Marc Wilson Returns With No Bitterness : Patriots: But former Raider, now a quarterback for New England, will find few fond memories at the Coliseum Sunday.

After spending last season out of the NFL, Marc Wilson was playing catch with a friend.

“Marc, you’re crazy not to play this game,” the friend told the former Raider quarterback. “You’ve got five or six more years left. You’re too young to quit.”

A spark was rekindled in Wilson, who said: “I started thinking that maybe he was right.”

Wilson, 32, signed a one-year contract with the New England Patriots last April and has become the backup to Steve Grogan.

“I think he’s shown that he still has the tools to play in this business,” Grogan said. “He’s still got one of the rocket arms in the league and he can put it downfield with the best of them.”

Wilson stands on the sideline during games, clipboard in hand, awaiting his chance to replace Grogan.

But there haven’t been many chances.

After Grogan was injured against the New York Jets three weeks ago, Wilson made his only appearance of the season, throwing for 177 yards and two touchdowns to rally the Patriots before they eventually lost, 27-26.

Did Wilson’s talent deteriorate during the 23 months he was out?

“I don’t know what he had before, but he’s got a heck of a lot right now,” said Doug Flutie, New England’s No. 3 quarterback. “He’s a top-quality quarterback.”

Wilson is simply happy to be back in the NFL after being released by the Raiders last year. He signed with the Green Bay Packers but was cut during camp.

What happened at Green Bay?

“I signed a few days before training camp. I went (there) trying to learn the offense and it was radically different than anything I had ever done before,” Wilson said. “It just didn’t come together, and they released me. I have no bitter feelings about it.”

He spent last season working for a real estate developer in Seattle, where he became reacquainted with his wife and four children.

Did Wilson miss the NFL?

“I only watched a couple of games all year long,” he said. “When I watched the games I found myself bored to death, so I ended up not watching. It sounds weird and everyone is really surprised when I say that, but I didn’t find myself going through any sort of withdrawal (from football). In fact, it was kind of an enjoyable time to spend with my family.”

The Patriots signed Wilson as additional insurance for Grogan, who had neck surgery last January. They kept four quarterbacks--Tony Eason, Flutie, Grogan and Wilson.

Eason started the first three games but lost his job to Flutie, who was replaced by Grogan. Wilson moved up to No. 2 after Eason was waived.

Except for the game against the Jets, Wilson’s activity has been confined to holding the ball on field goal attempts.

Against the Raiders Sunday at the Coliseum, “Wilson will play if Steve gets hurt,” Patriot Coach Raymond Berry said.

His financial future assured after he made $4 million in his last five years with the Raiders, Wilson could sit back and watch his money earn interest. Why play football?

“Frankly, because I’m good at it, and there’s no reason not to,” he said. “I guess I’m not convinced that I can’t play. So, before I decide to say I’m through with football, I wanted to give it one more try.”

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

The Oakland Raiders didn’t hesitate when it came time to select in the 1980 NFL draft, taking Wilson 15th overall. Wilson was the first quarterback ever selected No. 1 by the Raiders.

“We thought Marc was our future,” said Tom Flores, former Raider coach. “He had everything you want in a quarterback.”

After signing Wilson to a four-year, $2-million contract, Al Davis, the Raiders’ managing general partner, announced that Wilson was a future Pro Bowl quarterback.

His credentials were impeccable: A consensus All-American at Brigham Young, Wilson set 11 NCAA passing records. As a senior in 1979, he led the nation in total offense with 3,580 yards and in touchdown passes with 29.

Wilson was very unsure of himself when he first arrived at BYU, where he was the backup to Gifford Nielsen.

And it seemed Wilson would remain on the bench after Nielsen threw 15 touchdown passes in his first four games of 1977. Nielsen, however, suffered a knee injury against Oregon State.

Enter Wilson.

He started by passing for 521 yards and seven touchdowns as BYU upset Colorado State.

“It was amazing,” said former Raider Todd Christensen, who played with Wilson at BYU. “He went from nowhere to the next Heisman winner in one weekend.”

Wilson had good ability, a strong arm and a nice touch on his passes. But he seemed vulnerable to a strong pass rush.

With his long neck and protruding Adam’s apple, he didn’t fit the image of a classic quarterback.

Wilson was also introverted, with few close friends among the Raiders.

“We lived next door to each other when we first got down to Los Angeles,” Christensen said.”But I don’t think we ever rode in together because I couldn’t fit in his Porsche.

