Raiders : It Hasn’t Been Easy, but Mike Davis Hopes That He’s Back to Stay

This is how good it can get:

You’re Mike Davis, 24, and the new Raider strong safety, winging your way to Cleveland and the big playoff game in early 1981.

“That’s ancient times, ancient times,” Davis says, smiling and shaking his head.

“We had so much adversity that year. Tom Flores was in his second year as coach. There were a lot of unsettling rumblings that the Raiders were about to move from Oakland to Los Angeles. We were picked to finish last in our division. We were has-beens and so on.

“That was the year that Jim Plunkett came off the bench and had a tremendous year. Lester Hayes had all those interceptions. Kenny King had a fantastic year.

“The thing I remember from that year is every game meant something. We were 11-5 at year’s end and fighting to get into the playoffs. The very last game, we had to fly back to New York to play the Giants in the winter. We won the game.

“Afterward, Gene Upshaw said in the locker room, ‘You lose one, you’re going home. If you win, you get to keep going.’ I’ve based my whole career on that statement.

“We played Houston in the wild-card game. They had three old Raiders--Kenny Stabler, Dave Casper and Jack Tatum. The questions are flying, ‘How’s it going to feel covering Casper, going against Stabler?’ It’s just a situation, you want something they’ve got. It’s just a matter of say hello, win the ballgame and say goodby.

“The following week, all we heard was how devastating the weather was back in Cleveland--polar cold, snowing. We flew in there on Friday and the moon kind of shone through the clouds and all you could see was white. Snow everywhere. The plane came in. The pilot didn’t roll in, he just kind of dropped in. Snow was flying everywhere.

“It was 36 below zero (on the wind-chill scale) at game time, a nice little breeze blowing. We had a 14-12 lead when they got the ball the last time. They were driving. Ted Hendricks, I can remember him in the huddle saying, ‘Hey, some body’s got to make a big play here.’ We’re all thinking field goal. They ran the ball on a draw with Mike Pruitt, all the way down to our 12-yard line.

“Your heart’s pounding. The adrenaline is racing around. You’re thinking, ‘Oh no, the season can’t be over. Not like this. Not like this.’

“(Brian) Sipe took time out and went to the sidelines. I figured, if they didn’t kick a field goal, they’d just run the ball up a little closer and get the ball in the middle of the field.

“But they came out in this formation they’d run twice in the first half, with Ozzie Newsome flanked about three yards from the tackle. Both times they’d thrown the ball. I’m yelling, ‘Pass! Pass!’

“Both times in the first half, Ozzie broke the other way--to the flag. I was playing him a step to the outside but this time he broke across my face. He had a step on me.

“The rule around here is, you’re not beaten until they catch the ball. Believe me, your heart is racing a million miles a minute. You’re going, ‘Don’t let my man catch the ball.’ You’re literally praying while you’re running for your life.

“I made the ground up. I saw Ozzie’s eyes go wide and I said, ‘Ball!’ I turned around and there it was. I cut in front of him and made the catch.

“I felt him pulling at my left arm. I fell down in the end zone. It was like hitting the concrete street. I was somewhat dazed.

“Burgess Owens came up to me. He said, did I realize what I had done? The next thing I knew, I was being mobbed.”

Three weeks later, the Raiders won Super Bowl XV.

That was just six years ago.

This is the price you pay:

Later in 1981, Davis had the lower two bones of his right leg surgically screwed to his ankle. He has had eight other operations, overall, including three on his left knee between October ’85 and August ’86 that left him on injured reserve all last season.

Now, 25-year-old Stacey Toran is the strong safety and, Flores says, “Davis has to win his job back. He knows it. I’ve talked to him.”

That is code for: Mike Davis is on the bubble.

After last season’s 8-8 record, the bubble is sagging under the weight of a lot of old Raiders. Cliff Branch is gone. Henry Lawrence and Mickey Marvin were reportedly asked to consider retiring. Plunkett didn’t pass his physical.

Past camps have already claimed other stars of Super Bowls XV and XVIII: Derrick Jensen, whose punt block started the Redskins’ downfall; Jack Squirek, whose interception finished them off. And other old Raiders, friends and mentors of Davis, like Owens and Tatum and Odis McKinney, his camp roommate, who departed one summer day in ’85.

“You grow up with these guys,” Davis says. “You go through the wars with them. You have great times, you have bad times. Getting into the playoffs, the Super Bowls, you share it with them. Then all of a sudden this person you’ve done all that with is no longer a part of what you’re doing.

“You don’t exclude him as a friend just because he doesn’t play anymore but you don’t see him as much as you’d like. That distance comes in.

“No matter who’s released, you have a job to do. They wish you well. You wish them well. They understand. You understand.”

As Ron Cey said when the Dodgers traded him, “Everyone gets their turn in the barrel.” For everyone, it comes too soon.

Davis spent last season rehabilitating his knee and watching from the sidelines. The one was slow, the other was frustrating.

“Believe me, you develop a hunger,” Davis says.

“I had an internship with Anheuser-Busch in the off-season. I’d get there at 6:30 or 7 in the morning and I’d leave as early as 4:45 or as late as 8, and then I’d find time to work out.

“It’s been a long comeback trail. There were things that crept into my mind--’Maybe it is time to give it up.’ You can’t help think something like that, with the man hours in training and rehabilitation when you see no improvement. You say, ‘Is it worth it?’

“Then all of a sudden, you see improvement. I expect big things out of me. I’ve just got to get into the flow at an easy rate. I’m accelerating at an easy rate, but I don’t have much time. They don’t say that, but I know what I’m up against.”