Old Horse, Raiders Are Favorites Again : With Plunkett at Reins, L.A. Is Looking Good for Home-Stretch Run

Question: What do you call it when the comeback player of several seasons has another comeback?

Answer: The Raiders’ 1986 season.

Jim Plunkett is back in the saddle, and the Raiders are at the head of the stretch, having survived their 0-3 start, the early schedule, the injuries and the disciplinary proceedings to post an 8-4 record.

Starting today, when they will be 11-point favorites over the Philadelphia Eagles, the Raiders will play three of their final four games at home. Due in after the Eagles are the Kansas City Chiefs and the Indianapolis Colts, who figure to be solid underdogs, too.

The season turned 180 degrees in Dallas when Plunkett replaced Marc Wilson. Five days shy of his 39th birthday and the oldest quarterback in the world, Plunkett has a rating of 100, which would make him the No. 2 passer in the NFL if he had enough attempts to qualify.

In Wilson’s seven games, the line gave up 30 sacks. In five games with Plunkett, it has allowed 13. The difference seems to lie in Plunkett’s decisiveness. He makes his mind up faster and gets the ball away quicker.

Plunkett has managed to keep his head on his shoulders without giving up the deep throws, either. His per-attempt average is one yard higher than Wilson, who has the better arm and who took a pounding trying to throw the ball down the field as instructed.

“Jim is getting rid of the ball quicker,� says Raider Coach Tom Flores, who remained loyal to the last to Wilson. “He is going underneath a little quicker.

“He does it a little quicker than Marc. Some of it is by design. Some of it is just Jim.�

Why doesn’t Plunkett burn timeouts as Wilson did? When the play is late coming from Flores, Plunkett often jumps into the huddle and calls his own. At his age, he figures he’s entitled.

“The difference,� a Raider player said last season, “Marc will throw an interception and just walk back to the sideline. Plunk will throw the same interception and come back to the sideline and tell the coaches, ‘I threw it, but you made me run that play.’ �

You can, too, come home again, but you’d better make sure your hospitalization is paid up if you’re Randall Cunningham, of the Santa Barbara Cunninghams, Nevada Las Vegas and now the Eagles.

It is the last designation that is likely to get him killed, the Eagles having already allowed an NFL-record 73 sacks with 25% of the season remaining. On the Raider defensive line, they’re taking numbers. Oh, says Bill Pickel, I have to wait until after Sean? OK, but I was here before Greg. Cunningham has taken the fall for 46 of those, which is remarkable, since catching him is no cinch. On his 45 scrambles that got past the line of scrimmage, he has a 9.8-yard average. Two weeks ago, he ran for 110 yards against the Lions, the first 100-yard day for an NFL quarterback in 10 years. He’s the leading Eagle rusher by 80 yards over Keith Byars, who has been benched again. No quarterback has led his team in rushing since the Chicago Bears’ Bobby Douglass in 1972.

And running isn’t all Cunningham can do. What the Raiders will be looking at today is a John Elway-level talent.

“He doesn’t just run the way a quarterback would run,� Flores said. “He can run like a halfback. He’s got a tremendous arm. He can throw the ball flat-footed half the length of the field.�

Cunningham is the younger brother of former USC and New England Patriots star Sam (Bam). A star at Santa Barbara High, Randall always thought he’d be a Trojan, too, but he became a Rebel, instead.

“I was considering USC as my first school,� he says. “I switched some classes my senior year and took some astronomy classes they wanted. But when I visited Las Vegas and saw how nice the town was and how nice the people were. . . .

“They treated me completely upper-class, like I was the No. 1 guy they wanted to sign. USC catered more to offensive linemen, showed them a great time. I guess I got a little jealous after a recruiting session.

“UNLV ran a pro-type offense. The quarterback called his own plays. At SC, you pitch the ball to a tailback and make him a Heisman Trophy winner.�

Murmured a former USC beat writer, listening to the conference call: “Not any more.�

“I wanted to be the star, the guy who leads his team to victory. I think that’s how it should be.�

At this point, there isn’t enough to lead, and there haven’t been many victories. Cunningham remains a prospect, if a gifted one.

Last season as a rookie, he was caught between his coach, Marion Campbell, who wanted him to understudy Ron Jaworski, and the team owner, Norman Braman, who wanted young Randall playing. Braman, of course, was a rookie himself and later showed his exuberance in other areas including new coach selection: his first choice to succeed Campbell was 24-year-old David Shula.

This season, the new coach, Buddy Ryan, started Cunningham out as the third-and-long replacement for Jaworski. Ryan, the expert in preparing defenses, knew that the more you gave them to worry about, the more off-balance they would be. Of course, the more his offense had to learn, the more off-balance it was, too.

And any way you cut it, you can’t make chicken salad if the poultry up front can’t block.

Did someone say offensive line?

Let’s zero in on one spot, left guard, where Ryan decided before training camp to replace four-year starter Steve Kenney. Kenney was considered an OK player and wasn’t any kind of coaching problem. Ryan, who is not loathe to speak his mind, said he just wanted to upgrade the position.

So he sent in the, um, replacements:

1. Kevin Allen. The team’s No. 1 pick in ‘85, the eighth man selected in the draft. He lasted one day, suffered dehydration in practice. Later waived.

2. Greg Naron, a free agent. Kenney, getting the drift, walked out of camp. He was later dumped to the Detroit Lions.

3. Steve Bogdalek, the 11th-round draft pick. He moved in because Naron walked out of camp, too, apparently distressed that Kenney had walked out.

4. Jim Gilmore, a free agent.

5. Ken Reeves, the starting left tackle. This left a hole at tackle, which was filled by special teamer Tom Jelesky. In one three-week period, Jelesky went from a starter, to a reserve, to the waiver wire.

6. Nick Haden, a Raider No. 7 draft pick out of Penn State in ‘85, who was cut before camp last summer. He’s there now.

Is this enough discontinuity? Four of the Eagles’ five running backs are rookies. The Eagles have allowed more than 30 sacks to linebackers and safeties, normally the responsibility of the backs.

Raider Notes

Buddy Ryan, who called Keith Byars “a franchise back� when he drafted him No. 1, has benched him in favor of the No. 10 pick, Washington State’s Junior Tautalatasi. Byars, coming off his old foot injury and struggling with a 2.9 rushing average, said last week it “wasn’t fair� and wondered if he had a future with the Eagles. Ryan says he has. . . . Howie Long, whom linemate Greg Townsend called “30 or 40% of our defense� returned to practice last week after sitting out two games after minor surgery to drain a blood clot above his right knee. He is expected to see some action today. Tom Flores says that Marcus Allen’s long-sprained right ankle has improved and Allen no longer has to be on the injury report, for the first time since he was hurt nine games ago.