PRO FOOTBALL : A Raider Star Is Born, but Brightness Remains to Be Measured

To evaluate a new quarterback, the first two things to watch are his feet. Is he a quick set? Can he get his feet under him--in a hurry--if he has to throw immediately?

The new Raider quarterback, Todd Marinovich of USC, not only passed that test, but got a high grade Sunday. He also passed most of the other tests.

Marinovich might emerge as a great quarterback. It takes a blend of many qualities, physical, intellectual and otherwise, to become a great quarterback, and Marinovich might not have them all.

But he made a great beginning.

On a day when he began his NFL career with three touchdown passes, the first of them illustrated his potential. Delivered against a blitzing defense, it was a 26-yard pass, the ball arching high into the end zone, barely beyond the Kansas City secondary, to a briefly open wide receiver, Tim Brown.

Hardly anything is more alarming to an inexperienced quarterback than to see a blitzing linebacker or cornerback coming at him.

All in the same instant, the quarterback must read a receiver, decide whether to pass to him, get his feet under him and throw.

Only a few have the required quickness--in particular the foot quickness. Marinovich would appear to be one of those few.

No place to hide: Dan Marino, in his first year or two in the NFL, was one kind of quarterback. He is a different kind today--as quick as ever, but more wary. Much more jumpy.

Marinovich, too, will be different after the NFL’s defensive teams have initiated him.

Perhaps no one can more empathize with an NFL passer than a tiring professional boxer in the late rounds of a losing fight.

It’s unfortunate, really, that quarterbacks, to succeed, must produce while being punished, but that’s the way it is.

The Chiefs didn’t rush Marinovich ferociously this time. He took one hit in the second half, a welcome-to-the-NFL blow, but that was merely a taste of what is ahead.

Although he was remarkably well prepared by Raider quarterback coach Mike White, Marinovich can’t be measured until he’s been pounded in 10 or 12 games.

The truth is, ultimately he will be judged by the way he handles the job while much bigger people are beating him up.

A star is born: It was that rarest of NFL days--a star-is-born day. And it couldn’t have happened if there were serious flaws in Marinovich’s performance.

A quarterback of optimum size, 6 feet 4, 215 pounds, he has pretty well mastered the techniques and the rest of it. He has the Joe Namath passing motion, with which he whips the ball much as Marino and Steve Bono do. He has the alertness. He shows the composure to take charge of himself in the pocket. He knows where his feet should be. And he exhibits the throwing touch that minimizes, for a receiver, the disadvantages of catching a left-hander’s passes.

In recent years, there has been a misapprehension--even within the Raider organization--that a good long passer is one who can throw the ball a mile, as Marc Wilson did and as Jay Schroeder does.

Actually, a good long passer is simply one who, throwing a deep sideline pass, for example, pulls the trigger on time. The ball must be fired before a safety can get to the sideline to help the cornerback bracket the receiver.

In other words, it takes both mental and physical quickness to be a long passer of the kind the Raiders want. And probably the definitive thing about Marinovich as a Raider quarterback is that he shows that kind of quickness.

Timid teams: Marinovich might be remembered as a two-time loser in his college and pro debuts. In his first college game two years ago, he was on a USC team that lost to Illinois largely because the Trojans didn’t believe in him enough, as a passer, to let him throw enough.

In his first pro game, the Chiefs won, 27-21, in part because they were sounder and fresher than the Raiders.

That was most noticeable in the Raider defense.

On the preceding weekend, the Chiefs had played on a Saturday afternoon, the Raiders on a Monday night.

At this time of year, nothing is more helpful to a struggling, battered pro club than a couple of extra days of inaction.

Moreover, the Raider defense might not be as effective as it seemed a few weeks ago when the club, 9-7 now, was 9-4. That’s a grave possibility in the week of a Kansas City rematch.

Their offense could be and has been an even graver threat to the Raiders. Shut out in New Orleans two games ago, it didn’t give Marinovich sufficient support Sunday.

Although, in retrospect, he had to score on every possession to win, he lost one good chance when, on second and third downs, teammates Willie Gault and Ethan Horton dropped balls.

And Marinovich lost another when the Raider coaching staff--rivaling the timidity of USC’s against Illinois in the 1989 Trojan opener--tried to run the ball on third and five.

Head case: The popular perception of the Raiders is that they have been good enough in their Los Angeles decade to reach the Super Bowl more than once--if they had only had a quarterback.

Raider owner Al Davis has been advised by almost everyone in town, at one time or another, to part with one or both of his last two, Marc Wilson and Jay Schroeder, and to keep less-regarded Steve Beuerlein.

At other positions, Davis hasn’t needed advisers. On his record as a talent scout, he leads the NFL.

Quarterbacks, however, are something else. It’s harder to grade prospective quarterbacks.

A winner at that position is a composite of so many necessary characteristics that nobody, not even Davis or Bill Walsh, can be counted on to make an informed prediction on a given prospect.

Remember that Walsh drafted Joe Montana only in the third round. Remember that Dan Marino got thumbs down from almost every NFL scout.

At a time when Davis is on the spot for the Beuerlein trade, has he providentially turned up, in Marinovich, a champion who will silence the critics? There are two ways to look at it:

--On the one hand, Marinovich is apparently something of an off-the-field head case. His personal troubles, surely, haven’t all been the fault of others. Marinovich excepted, almost all of America’s 35 million college-age folks, surely, would welcome three or four expenses-paid years at one of the country’s great universities, in one of the nation’s great cities, in the kind of luxury that was available to Marinovich at USC.

--On the other hand, he appears to have the skills of a Super Bowl champion.

Quote department:

Haywood Jeffires, Houston receiver, who caught a near-record 100 passes this season: “I’d like some day to be the Jerry Rice of football.”

James Lofton, Buffalo receiver, whose day off Sunday kept him 55 yards short of Steve Largent’s career record: “I’ll just hold it a couple of seasons, anyway, before Jerry Rice smashes everybody’s records.”

Chuck Knox, Seattle coach, who is 170-114-1 and ranks sixth among coaches behind George Halas, Don Shula, Tom Landry, Curly Lambeau and Chuck Noll in victories: “The record is there. The people who have watched the nine (Seattle) years are aware of what has been done.”

Irv Eatman, Jet tackle, on New York out-gaining Miami in yards rushing Sunday, 231 to 46: “If you can’t win (running) , you can’t win with anything.”

Wayne Fontes, Detroit coach, on making the playoffs with a team that lost five key starters to injury--quarterback Rodney Peete, linebacker Mike Cofer, blockers Mike Utley and Eric Sanders and nose guard Jerry Ball: “This is just the start. We hope for years to come that we’ll be a team that always contends.”