Smash or Dash, He Can Run the Ball

The cuffs of his stone-washed jeans were tucked into black-leather boots, his diamond earring was tacked into its lobe, and Mr. Bo Jackson was all dressed up with someplace to go when somebody persuaded him to describe his 92-yard touchdown gallop, the longest run from scrimmage in Raider history.

“My grandmother could have run that play,” he said.

Hmmm. We are not sure that this is so, but may we nevertheless suggest that somebody put a stopwatch on Granny Jackson over 40 yards and get a look at this potential gray panther before San Francisco or Denver gets to her first. Because if there is another Jackson out there the Raiders should have, then by all means, get this person a pair of shoulder pads and a face mask. Issue her No. 34 1/2 and some orthopedic Nikes.

Frankly, though, we believe more than ever today that Mr. Bo Jackson is one of a kind. After what he did Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals at the Coliseum, could there possibly be somebody else so versatile--even another excellent baseball player, such as Cincinnati outfielder Eric Davis, who watched the Raider-Bengal game from the Coliseum sidelines?

“Not me,” Davis said. “My hobby is relaxation.”

And Bo’s hobby is bowling over people. Or steering clear of them. Dipping in, ducking out. He is the two-sport marvel, the twin-ball wizard, this guy. As America’s greatest part-time football player worked his fourth game of 1989, he demonstrated the kind of speed and strength that made you wonder why he didn’t spend his off-day at the Breeders’ Cup. Face it; he’s getting to be too much for human beings.

The only argument after the Bengals got the stripes beaten off of them was over which of Mr. Bo Jackson’s two first-period touchdown runs was the more impressive--the seven-yarder that featured him plowing through Cincinnati’s defense like a combine through a field of wheat, or the 92-yarder that featured him running one step ahead of every outstretched hand, like the Roadrunner pulling away from Wile E. Coyote.

He amazed everybody, friend and foe.

“I can’t even sit down anymore, because I’m afraid I’ll miss something,” Raider defensive lineman Bob Golic said. “Thank God for that big replay board at the end of the stadium, so I can see what I missed when I turned my head.”

The man had more yards at halftime than the Bengals did, 126 to 113, and that included both Cincinnati’s rushing and passing. On the first touchdown run he dragged along poor little Rickey Dixon of the Bengals, who could have used a lasso. On the second one, Jackson’s back foot was touching his own two-yard line when he accepted the pitchout from Jay Schroeder, so he actually had to travel 98 yards, and he did so untouched by human hands.

“I looked ahead of me, and there was nothing there but green,” Jackson said.

Eric Thomas, a Bengal cornerback, chased the man for a while before huffing and puffing and finally bending over in the end zone, out of breath. As he looked up, he caught Bo Jackson doing some crazy hand jive, aiming his index fingers like six-guns, celebrating his score.

“He’s entitled,” Thomas said. “That was some run. He just sort of dipped inside and ducked outside, and then he just outran everybody. Bo’d probably be the best back in the league if he played football full-time, if he isn’t already, and all I can say is: ‘More power to him.’ ”

Mr. Bo Jackson seems to be the sort of player who earns great admiration from teammates and opponents alike, though sometimes the hard way. For example, he and Cincinnati wide receiver Tim McGee were busy woofing beforehand, telling one another what they were going to do to one another. But when all was said and run, Jackson and McGee got back together and strolled to the Coliseum tunnel, hand in hand.

The Bengals might not have liked what they saw Sunday, but they sure did respect it.

When Sam Wyche, the coach of the Bengals, started to finish the sentence “Bo is . . . “ he paused for a second to interject something.

“Bo is . . . and our guys told me to say this . . . Bo is as advertised,” Wyche said. “He’s one of the rare ones to come along. I just hope that he’ll be appreciated as long as he’s here, while he’s still a healthy, young, frisky back. He’s going to be talked about as one of the legends of the game, believe you me.”

On a day such as this, when Schroeder is flinging bombs and Willie Gault is running under them, when Terry McDaniel is cutting off wide receivers at the pass and Greg Townsend is tormenting anybody standing in front of him, it isn’t exactly fair to speak only of Mr. Bo Jackson and all that he accomplished. Yet, it is extremely difficult not to get carried away with the guy, as even his fellow Raiders admit.

Besides, they have a record of 3-1 with Jackson on the premises, and could very easily be 4-0, so whatever credit one doesn’t give to Coach Art Shell, you might as well give it to the guy who is making the Raider offense go, Shell’s diesel. This guy is not only in a league by himself, he’s in two leagues by himself.