When Needed, Evans Was Ready : Raiders: Backup quarterback was surprised he got the call, but he sure answered it.

With 11 minutes remaining in the second quarter Sunday, the Raiders looked like a defeated team at the Coliseum.

They trailed the New York Jets, 14-0, and their starting quarterback Jeff Hostetler was having a terrible afternoon.

Instead of providing a spark for a struggling Raider team that had lost its last two games, Hostetler was the Raiders’ first-half drive assassin.

In the Raiders’ opening four possessions, Hostetler killed three by himself with a fumbled snap and two interceptions by New York safety Brian Washington, with one being returned a 62 yards to give the Jets’ a two-touchdown lead early in the second quarter.

It was after the second interception that Raider Coach Art Shell decided he had seen enough and called on Vince Evans, 38, to come to the rescue.

“Go ahead and start to warm up,” Shell told his backup quarterback. “Just be ready to go.”

After starting his first non-strike game in 10 years last week in the Raiders’ 24-9 loss to Kansas City, Evans was somewhat surprised with Shell’s early hook of Hostetler.

“I did not really (anticipate Shell’s call),” Evans said. “But, as a backup quarterback, you always have to be ready.”

And ready Evans was.

Like an old hired gunfighter, Evans came off the bench to ignite the Raiders’ offense with 17 points in his first four possessions.

Evans, who led the Raiders to a comeback victory over the Washington Redskins in the final game of last season, was on fire as he completed five of his first six passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns.

“We were prepared for both Hostetler and Evans,” Jet Coach Bruce Coslett said. “I don’t think their game plan changed because of the change of quarterbacks.”

What changed was that Evans took advantage of New York cornerback James Hasty’s inability to stay with the Raiders’ swift wide receivers.

Evans first picked on Hasty on the Raiders’ final drive of the first half when he sent James Jett deep on a post pattern that resulted in a 42-yard touchdown pass play.

Then, to open the second half, Evans had Alexander Wright run an out and up pattern on Hasty that turned into a 68-yard touchdown pass play.

“A lot of things happened on those plays but the bottom line is that we didn’t get it done,” Hasty said. “He beat us when we didn’t get our zone over deep enough and then he beat us when our blitz didn’t get there in time.”

After leading the Raiders to tie the score, 17-17, Evans cooled later in the second half.

Instead of completing nearly every pass, Evans connected on only four of his next nine for 39 yards as the Raiders fell behind, 20-17, with 4:29 remaining.

In the Raider huddle on the final drive, Evans’ confidence was key as he led the team to one first down after another with completions to rookies Rocket Ismail and Jett.

“In the huddle, everyone was feeding off everyone else,” Evans said. “Our young receivers came in with so much spirit and tenacity. They just came in and wanted to play. It was like sandlot ball. They just wanted to run like the wind and catch the ball.”

Which is exactly what they did as the Raiders drove 65 yards in nine plays to the Jets’ seven yard line. That’s when Evans connected with Tim Brown for a six-yard completion, setting up Nick Bell’s winning one-yard touchdown run.

“There is some personal gratification in coming into a game and having the team come-from-behind to win,” said Evans, who completed 14 of 22 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns. “I just love being in that type of situation.”