Cross-Training Just a Snap as Bo Starts in Midseason Form : Raiders: Jackson’s only problem in 1990 football debut is keeping his helmet on against Chargers.

Bo Jackson’s helmet was rolling on the field like a bowling ball after San Diego safety Martin Bayless welcomed the Raider tailback back to the NFL.

But Jackson was smiling when he got up after Bayless knocked his helmet off with a jarring hit.

“That’s part of my game plan,” Jackson explained later. “The object of it is to have three of your four (helmet) buttons fastened and let the last one stay open so when they hit you your helmet flies off and it makes them think they’re hitting you hard, which they’re really not. Then you put your helmet on and go do it again. It’s just a little psychology.”

Jackson lost his helmet twice that way against the Chargers.

Is Jackson’s psychological ploy effective?

“Of course,” Jackson said.

But Bayless thought it wasn’t a ploy.

“If you see his helmet flying 10 yards you know what happened,” Bayless said. “All I know is that his helmet came off. That’s like a person driving a car without a seat belt.”

But Raider nose tackle Bob Golic joked that Jackson didn’t fasten his helmet because Jackson, playing his first football game this season after spending nine months with the Kansas City Royals, was so confused that he thought he was wearing a baseball helmet.

“It doesn’t matter how bad I talk about Golic, he’ll take it as a compliment,” Jackson said

Said Golic: “I just told him to buckle up because this ain’t baseball any more. He’s a tough guy.”

Switching sports as quickly as Diana Ross changes costumes, Jackson rushed for 53 yards in 12 carries and scored two touchdowns as the Raiders defeated the Chargers, 24-9.

“I’ve got some bruises,” Jackson said, maintaining that it took only one hit for him to get reacclimated. “But they’ll only last for a day or so. Luckily we’ve got a week off and I’ll be healed before we go to Kansas City.”

It was the third most productive opening game of Jackson’s four NFL seasons. He rushed for 37 yards and no touchdowns against New England in his first game of the 1987 season and gained 70 yards in 20 carries and scored a touchdown against the Kansas City Chiefs in his first game of the 1988 season. Jackson rushed for 85 yards in 11 carries and scored a touchdown against the Chiefs in his first game last season.

“Bo did basically what I thought he would do,” Raider Coach Art Shell said. “He came in and ran hard and scored a couple of touchdowns. That’s Bo Jackson. He’s a big play guy. Bo did all right for the first time out.”

Jackson did most of the work in the Raiders’ first touchdown drive, rushing for 28 yards on five carries as the Raiders went 35 yards in six plays to take a 10-3 lead on Jackson’s five-yard touchdown run with 8:51 left in the first half. Although the play was designed to go inside, he cut it to the outside and carried linebacker Henry Rolling into the end zone on his back like a sack of flour.

“It doesn’t matter if someone’s on my back,” Jackson said. “If I’ve got the strength to pull them into the end zone, that’s what I’m going to do.

“It’s fun playing football because you can’t hit anybody in baseball without getting thrown out of the game.”

Like most smart running backs, Jackson credited his offensive line.

“The line blocked their (butts) off and gave me a crack and I took it,” Jackson said. “It was just hard-nosed blocking. Whenever they give you holes like they were giving you this afternoon you can’t do anything but run for daylight.”

With Greg Bell sidelined with a sprained ankle, Jackson replaced Bell in the Raiders’ tailback rotation. He alternated with starting tailback Marcus Allen, who rushed for 45 yards in eight carries and caught three passes for 50 yards.

Is it a problem for Jackson to alternate with Allen?

“I think we do a good job splitting time,” Jackson said. “I don’t think we have any selfish players on the team. Whether it’s Marcus and (fullback Steve Smith) back there or Steve and Bo or Vance (Mueller) and Steve, we go out there and we play to win, not to go out and say, ‘Hey, I am the starting tailback here and I run the show.’ It’s not like that because whenever you start to have individuals on a team, that’s when you start going downhill.”

Although Allen opened the game in the Raider backfield, Jackson started the second half. Jackson culminated the Raiders’ first drive of the third quarter by scoring on a seven-yard run to give the Raiders a 17-6 lead. This play was designed to go outside, but Jackson cut inside at the two and ran over Charger cornerback Sam Seale at the goal line.

Although Jackson practiced for just one week after playing baseball for nine months, he appeared in superb football shape.

Raider quarterback Jay Schroeder, who played in the Toronto Blue Jays’ farm system before deciding to concentrate on football, marvels at Jackson’s ability to play major league baseball and pro football.

“It’s just a credit to Bo,” Schroeder said. “To be able to come in after playing baseball for nine months, take 10 days off and play in a big-time football game is just phenomenal.”

Raider defensive end Howie Long, whom Jackson describes as his closest friend on the Raiders, loves to watch Jackson run.

“He has so much power that he just drags two or three people three or four yards,” Long said of Jackson. “You better buckle it up when you tackle him. Just ask those cornerbacks.”

But Jackson’s speed enables him to outrun cornerbacks.

“Have you ever been behind a Porsche when the turbo kicks in and it’s like an explosion and it jets from 80 to (110)?” Long asked.