A Long Second Half for Ed Luther : Interception in End Zone Caps a 5-for-21 Performance

Raider quarterback Ed Luther called it “one of the best catches I’ve ever seen in my life.”

The only thing that would have made it better was if it had been caught by Raider tight end Andy Parker, the guy he’d intended it for.

Luther, 30, an eight-year veteran free agent who is trying to secure at least the backup spot behind Rusty Hilger, came close to salvaging a victory from a dismal Saturday night at the Coliseum against the Buffalo Bills. Instead, the exhibition wound up in the Bills’ favor, 7-3.

Playing the second half after a scoreless first half when Hilger performed, Luther had taken the Raiders from their own 25-yard line to a first down at the Bill five with a 3-0 lead and about four minutes remaining.

Then he aimed a pass for Parker at the right sideline, just over the goal.

“I thought I threw that ball in a pretty good spot,” Luther said. “I threw it low to Andy in a place where he could catch it and nobody else could. Whoever caught that ball came out of nowhere and made one of the best catches I’ve ever seen in my life. It just seemed to fit with how the night went.”

The defender was John Armstrong, a first-year cornerback from the University of Richmond, who dived in front of Parker and scooped the ball off the grass, giving the Bills a first down at their 20-yard line.

From there, they drove 80 yards to the winning touchdown.

Things like that can ruin a guy’s night. Luther completed only 5 of 21 passes for 75 yards and threw one other interception, following a 5-for-14 effort last week.

“We pretty much stopped ourselves,” Luther said, alluding to the Raiders’ 15 penalties for 128 yards--8 for 68 in the second half, when he was trying to generate the offense.

“We were our own worst enemies,” Luther said. “We moved the ball a little better than last week, but we kept putting ourselves in a hole. We’d come out, and it’d be first and 15 or first and 20.”

Seven holding penalties were partly to blame, but the Raiders also were twice called for delay of game--once each when Hilger and Luther were playing.

“Those are usually the quarterback’s fault,” Luther said. “I felt a little better about being familiar with the game plan. I had a longer time this week to go through things and get ‘em straight in my mind.

“But I still need to do a lot of work, because the way the new clock is it doesn’t give you much time to get the signal from the sideline and get in the huddle and then get ‘em up to the line of scrimmage, where you can change if you want to. It just seems like you’re really rushing just to get up there and get the ball snapped.”

Things like that and the holding calls, he hoped, are just “preseason problems, with everybody getting accustomed to everyone else. I think it’ll iron itself out.

“I think the offensive line is just trying to do the job, and they want to do it so well they just get a little over-excited and get their hands out. Also, it’s early in the preseason, and the officials seem to be really calling it straight. I think if we look at the film, some of them will be pretty questionable.”

But with all the misfires, the Raiders’ quarterback picture is as confused as ever.

“I’ve certainly played better than last week and tonight,” Luther said. “I think it’s something that just goes with the preseason. . . . a combination of that and calling it close to the vest. When you have that many penalties on running plays, I think they’re getting pretty ticky-tack.

“I don’t want to fault the officials, but it seemed like there were a lot of ‘em.”