“With all the variables, like attending BYU together and both being from the same religion, it would have indicated we would be tight, but we weren’t that close. He was in a different tax bracket.”

Wilson said: “People always made a big deal of whether or not Marc Wilson was a Raider. I don’t know what a Raider is.

“But I certainly was not the quarterback that I think everybody expected. I didn’t have the personality that the media and other people expected (a Raider quarterback) to have.

“I perceive myself as just an ordinary guy, and that infuriated a lot of people. They wanted a very flamboyant guy. And I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m not that.”

Long before George Bush heard of the wimp factor during the 1988 election, Wilson was similarly branded by the media.

Wilson began to be booed at the Coliseum. It got so bad that he stopped taking his family to home games.

“The most frustrating thing about the experience in L.A. was not what it was doing to me but what it was doing to my family,” Wilson said.

“We couldn’t take my children to the game because they just wouldn’t understand why they were booing Daddy. So, probably for the last three or four years, they didn’t go to one game, which was frustrating to me.”

It reached a low point when a newspaper polled fans asking who was the worst quarterback in Los Angeles. Wilson lost to the Rams’ Dieter Brock.

“When a newspaper has a contest on who the worst quarterback in Los Angeles is and puts his picture in the paper like he’s a criminal, that’s ludicrous,” Flores said.

“Why don’t you just put a number on him and put his picture in the post office. Talk about defamation!”

Christensen agreed.

“Quarterbacks usually get all the credit when teams win and all of the blame for losses, but Wilson never got any of the credit and all of the blame,” Christensen said.

QUESTION OF MONEY

In 1983, Donald Trump, owner of the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League, was set to pursue Wilson, but Davis gave his quarterback a five-year, $4-million contract and installed him as the starter.

“If you ever cornered Al, he’d say that the biggest mistake he’s ever made was signing Marc,” Christensen said.

Soon thereafter, however, Wilson started against Dallas in a nationally televised game and played well as the Raiders defeated the Cowboys.

Then Wilson suffered a broken shoulder and lost his job to Jim Plunkett, who led the Raiders to victory in Super Bowl XVIII.

After beginning the 1985 season behind Plunkett, Wilson became the starter when Plunkett suffered a pulled abdominal muscle.

Wilson rallied the team from a 1-2 start, winning five consecutive games en route to a 12-4 finish.

But he was perceived as being mediocre because he threw more interceptions than touchdowns and his completion percentage was less than 50%. Wilson said he was playing with a separated left shoulder and a thumb injury. Marcus Allen took up the slack for the Raiders and was voted the NFL’s most valuable player.

The Raiders were eliminated from the playoffs after Wilson threw three interceptions in a loss to the New England Patriots.

Davis wanted to trade Wilson before the 1986 season, but Flores blocked the move, and the coach’s confidence seem justified as Wilson played well in a 38-36 loss at Denver. Then he was knocked out of the lineup during a 10-6 defeat in Washington.

He returned but was benched again and was in and out of the lineup because the Raiders were unable to decide between Wilson, Plunkett and Rusty Hilger.

“He was always in the shadow of Plunkett because every time you’d count Jim out, Jim would come back,” Flores said.

“So anything less than a Super Bowl wouldn’t have been good enough.”

The low point came when Davis sent a note to the locker room during a game when the Raiders were trailing Dallas, ordering Wilson to be benched.

Hilger opened the 1987 season at quarterback, but Davis had Wilson inserted at Minnesota. He played well against the Vikings and for the rest of the season.

After Mike Shanahan replaced Flores as Raider coach, Shanahan said Wilson was well suited to the short passing game that the new coach preferred. Shanahan told friends that Wilson would take the Raiders to the Super Bowl.

But it never happened. When his contract expired, Wilson did not report to minicamp at the request of his agent, Howard Slusher.

Enraged, Davis ended negotiations with Wilson and released him without making a new offer.

Shanahan was horrified. He called Wilson and told him that if he came to camp and was cut, Shanahan would pay his salary out of his own pocket.

But it wasn’t to be, and Wilson was a Raider no longer.

“I don’t know that he ever had a chance in L.A.,” Flores said of Wilson.

“People always remembered the bad things he did. It’s a tough to be a quarterback, especially in that town. His won and loss record (31-19) wasn’t as bad as you would think if you asked people on the street.”