There’s No Tougher Way for Raiders to End Year

Baby, it’s cold outside, highs predicted in the teens, wind-chill headed for minus numbers, and let’s hear a big Gotham welcome for our visitors from Southern California.

What’s the opposite of a day at the beach?

Welcome to the Raiders’ Last Stand.

They’re 6 1/2-point underdogs to the Giants today. Even if they pull the upset, they need losses by Indianapolis and Cincinnati to reach the playoffs.

It’s not Mission: Impossible, but it’s close. Mort Oldshan of the Gold Sheet figures the odds against the Raiders at 25-1.

The Raiders were here 11 weeks ago in Art Shell’s debut, but that was on a balmy October night against the Jets. Giants Stadium put up green bunting to mask the Giants Blue of the stands. No camouflage was possible for the Jets themselves, and the Raiders won, 14-7.

This is the big team in town, with season tickets handed down in wills, guaranteed sellouts and fans braving the elements like entertainment-starved Denver-ites.

A week ago, there were 72,142 in the stands and 4,944 no-shows on a subzero wind-chill day, with the 1-14 Cowboys in town. The Giants won, 15-0, securing a playoff berth for the first time since winning Super Bowl XXI in Pasadena.

They need to win to clinch the NFC East, so the Raiders get no break there, either. A victory means a week off to the Giants, who need it.

Talk about your improbable champions . . .

Take away linebackers Lawrence Taylor and Carl Banks and quarterback Phil Simms, and there aren’t a lot of Giants left who were in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 25, 1987.

Gone are Harry Carson, Jim Burt, George Martin, Phil McConkey, Brad Benson, Karl Nelson, Billy Ard and Chris Godfrey. Joe Morris and Mark Bavaro are injured.

That’s three members of their defensive front, five of their six offensive linemen and their leading rusher.

This team is 11-4?

Leading rusher Ottis Anderson has averaged 3.1 yards a carry with his 949 yards.

If he reaches 1,000, he’ll have the lowest average of any NFL back ever to gain that many--by a mile. The lowest to date is Morris’ 3.5-yard average last season.

Anderson is 32 and didn’t have this many rushes, 302, in 1985 through ’88 combined--260.

The Giants thought so little of Anderson before Morris was hurt in the exhibition season, they exposed him to Plan B free agency and, when there were no takers, re-signed him at a 50% pay cut.

The once-feared Giant defense has recorded 35 sacks, one more than the Raiders.

The Giants have allowed 45 sacks, five more than the Raiders.

Simms has 14 interceptions to go with his 14 touchdown passes.

The Giants have the flair of Coach Bill Parcells--none--but they’re his proudest achievement: They’re rock-ribbed, conservative and effective.

Not for them those Ram niceties of winning pretty. The Giants maintain a running game by flat-out insisting on it. They run on first and second downs and let Simms deal with third-and-longs. If the crowd boos, well, the waiting list isn’t short on patrons who’d be grateful to see line plunges.

And they still have those linebackers . . .

The runt of the group is Gary Reasons: 6-feet-4, 235 pounds. He blew Bobby Humphrey out of the sky on a highlight-film hit at the goal line that the locals are calling 1989’s version of the inspirational ’86 Bavaro reception, on which he ferried half the 49er defense downfield.

The others are more famous: Taylor, 6-3, 243; Banks, 6-5, 235, and Pepper Johnson, 6-3, 248.

Their specialty is the goal-line stand. In the last three weeks, they’ve denied each foe any points at all on a first-and-goal. Their percentage against the fourth-down conversion is 23.5%, best in the league. Remember, these are mostly fourth-and-ones.

“They’ve probably got the best front seven in football,” Shell said. “They’ve always had those outside linebackers. Pepper Johnson is having as good a year as anybody.

“We go over their personnel as a coaching staff. After Terry Robiskie got done talking about their outside linebackers, I said, ‘I guess we can’t run on them, we might as well go home.’ ”

Shell is 7-4 and could have mailed this one in if his defensive coordinator had been able to contain Dave Krieg. If the Raiders had won in Seattle, they’d already be in the playoffs.

Shell, of course, is getting a lot of help from Al Davis, but some of it hasn’t been as helpful as they’d hoped.

Davis liked Zeph Lee, the former USC running back whom he switched to safety. It took half the season before the defensive coaches could get Lee out and the able Mike Harden in full time.

Lee was subsequently waived without announcement.

A Raider source said Davis expressly ordered Shell not to use Marcus Allen on a goal-line dive in Seattle, as Shell had done against Phoenix the week before.

The source said Davis told Shell and Robiskie they shouldn’t have done that, either, despite the fact that Allen’s dives converted a fourth-and-two and produced the winning touchdown.

California Gothic, to the end.

Raider Notes

There was much woofing back and forth about the cold and the gusty winds of Giants Stadium, but the Raiders will, indeed, have to run effectively against the league’s No. 5 unit against the rush. . . . Said Giant Coach Bill Parcells: “This time of year, if you’re not used to coming here, it’s a little different . . . (At) our practice (Wednesday), it was about 16 degrees. We were out there 2 1/2 hours.”

Said Raider Coach Art Shell: “Hey, it’s going to be cold. And I don’t care what anyone says, they’re going to be cold, too. I don’t care where you are, you don’t become accustomed to it. They’re going to be just as cold as we are. . . . I can remember, we went to Cleveland (for the 1980 Ice Bowl), and Dave Dalby went out in just his T-shirt for early warm-ups, like he’d normally do. I thought he was crazy. His mind-set was, ‘I’m not going to let the conditions bother me.’ I wouldn’t do that. I didn’t think it was smart. Dave was a different breed.”

Add different breed: Bo Jackson was primed to hit 1,000 yards last week in his 10th game. A Raider source said Bo was talking about just what it would take--156 yards. Indeed, Jackson again ran like a man possessed in the first half, when he got 53 yards, before taking a shot to the ribs. After that, he continued to play in obvious pain, winning some real respect. “He’s got torn rib cartilage,” the Raider said. “He’s hurt as badly as any running back we’ve got. You’ve got to respect him. Last year, I didn’t care if he came back here or not.” Jackson needs 87 yards to get his 1,000 now, and the Raiders need him to get them.

Raider left guard John Gesek and left tackle Rory Graves, 1-2 on the team in holding calls, will be matched against the Giants’ right end Leonard Marshall, who has nine sacks, and Lawrence Taylor, who has 13 1/2. Graves is listed as doubtful with a sprained foot. If he can’t go, journeyman Steve Wright will. . . . Raider quarterback Steve Beuerlein, on the Giant rush: “Call me stupid, but I don’t worry about it. I have confidence in my line. . . . I’ll take a few hits. That’s my game. I’ll stand in there.”