Holloway Learns That Raiders Don’t Play Football by the Book

Hell hath very little fury, indeed, compared to a 6-foot 7-inch, 288-pound, Stanford-educated offensive tackle scorned.

When the newest Raider arrived Thursday in the latest act of the nationally known labor dispute, Holloway vs. New England Patriots, he came bearing a gift. It wasn’t a lobster, saltwater taffy or a replica of the old North Church, either.

“I understand the Raider philosophy,” Brian Holloway said. “It’s to win. So as my first official act, I’m giving Al Davis a Patriot play book.”

In a world where the most routine practices are carefully restricted, a play book is deemed a treasure. Players face large fines for losing them and are required to surrender them immediately upon leaving the team. Somehow, apparently, Holloway got out of town with his.

The Raiders will play the Patriots Nov. 1.

Raider Coach Tom Flores said, however, that he hadn’t seen any play book, and that if he did, he’d send it right back to Foxboro, Mass.

And in Foxboro, Patriot General Manager Pat Sullivan said it struck him as kind of funny.

“Well, as bitter as we have felt about Al Davis, we give him enough credit that he’s intelligent enough to figure out what we’re doing without a Patriot play book,” Sullivan said. “The Raiders didn’t get where they are without having people who are smart enough to figure that out without having a road map.

“It just seems quite a childish thing to me.”

They want to play with grown-ups?

Holloway says a grievance is also being filed on his behalf with the National Labor Relations Board.

“The process is in motion to take action, to file a grievance with the NLRB,” he said. “You must understand, anything of this nature, there always has to be the ability to deny what is obvious. We all heard Ollie North this summer when he talked about covert operations and the necessary requirement of deniability. When the Management Council acts, it’s the same way. It’s no big secret. It’s the nature of the business.

“What I plan to do, as I learn the plays, I’ll let my playing and my actions speak for themselves in terms of how I can play in this league. Then we’ll find out who’s the liar.”

Aside from that, and answering the occasional charge--such as is he over the hill?--Holloway said he plans to forget about the Patriots.

“You can only be angry so long,” Holloway said, adding that he’s happy to be here.

“When NFL players get together, if there’s a player who used to be with the Raiders, we’d always say, ‘Tell us Raider stories, tell us Raider stories.’ The football here is known across the league as being a cut above the NFL.”

Not to mention the lodgings in camp, an all-suites hotel next to a golf course, not far from the beach.

“I’m in shock,” Holloway said. “I’ve been living in a dorm with spring mattresses. My back got so bad I had to bring in my own little water bed and put it together.

“Mike Haynes said to me years ago, ‘It’s different here. The Raiders care about you. They’re winners. They expect to win. They plan to win.’ ”

From Boston come reports that Holloway had slipped from his All-Pro status of 1983-85. Not all of those reports emanate from Patriot officials, either.

“I didn’t notice it,” Flores said. “He’s a pretty good player.”

Said Holloway: “I think (the Patriots) have got to say that. I think they forget to mention that in August (of 1986) I ripped a groin, a hip flexor and my abdomen. Then I got my elbow hyper-extended. I had a problem with my shoulder. Then I got a sprained knee. They seem to forget that. They seem to forget that I missed just one game.”

Did he, as is popularly thought, miss left guard John Hannah, who retired?

Yes, he said, but not in the way you might think.

“John had a big part in play selection,” Holloway said. “He would have meetings with (Coach) Raymond Berry. He would say, ‘This specific play is not being blocked properly, we’ve got to make changes.’ He would sort of force the issue. It really made a huge difference. When he left, that’s not a role I chose to fill.

“Over the course of the year, there’s going to be a lot of things come out. The only way to put the critics at rest is to play and play well.”

Raider Notes The Raiders broke camp after an afternoon practice. They will play the Chicago Bears Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum in their exhibition finale. . . . The Raiders re-signed Jeff Reinke, the defensive end they had cut Thursday, and cut halfback Rob Harrison, their No. 10 draft choice from Cal State Sacramento.