Raiders Were Ready and Able for Monday Night Redemption

Somewhere between Hank Williams Jr.’s opening number and their last stupid penalty, the Raiders played some really fine football Monday night.

This team can play this game when it wants. I don’t know what was more fun, driving down listening to callers on XTRA all-sports radio saying how the Chargers were going to whip the Raiders (with the host replying: “OK, thanks! Great call!”) or watching the game itself, which was attended by a record number of Charger boltheads.

The Raiders needed this one more than San Diego did. They were terrible in the season opener on a Monday night in San Francisco and equally terrible in the biggest game of the season eight days ago against Pittsburgh. The word chokers was warming up in the bullpen for the Raiders were they not ready for this game with San Diego. Coaches and fans alike were fed up.

But they were ready. They were so ready that once again they overeagerly committed penalty after penalty--including offsides on three back-to-back-to-back plays. They also got no help at all from a crew of officials that called penalties whenever the Raiders breathed hard on Charger quarterback Stan Humphries, but never once tooted their whistles when Raider quarterback Jeff Hostetler got mashed like a potato.

Everything that went wrong, however, the Raiders overcame. There was redemption for Dan Land, who nearly decapitated a Charger with a foolish penalty early on, but later made a sensational effort in running down a kick returner to save a touchdown. Same for punter Jeff Gossett, who put the Raiders in a poor spot with an uncharacteristic 14-yard shank, but came through on his final punt by burying the Chargers at their own eight.

Many Raiders came through--some we’ve been waiting for all season. Alexander Wright opened the scoring and Rocket Ismail closed it, each making smooth, smooth moves. On defense, little-known Alberto White made a number of big plays, among them a whack of Humphries’ arm on the quarterback’s final third-down pass. Then James Trapp took care of San Diego’s fourth-down pass, and the game was theirs.

Oh, and let us not diminish what Vince Evans did, stepping in for Hostetler on a minute’s notice and firing a perfect touchdown pass to Ismail, who is finally starting to get the ball thrown to him.

Or what Wes Bender did, filling in at fullback for Tom Rathman more than ever before. Or even Dan Turk, who took over at center for Don Mosebar, who did not look particularly happy about being taken out. The Raiders immediately marched downfield for a touchdown, with Turk upending Charger linemen as easily as I might flip open a laptop computer.

All these players came through in the nick of time, for the Raiders needed all the help they could get. Once the masters of Monday night, they had fallen on hard times. There were too many mistakes and too much squabbling and too many controversies and too much of everything except winning. One more defeat and this team that considered itself a Super Bowl contender would not even own a winning record.

Frustrations were boiling over. Nolan Harrison took hold of 295-pound San Diego tackle Stan Brock and threw him to the ground. Hostetler wagged a finger in an official’s face. Coach Art Shell shouted angrily from the sideline after another non-call. Hostetler got chased out of bounds by Junior Seau, turned and pitched the football at him.

I wasn’t sure for the longest time if the Raiders could overlook these things and get around to winning. Their play got so sloppy at times, their heads didn’t seem to be in the game. Land creamed a Charger return man before the ball even got there. And cornerback Donald Frank did some of the weakest tackling in the history of professional football on a San Diego touchdown pass, seven seconds before halftime.

But by mixing up their plays offensively and confusing the Chargers with different looks--”We tried zone, ‘man’ and blitz, and nothing worked,” San Diego defensive coordinator Bill Arnsparger said later--the Raiders refused to fall apart. Nothing fazed them, not the endless whistle-blowing and not the full cups of drinks hurled at the Raiders by fans in the stands.

“When you make stupid mistakes,” Charger defensive leader Leslie O’Neal said, “it doesn’t matter what you do defensively. When the Raiders are hot, they are going to be tough against anybody they play. Tonight was one of those nights.”

Even more blunt was Stanley Richard, a Charger free safety.

Asked what his team could learn from this, Richard said: “We learned it doesn’t feel good to get a whuppin’.”

Nobody knows this better than the Raiders, who got whupped by San Francisco and Seattle and Pittsburgh until they were good and sore. Their whole season was hanging on what happened here Monday.

What happened was, they finally played the way they know how.