Beating Giants No Small Task for Raiders

Win on the road against overwhelming odds?

Ha!

The Raiders began this decade with their Ice Bowl victory in Cleveland when Mike Davis stepped in front of that Brian Sipe pass.

A week later in the AFC championship game, they beat a loaded Charger team in San Diego, 34-27, after Ted Hendricks supposedly told the offense to hold on to the ball because he didn’t think they could stop Dan Fouts again . . . and the offense ran out the last 6:30 behind Mark Van Eeghen and Kenny King.

There were Raider giants in those days.

These days?

They play the Giants.

The Giants are a different kettle of fish than those hangdog Seahawks who won Sunday night by an act of will and Dave Krieg.

The Giants are 11-4. They need this game. It’s at the Meadowlands, which is expected to be chilly. They’re seven-point favorites.

In similar circumstances a year ago, the Raiders journeyed to Buffalo . . . and were torn apart, 37-21.

In the last half of this decade, they’ve lost every game they needed for the playoffs: 20-17 to the Chiefs in the Coliseum in ‘86, 43-37 to the Seahawks in the Coliseum in ’88 and 23-17 in the Kingdome Sunday night as the Seahawks ran for 82 yards and held the ball for 38:05.

Had the Raiders won those earlier games, they would not have had to endure a three-year playoff drought, with the prospect of making it four.

But Sunday is another day?

“It’s the season,” said Howie Long. “This season is either a success or a failure, based on this week.

“If we win, it (making the playoffs) is a great, great achievement, because of all we’ve gone through, I think.”

If the Raiders’ chances were all over Sunday night in Seattle, it didn’t show Monday in El Segundo.

Art Shell called it “a tough, tough loss.”

Players walked around with blank expressions.

“I think it’s a slap in the face,” Long said. “I think it’s a wakeup call. It’s the most important game in this organization’s history, right now.”

Here, then, are two more of the most important games in the organization’s history:

--Cleveland at Houston Saturday night.

--Indianapolis at New Orleans Sunday.

For the Raiders to make the playoffs, they have to win and the Browns and the Colts must both lose.

On the plus side for the Raiders, both Cleveland and Indianapolis are on the road as underdogs.

On the minus side, so are they.

“Someone was going over the possibilities,” Shell said. “By the time they got halfway through, I was going cuckoo.

‘We’ve got to win. If we do, someone will tell me Monday.”

Raider Notes

Raider Coach Art Shell said left tackle Rory Graves, who has a sprained foot and toe, and safety Russell Carter, who has a hamstring pull, probably won’t play Sunday against the New York Giants. Steve Wright moves up to the starting left tackle spot, opposite Lawrence Taylor. The Raiders could use Mike Haynes, deactivated for the last three games, in Carter’s place. . . . Commendations: cornerback Lionel Washington held Steve Largent to one catch for 13 yards. Largent may be a shadow of what he was, but the Seahawks looked for him at every opportunity, trying to get him a score before the home folks, and Washington turned them away. Terry McDaniel, the other cornerback, seems to be coming along fast. . . . 1,000-yard club: Mervyn Fernandez had six catches for 73 yards, giving him 51 for 944 this season. If he gets 56 more yards, he’ll become the first Raider wideout to reach 1,000 since Cliff Branch in 1976. . . . Bo Jackson gained 69 yards in 12 carries Sunday. He needs 85 yards for 1,000 in his 11-game season. . . . Is Steve Beuerlein wild high because of a mechanical problem? He threw over Fernandez at the end zone and lobbed a couple too far for Mike Dyal. In a refreshing departure for a football coach, Shell didn’t pretend to know. “I’m learnning quarterbacks,” Shell said. “I don’t know the ramifications of the quarterback position. He has thrown the ball high, yes.” . . . Nobody’s happy: Shell didn’t like the call that denied Jackson a touchdown on his first-quarter dive, or the non-call on the interception by Dwayne Harper, who Shell contends interfered with Willie Gault. Seahawk Coach Chuck Knox didn’t like the ruling on Jackson’s plunge that his fumble was after the whistle, wiping out Melvin Jenkins’ recovery and 99-yard return. . . . Jackson wasn’t available after the game. There was a note on his locker, though. It said: “No (expletive deleted) autographs.” . . . The Raiders are 1-6 on the road this season.