Raiders Not Taking Chargers Lightly : Cleats on Other Foot in the Race to Finish Rebuilding
Can it have been only seven weeks since the Raiders opened camp with as much optimism as anyone? When there seemed to be an answer for every problem? When the media were picking them 1-2 in their division?
It’s a different day now.
They come into today’s opener at the Coliseum against the San Diego Chargers off a winless exhibition season. More to the point, they got hammered every time out, posting such statistics as a 2.9-yard rushing average and defensive marks of 4.8 yards a rush, 176 yards rushing a game, 439 yards overall.
They’re in the midst of transition that’s more like a mass migration.
There will be 11 new starters from opening day, 1988. There will be new players at 16 positions; the offensive line has been reshuffled for the third consecutive season. From their last playoff season, 1985, four starters remain--Marcus Allen, Howie Long, Vann McElroy and Don Mosebar.
And no one knows what’s on Al Davis’ mind.
They won’t know where he’s going, or what he intends to do with this team until he decides.
In the suddenly bulging community of former Raider players and officials, there is rampant speculation that Davis has already done the once-unthinkable and bagged this season.
One said that the team lost $2 million last season while averaging 58,000 fans a game, that Davis knows he won’t be seeing any 58,000 crowds soon and is trying to prevent grievous losses by cutting the payroll.
In fact, Davis slashed more than $4 million, starting with Todd Christensen, $750,000; James Lofton, $725,000; Matt Millen, $400,000, and Malcolm Taylor, $275,000.
He waived Mike Haynes and Otis Wilson, and re-signed them to smaller contracts. Haynes reportedly went from $825,000 to $400,000; Wilson from $550,000 to $300,000.
He asked McElroy to renegotiate his $575,000 contract so the club wasn’t on the hook for the full amount if McElroy missed any games because of injuries . . . and kept McElroy off the field in camp because of a relatively minor hip injury until he agreed to the new terms.
In camp, Davis was still giving his we’d-like-to-have-a-rebuilding-season-but-we-can’t-we’re-the-Raiders speech.
However, he also told a confidante that his mistake in 1988 was thinking that the team merely needed a quick fix of speed, prompting his trade for Willie Gault. At the low ebb of Davis’ tenure--three non-winning, non-playoff seasons--he might now have concluded that this rebuilding project will take time.
Of course, even if the Raiders are retrenching, they will do it in their inimitable style. Davis will bear down on them. Coach Mike Shanahan is on all the favored-to-be-fired lists and Davis has been everywhere, even making defensive substitutions during practices. Assistant coaches say privately that their input is being routinely disregarded.
If Davis’ intent was to get his players’ attention, he succeeded, although the effect didn’t seem salutary.
“There was so much tension in preseason,” said one Raider veteran. “It was like one mistake and you can be out of here. You were thinking more about yourself than the team.”
Said another veteran: “Things aren’t the way they used to be.”
Hardly. This was once players’ heaven. As recently as two seasons ago, axed Raiders were often allowed to languish a last season on injured reserve--at full pay--before going off into the world. Thus Lester Hayes drew about $700,000 while tending to his “troglodyte toe.”
No more. These days, when you’re gone, you’re gone.
Since they are still the Raiders, however, they can’t be written off sight unseen. They have enough stars, speed, size and savvy to do whatever it takes. They figure to be good enough to win on their home field today, but first things have to come together.
It has been a while since anything has.
Finally, the Raiders found a way to stop taking the Chargers lightly.
They traded places with them.
For most of the ‘80s, the mighty Raiders yawned through games against the lowly Chargers, and pulled them out at the end. Now the Chargers are on an uptick.
They were 3-1 in exhibitions.
They have Jim McMahon. Charger watchers say the offense fairly swaggers when its new quarterback is in.
Under new Coach Dan Henning, they’ve put in a Redskin-style monster rushing attack: a 250-pound fullback, rookie Marion Butts, following a 270-pound blocking back, Joe Caravello; a 277-pound tight end, Arthur Cox, and four 300-pound linemen.
The defense is the real menace. End Lee Williams started in the Pro Bowl and has 42 1/2 sacks in four years. Leslie O’Neal, the super rookie of 1986 who spent the next two seasons recovering from knee surgery, moved from end to linebacker and had 4 1/2 sacks in the exhibition season.
That thunder you hear isn’t the surf.
It’s reality-check time in Raiderdom.
Raider Notes
The Raiders are four-point favorites. . . . Obviously aspiring to succeed the Raiders, the Chargers closed practices to the media last week, which is farther than the Raiders have ever gone. . . . Chargers are without holdout Gary Anderson, who missed two games and still gained 1,119 yards in 1988. . . . Raider defensive ends Howie Long and Scott Davis practiced lightly last week and might not be ready to play in all defenses today. Long aggravated his sprained ankle last week. Davis has a hyper-extended knee. . . . The Raiders activated Marcus Allen Saturday.