PRO FOOTBALL : Jackson’s Spectacular Runs Don’t Diminish Allen’s Role

The hardest play to make in football today, because of the way they defend against it, is the long run from scrimmage.

You hardly see it at all anymore--except when Raider running back Bo Jackson has the ball.

As the Raiders made the playoffs, Jackson, merging speed and power, zipped through the Cincinnati defense for nearly 150 yards Sunday on one play alone.

Coach Don Shula of the Miami Dolphins, impressed, never expects any back to get away for more than 25 or 30 yards these days.

“You’ve got linebackers and defensive backs now that have sprinter speed,” Shula said. “They utilize that speed to keep long plays from happening.”

Except Bo Jackson’s plays.

Most Bengals had at least two shots at him Sunday when he was racing about 15 yards left, 45 right and 88 downfield.

It was Jackson’s third big play in as many weeks, after earlier touchdown runs of 62 and 55 yards. In his short Raider career, he also has sped for 91- and 92-yard touchdowns.

He seems to have taken football to a new level, although, as he frankly admits, he plays baseball and football for the fun of it. He isn’t much of a competitor.

Thus, Coach Art Shell wisely runs Marcus Allen most of the time, reducing the chance that Jackson will be hobbled by minor injuries.

One difference between Allen and Jackson is that Allen finds football fun even when nicked.

The run-and-shoot offense made an unforgettable impression on the NFL Sunday with two upsets: the Houston Oilers over the Kansas City Chiefs, 27-10, and the Detroit Lions over the Chicago Bears, 38-21.

There were two similarities:

--Both losing teams obviously were loaded with better players than the winners. Most NFL people acknowledge that. The two losers are among the NFL’s leaders in talent, offensive and defensive, except at quarterback.

They were simply ground up in the run-and-shoot machinery.

--The two winners, after struggling this season because of defensive--not run-and-shoot--deficiencies, both appeared to have improved defensively. In any case, their defenses both regained possession of the ball repeatedly.

That is essential for any offensive team.

“Our defense is coming around,” said Houston quarterback Warren Moon, who completed 27 passes for 527 yards and three touchdowns. “Our (problem) this year is that we have brand-new systems on offense and defense both.”

Detroit quarterback Rodney Peete, who beat a sound Chicago team with four touchdown passes, said, “The defense kept getting us the ball back.”

Peete emerged as something of a Moon-type long passer, though not right away. After beginning the evening with two overthrows, he returned with a broad smile to the bench and told Detroit Coach Wayne Fontes, prophetically, “Let’s keep doing it. I’ll hit it.”

The Lions and Oilers are the only two run-and-shoot teams in a league in which Atlanta uses a lot of shotgun football, which is something else. And the NFL has learned the run-and-shoot belongs in pro football.

You can compete with it in the NFL. You can win with it.

The NFL’s many conservatives challenged that.

Next question: Can you win the Super Bowl with it?

Probably, but it’s not likely this year.

The NFL’s defensive coaches have spun a lot of wheels throughout the season looking for ways to slow down the run-and-shoot.

In Sunday’s games, for example, the losing Chicago and Kansas City coaching staffs both seemed to be concentrating too many of their resources against running backs Barry Sanders of Detroit and Lorenzo White of Houston.

That enabled Peete and Moon to focus on the passes that led to both routs.

And in clutch situations, Sanders and White ran well anyway.

One reason Detroit and Houston are becoming increasingly successful on the ground as the season advances--thus worrying the life out of opposing coaches--is that run-and-shoot football builds confidence in running backs.

Although they run only draw plays, Sanders and White, when called on, see so many holes in the defense that they want the ball on every down.

Last year’s Houston coach, Jerry Glanville, complained that White is only an east-west runner. This year, bolting north and south, he has been giving Moon more and more help.

“We’re getting the balance everyone wants,” Moon said.

When Miami (11-3) plays at Buffalo (12-2) this week in the season’s decisive AFC game, the Bills will have the cold-weather advantage, but the Dolphins will have Dan Marino.

“He’s having a big year,” Shula said. “This is the old Dan Marino.”

And the old Marino is still the NFL’s quickest, hardest-throwing pitcher.

He’s quicker than Joe Namath ever was, and he can throw the ball twice as hard as Joe Montana, and almost as accurately.

But not always. In recent years, as the Dolphins lost their defense and running game, Marino became a minimum contributor.

He was seldom sacked, true--but that was because he declined to hold the ball long enough to take a hit.

At the first sign of trouble, he unloaded. He either forced the ball somewhere or threw it away. And why not? Why stand in against a mayhem-minded blitzer when, even if you throw it for a touchdown, your defense is just going to give it back?

So Marino saved himself, riding out the storm until Shula could rebuild the blocking line and defensive team.

As Marino faces Buffalo, the NFL’s new No. 1 defensive player, Bruce Smith, will represent one problem. A new Buffalo passer, Frank Reich, who has succeeded injured Jim Kelly, could be another.

Winning three games in relief of Kelly last year, Reich, in some respects, seemed the better quarterback.

“Very few backups can come in and win for you,” Buffalo General Manager Bill Polian said. “(Reich) is one of them.”

New York Giant quarterback Phil Simms didn’t seem to be badly injured when he left Saturday’s Buffalo game.

But an hour or two later, when he went out to get in his car for the short drive home, he was on crutches, and, with a big plastic cast on his bad foot, trudged along slowly.

Putting himself carefully behind the wheel, Simms rested the cast on the accelerator and said: “At least I have an excuse for speeding.”

There’s never a good time to lose your quarterback, but for the Giants this is a better time than some. They should be able to win their last two against Phoenix and New England with backup Jeff Hostetler and get some momentum for the playoffs.

Against Buffalo, the Giants played a different kind of game when Hostetler came in, throwing the ball on first down and generally opening up. That suggested that part of Coach Bill Parcells’ conservatism may be traced to a lack of confidence in Simms’ aptitude for Joe Montana-type football.

Simms, however, is a painstaking competitor. The Giants will miss him.

Quote Department:

Jack Pardee, Houston coach: “This isn’t a great team yet, but it shows that possibility at times .”

Jimmy Raye, New England offensive coordinator, on whether the Patriots are about to fire him: “I just try to make it to lunch. If I make it to lunch, I go to practice.”

Mike Ditka, Chicago coach: “Mark Carrier is playing as good a free safety as any free safety in the league.”

Buddy Ryan, Philadelphia coach, on making the playoffs for the third consecutive year: “This is the best team we’ve had here.”