Beaten Giants Duck Respect Issue

Did the Raiders impress you or depress you? They must have impressed somebody Sunday. They must have impressed at least some of the 43,103 who saw them defeat the New York Giants, 13-10. They must have impressed at least some of the media. And they even left the Coliseum pretty impressed with themselves.

OK, now guess who wasn’t impressed.

New York quarterback Phil Simms:

“I wasn’t impressed by the Raiders at all.”

Wait, it gets worse.

Giant linebacker Pepper Johnson:

“I don’t think they play too hard. Their offensive line isn’t too good. They just play patsy football.

“Tim Brown makes one catch, (Jeff) Jaeger makes his longest field goal and all of sudden everybody’s on their bandwagon.”

That all, Pepper?

Uh, no.

“It’s not even like playing a normal NFC game, where people line up and whip butt.

“We lost to a bunch of ducks.”

Ducks?

Lost to a bunch of ducks?

“Yeah. They’re not very good,” Johnson said. “We didn’t think they were very good going into the game. We didn’t think they were very good watching films of them. We didn’t think they were very good after the first quarter. We didn’t think they were very good at halftime.

“And I still don’t think they’re any good.”

Anything you say, Pep.

Anybody else?

“Hey,” Giant linebacker Steve Deossie chimed in. “No way you’re going to stand there and try to tell me the Raiders are more talented than we are.

“No way.”

Well now.

Talk about no respect.

Talk about kicking somebody when they’re up.

The mighty ducks finally go out and win a football game, and look what their victims go and say about them.

If the Giants had taken half as many hard shots at the Raiders during the game as after, their record might not be 1-3.

Anybody else out there got anything to say? Anybody else talking that disrespectful talk?

Yes, Raider defensive tackle Nolan Harrison said. Now that you mention it. . . .

“I’m in my room this morning, watching CBS. This guy comes on and calls us the laughingstock of the league. He says, ‘The Raiders are the laughingstock of all of football.’ ”

Which guy?

“All of them,” Harrison said. “They all sat there, nodding their heads.

“I’ll tell you something. I just wish one of those guys would line up out there in front of me.

“I’d knock him on his CBS.”

Raider-bashing.

It can be contagious.

“It’s like the fans here, booing us when we step on the field, booing the quarterback, it can get depressing,” Harrison said.

That’s right, defensive end Anthony Smith agreed.

“We wish our crowd could be disruptive. You go to Seattle, nothing but noise. Go to Kansas City, same thing,” Smith said. “But we come home, nothing but a bunch of quiet.”

Well, there hasn’t been much to cheer about.

“Yeah, but you’ve got to start somewhere,” Harrison said. “To me, our other games are ancient history. The season starts now. We’re 1-4. I’m looking for us to be 2-4, 3-4, 4-4, 5-4, 6-4, 7-4, 8-4.

“Buffalo next week? Fine. Bring ‘em on.”

Back when Harrison was making tackles for Homewood-Flossmoor High, south of Chicago, he used to routinely have big games like the one he had Sunday.

“Nolan! How many sacks you have out there today?” center Dan Turk asked. “Seven? Eight?”

No, two.

But they were beauties. One came during the first quarter and was more impressive than important. The other came during the game’s final minutes, with the Giants knocking on the door at the Raider 33, behind by three points.

On first down, Simms dropped back to pass and Harrison planted him at the 42. New York ended up out of field-goal range, had to punt and never got the ball back.

“Hey, how about that? Those are my first two sacks of the season!” Harrison said. “I was going crazy out there.”

Having sat out the last two games because of an injured knee, Harrison was positively giddy, saying: “I don’t think I’ve lost a step. Do you?

“Our whole defense was on the job today. We were like family out there--a bunch of brothers, helping each other out. But you don’t win games, 0-0. You’ve got to score. I know they say: ‘Defense wins games. Offense wins championships.’ But I think it’s the reverse. I think with our defense, we can still make something happen this season. And let me tell you something: Never sell our offense short. Because they’re going to get there.”

You tell ‘em, Nolan.

Wait until next week, when the ducks meet the Bills.