A Gentleman’s Agreement Proves Raiders Still Care

Tuesday’s news in tropical El Segundo turned out to have nothing to do with Bronco Timmy Brown, a go-for-broke receiver for the Raiders who is being offered everything by Denver but the mint. Instead, what the Raiders did was proudly announce the acquisition of Albert Lewis, a quality cornerback from Kansas City, perhaps a hash mark or two past his prime.

Tim Brown was not far from everyone’s thoughts, though.

Art Shell, for one, objected to some of the tactics and comments coming out of Denver, but the Raider coach stressed that even though Brown himself said he prefers to be a Bronco, “I don’t see any reason why he couldn’t come back to our team.”

For good measure, Shell added, “He hasn’t left.”

Nothing specific came from Raider executive Steve Ortmayer, who has used the word obnoxious to describe Denver’s ludicrously lucrative offer. Ortmayer did emphasize that this contract being signed by Lewis was totally unrelated to the contract terms being negotiated by Brown, except that the cornerback will be dealing with the receiver person to person down the road--”either here in practice or somewhere else.”

The bottom line came from another Raider exec, Al LoCasale, who said, “We’ll know everything by Friday at 1 o’clock.”

It is my hunch, though not my hope, that when this deadline arrives, the Raiders are not going to match the offer to Brown. “Spend the money” is easy advice to give, but aside from being painted into an extremely expensive corner, the Raiders have two other causes for pause: (1) the specifications of Brown’s contract, including its length, impact on the salary cap and no-trade clause, and (2) the hesitancy to richly reward someone who has gotten into bed with your enemy and pretty much told you to take a hike.

With all this in mind, I have concluded that Brown will be coming to town next season dressed in orange.

Many of the Broncos have been giving the Raiders the old hee-haw. They love having L.A. over a barrel. Wade Phillips, the Denver coach, has been all but cackling over this one, saying that he wins either way. Either he gets to couple Brown with Shannon Sharpe as his wideouts or he gets to stuff the Raiders’ skulls up their salary caps, if you know what I mean.

“How can he come out and say some of these things?” asked Shell, who would prefer gentlemen to behave like gentlemen.

Of course, even gentle Art got a little hot under the collar during the Marcus Allen contretemps of a year ago. Business is business, but it doesn’t diminish the personal element when someone from your side does business with someone from your archrival’s side--or, if you prefer, from your Art’s rival. It has to grate on the Raiders that of all the teams in the NFL, Tim Brown sided with the one the Raiders probably like least.

Shell said of Brown: “Don’t worry about him. He’s going to get his money, one place or the other.

“I just don’t understand how people can question our resolve. This has been a winning organization and it will always be a winning organization. Even if we do lose one player, we don’t sit still. We act.”

In other words, there is no law against the Raiders going out and sticking it to the Broncos some day, if this is the way they want to play.

Take Albert Lewis. He might not be as famous a name as Marcus Allen. There are some people in California who haven’t heard of any Al Lewis except the one on TV who played Grandpa Munster.

Trust me, though, Albert Lewis can play football. He has been to the Pro Bowl four times. He ranks third among all pass interceptors in the NFL today. He has personally blocked 11 punts. He is as much a pro as Marcus Allen was, but without the touchdowns. The Raiders have taken away a useful player from the Kansas City Chiefs, proving once again that business is business.

One of the things Shell said he liked most about Lewis was that he “always carried himself as a gentleman.”

If only those Denver guys did.