . . . A Colt to watch: Rohn (sounds like Ron) Stark, eighth in the NCAA decathlon at Florida State and now a Pro Bowl punter for the second straight season. He leads the AFC in gross average at 44.8 yards a kick, and at 37.2 he’s second to Miami’s Reggie Roby in net average. . . . Whom might the Colts draft with that second pick? The Indianapolis Star says they’re looking at Alabama outside linebacker Cornelius Bennett, Missouri offensive tackle John Clay, Nebraska defensive tackle Danny Noonan, Auburn tailback Brent Fullwood, Penn State halfback D.J. Dozier and Purdue cornerback Rod Woodson and Oklahoma linebacker Brian Bosworth. Ron Meyer mused last week that Bennett looked promising.