Davis Returns Quietly

He had left without warning. He tried to return without controversy.

And indeed, watching Raider defensive end Scott Davis back playing Wednesday at the team’s El Segundo training headquarters, it was as if he had never left.

There he was as always at the morning walk-through, going through the daily routine in shorts and a cut-off shirt. There he was in the afternoon in full uniform, running up and down the field in a sweat-soaked uniform. There he was talking with linebacker Greg Biekert, the man he fought with on Sept. 6, the day he had left camp.

In fact, the only time Davis seemed tense was when he had to face reporters and explain his two-week absence.

He was cordial, but he was not about to reveal more than he had to.

He would say only he had been gone because of “some very private, personal issues that demanded my attention. I did what I felt was best. I took care of them. It took me a couple of weeks to do and, with the cooperation of the team, I’m back here.” He said he was glad to be back and didn’t plan to leave again.

Davis insisted that his fist-swinging brawl with Biekert had nothing to do with his departure.

“This is the NFL,” he said. “There’s incidents that happen every day. . . . It’s not a sensitivity encounter group. You’ve got big guys out there going at it. That’s OK. You’re all brothers. You get up, brush yourself off and you take care of it. That issue had nothing to do with what I had to do outside of football.”

Biekert, who suffered a deep gash on his nose during the fight, also wasn’t harboring any grudges.

“I have no problem with Scott and he has no problem with me,” Biekert said. “It’s back to work. I’m glad to see him back.”

This is the third time Davis, 29, has unexpectedly left football, but the first time he has done so during a season. He left the University of Illinois for a year because he was suffering from burnout, and retired from the Raiders after the 1991 season for two years to go into private business.

This time, he said, there was no timetable on his return.

“I just took it one day at a time, and I’m obviously back here because I want to be back here,” he said. “We’re all grown-ups, and you’ve got to take care of what’s important.”

Davis’ absence has been explained over the last two weeks as being caused by personal problems.

“Problems might be a strong term,” Davis said. “I think they’re just issues I had to deal with. First and foremost is your family. . . . You’ve got to take care of your family, so that’s what I did. . . . I feel comfortable with the way it was handled.”

Davis kept in touch with both Raider management and his teammates during the absence.

“You don’t want to create any dissension,” he said. “(That) was my major concern. I just wanted to check with those guys and they made it clear that they were OK with what I was doing.”

Davis spent the summer working himself back into football shape, finally cracking the starting lineup for the season opener the day before he left. He did not practice with the first unit Wednesday and isn’t guaranteed his starting spot for Sunday’s game against the San Diego Chargers at the Coliseum.

How far back has his absence set him?

“Two weeks,” defensive line coach Gunther Cunningham said. “He needs to practice. He needs to hit the sleds, the bags and people. He’ll be all right. (Even before this), if he’d been ready by the end of the first third of the season, I’d have been happy.”

However long it takes for Davis to get ready, he says he has pulled his last disappearing act.

“It’s taken care of,” he said. “This sort of incident won’t happen for the rest of the season. It took its toll and people were affected by it.”