Twists of Fate Give Craig a New Start : Raiders: Allen’s injury, same place and same type, puts former 49er back in the limelight.

The road back for Roger Craig, suddenly the Raiders’ tailback, can be linked to a pair of right knee ligament strains, nearly a year apart, on the same patch of artificial surface at Houston’s Astrodome.

File it under strange but true: On Oct. 7, 1990, Craig’s brilliant career with the San Francisco 49ers reached a crossroads when he made a cut on the carpet in Houston and strained the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

Craig was not touched on the play. He blamed the artificial surface for the injury. Craig missed five games, returned too soon perhaps, rushed for a career-low 439 yards in the season, made a crucial fumble in the NFC title game and later was shown the door by the 49ers, who left him unprotected as a Plan B free agent.

Craig, who felt betrayed, signed with the Raiders on April 1, joining a talented backfield mix that included Marcus Allen, Greg Bell and, later in the month, rookie Nick Bell. One by one, the halfbacks have toppled. Greg Bell sprained an ankle in the Dallas exhibition game and was later released. Nick Bell pulled a hamstring in Tokyo and ended up on injured reserve.

And Allen lasted until the second half of last Sunday’s opener in Houston, when he made a cut on the AstroTurf and felt a pop in his right knee. Like Craig, no one touched Allen. Like Craig, Allen limped away with a damaged posterior cruciate ligament.

Craig could hardly believe the coincidence.

“He got hurt where I got hurt last year,” he said. “It was in the same area, around the 45- to 50-yard line.”

In a strange twist of symmetry, Allen’s injury propels Craig into the starting lineup and back into the limelight. This is nothing new. In eight seasons with the 49ers, Craig established himself as one of the game’s most versatile backs. He played on three Super Bowl champions.

And why would Craig be nervous about Denver, Sunday’s opponent at the Coliseum? In Super Bowl XXIV, Craig totaled 103 rushing/receiving yards in the 49ers’ 51-10 victory over the Broncos.

Yet, in many ways, Craig is starting over.

“You’re going to have some butterflies in this situation,” he admitted. “But it’s nothing new for me, me being the main guy. I did it with the 49ers for eight years. The main thing I really have to focus on is knowing what’s going on out there, as far as making mental errors (goes). I have to be well-focused on the game plan.”

Although the Raiders are nearly out of runners, Craig won’t have to do it all.

“He will carry the load,” Coach Art Shell said, “but we will have somebody to spell him. He’ll get a lot of playing time, but we won’t overburden him with work.”

Doubters will be eager to see whether Craig still has what it takes to be an every-down player in the NFL. Craig’s right knee is reportedly fine. He proved it in the exhibition season by leading Raider rushers with an average of 4.5 yards a carry.

Craig’s main concern is the left knee he bruised this summer in Tokyo when he collided with teammate Tom Benson in pregame warmups. Craig then banged the knee hard on the infield dirt at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium in the exhibition finale. He broke a blood vessel and is wearing a protective pad designed by trainer George Anderson.

Craig’s pain tolerance is well chronicled. In fact, his determination to play last season on a bad knee may have worked to his detriment. Craig was not the runner he once was. But he doesn’t think that way. “I never allowed myself to think that I was hurt,” Craig said Wednesday. “I wouldn’t allow the negative, as far as the turf keeping me down (goes). I would rather a linebacker hit me, and hurt me, than the turf, so that’s the reason I came back as fast as I did. I kept thinking positive the whole time.

“I can remember the first week, I wanted to play against Atlanta, right after Houston. I was doing sprints the day before the game. The coaches said, ‘We can’t let you play.’ I was begging them to play. That’s just my mentality. I feel I can play through injuries. I’ve done that through my whole career.”

Maybe events happen for a reason. Had Craig nursed his injured knee last season instead of rushing back into the lineup, he probably never would have become a Raider.

“I wouldn’t be here today,” he said. “I think that it was good that I came back. I took some criticism. I wasn’t at par like I once was. But I built character in myself. It hardened me as a player. That’s the reason why I came back as strong as I did last year.”

Craig goes so hard that it sometimes takes someone else to tell him when to stop. His one-time off-season workouts, which consisted of long runs through the hills of Palo Alto, have become legend in cross-training lore.

When Craig came to the Raiders, Shell suggested he slow his pace.

“Everyone remembers me running all those steep hills,” Craig said. “But I’ve cut back on that. Art Shell told me not to come in in great shape. He said come in in good shape and work into it, so you have something left for the season. Because it’s a long haul. I took his approach and it’s worked out well for me.”

These are anxious days for the Raiders, who are burning up running backs at a furious clip. Craig was supposed to be in a tailback rotation. Now he is the rotation.

Craig has exceeded expectations.

“Our expectations were that he would come here and add to what we have,” Shell said. “There was some concern outside the organization about his health, about whether he still had the explosion and the quickness he had. And he showed us he had all those things.”

Now, Craig gets to show the rest of the world.