A Silver-and-Bleak Finish for Raiders : Colts Win, 30-24, and Long Goes Out Lashing

Et tu, Hoosiers?

You’re darn right, them too. You may not believe this unless you were one of the little band that made up the smallest Los Angeles Raider home crowd, but the Indianapolis Colts beat the Raiders, too.

You read right. The Colts won, 30-24, Sunday before 41,349 in the Coliseum. The Raiders almost pulled it out in the closing seconds behind Rusty Hilger, but what would have that have meant? It’d be hard to work up much enthusiasm for a storybook comeback over a team that was 0-13 three weeks ago.

That the Raiders were even in a game with these guys--”The worst team in football,” embarrassed Raider Howie Long said of the Colts--is the final and crowning indignity in a month of them. That the Raiders lost only makes their plummet perfect: four straight losses to four underdogs; their longest losing streak in 22 years; an 8-8 record and their first time out of the playoffs in five years here.

And finally, one of the Raiders went off.

After weeks of everyone treating this as something resembling business as usual, Long lashed out at unnamed teammates “who have been resting on their laurels.”

Said Long: “I think some people have lost their intensity. I’m not one to point fingers. If they can get up in the morning, look at themselves in the mirror and feel good about what they’ve contributed, that’s fine with me. But if they’re not ready to play, they should get their ass out of there. . . .

“I think No. 1 is salary, and I’m not saying it’s the higher-priced players. This town has a lot of distractions. I think some people have gotten pushed off the track by that, by the previous acclaim.

“I’ve busted my butt since January. I’ve had injuries, but I played hurt and tried to give everything I had. . . . Bill Pickel played with three bone chips the size of quarters in his knee and didn’t say anything about it.

“I’m not concerned with whose feelings I’m hurting. They know where I live. If you’re not going to play your best, get your ass out of there. That’s the way I feel about it.”

He said more, but you get the drift.

This was a team debacle. The Raiders took a lead of 17-3 behind quarterback Jim Plunkett and blew it. They rallied for a 24-23 lead behind Hilger and lost that, too.

Marcus Allen, the finest back to call this turf home for the last seven years, fumbled away two handoffs (although he was charged with neither), dropped two passes in the closing drive and was booed, if gently. Napoleon McCallum, whose fumble was instrumental in last week’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, fumbled away his first carry. Chris Bahr missed a 32-yard field goal late, just before the Colts started their winning drive.

The defense, the proud blackshirts, buckled right along with everyone else. Even after the reverses of the last three weeks, this unit was No. 2 only to the Bears in the National Football League, but you wouldn’t have known it Sunday.

The Colts, despite prize fullback Randy McMillan being injured early after gaining 30 yards in four carries, ran for 196 yards, an astounding total against a team that went all last season without allowing 100 yards to any back.

McMillan’s backup, a United States Football League refugee named Albert Bentley, who had a two-year total of 477 yards in the NFL, had 162 more Sunday, including a 70-yard touchdown run. This is known to be the longest touchdown run against the Raiders in two seasons and perhaps a great deal more. No Raider records were forthcoming Sunday.

For one half, it looked as though the Raiders had finally found a team they could beat by throwing their helmets out. Bahr kicked a 20-yard field goal, Plunkett threw a three-yard touchdown pass to Todd Christensen and Jerry Robinson scored with a 32-yard return of an interception. At halftime, the Raiders led, 17-6.

On the first Colt possession of the second half, Bentley busted loose for 70. On the first Raider possession, Allen fumbled it over. Moments later, Gary Hogeboom threw a 14-yard scoring pass to Mark Boyer and the Colts led, 20-17.

On the next Raider possession, Allen missed a pitchout. The Colts recovered at the Raider 32, setting up Dean Biasucci’s 20-yard field goal, to go with his previous kicks of 52 and 40.

Time for a Raider moment: Hilger hit Rod Barksdale for 54 yards. Two plays later, he hit Christensen, who made it to the goal line on a 14-yard touchdown that put the Raiders Raiders up, 24-23, with 13:03 gone in the third quarter.

Glory, such as it was, was fleeting. Early in the fourth quarter, Hogeboom scorched the Raiders for 80 yards in a seven-play, what’s-going-on-here drive. There were passes for 22 and 21 yards and runs of 13 and 9. Finally, Hogeboom threw an 11-yard pass to Bill Brooks, who went up over Sam Seale in the end zone for the winning touchdown.

Very late in the game, in fact and in metaphor, Hilger marched the Raiders from their four-yard line to the Colt six. There he threw two incomplete passes. The second was to his old roommate, the waived and re-signed Mark Pattison, who caught it but out of bounds.

The clock struck 0:00.

“This is ridiculous,” Howie Long was saying. “I have to go out there and face people.

“Four weeks ago, we’re in position that all we have to do is win and we weren’t looking at the best teams in football (the Raiders were 11-point favorites over the Eagles, 3 over the Seahawks, 6 1/2 over the Chiefs and 8 over the Colts). Seattle gets 260 yards total offense off us in Seattle and they get 450 against Denver. I mean, who’s who and what’s what?

“I don’t find it any consolation, being finished. We have a team that should have been in the playoffs.

“I have a fine son. I’m going to go home, buy a video camera and film the holidays. Thank God for my kid.”

The man whose opinion the playing roster waits with baited breath to hear was asked what he thought of the Raiders’ performance.

“I’ve got nothing to say,” owner Al Davis said, “except Merry Christmas to everybody.”