Raiders Finally Give Hilger Half a Chance : After 15 1/2 Games, Young Quarterback Is Given Good Test--and Passes
If the 40-odd other Raiders had played as well as Rusty Hilger played Sunday, they probably would have won a game they kicked away to the Indianapolis Colts, 30-24.
Hilger, the club’s third-string quarterback, nearly won it anyway. Time ran out on him. In the final seconds, he was throwing passes from the Indianapolis six-yard line after moving the Raiders all the way from their own four-yard line in the last 1 minute 59 seconds.
Earlier, Hilger had, among other things, dispatched the touchdown pass that would have beaten the Colts, 24-23, had the Raider defense been able to halt Indianapolis on its last, big 80-yard drive. But the defense, in other years a club strength, failed again on the day the Raiders finally allotted 30 minutes--the second half--to the person who may be their quarterback of the future.
The questions:
--Where has Hilger been all year?
--Where was Hilger all those days when the Raiders were starting, and losing with, Marc Wilson?
--Where was Hilger all those days when Jim Everett was starting for the Rams and when Jay Schroeder and Jim Kelly and all those other young pro quarterbacks were also starting for their teams?
--If the Rams could bring in a kid passer at mid-season and reach the playoffs with a rookie in football’s pivotal position, why couldn’t the other Los Angeles-area team make some use of a youngster who has been through two training camps with the Raiders and, now, two full seasons?
Raider Coach Tom Flores didn’t have the answers to all that Sunday night. He wasn’t even eager to discuss it.
But he did agree that the underlying explanation is that his is a club that makes rookies wait in line. Under owner Al Davis, the Raiders stick with veterans. At every position, they tend to keep a fading veteran an extra year or two instead of doing what their competition often does--trading or benching him a year or two early.
This has been a winning philosophy in the past--encouraging Raider veterans to give everything they’ve got for Davis U. But almost certainly, there was a backfire this season. A promising talent, at the one position where the Raiders need talent the most, was virtually confined to the bench for 15 1/2 games.
Does Flores regret it?
He didn’t answer directly.
“You have to remember that we haven’t had a backfire--as you call it--in past years,” he said. “Because something doesn’t work one year doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”
In other words, they’d probably do it again.
Is there any chance that Hilger isn’t as gifted as he seemed Sunday?
“Rusty has the ability or he wouldn’t be here,” Flores said. “He has a quick delivery, a live arm, and he can run. His only weakness is lack of experience.”
Thus, his only weakness--the same weakness that Everett had until month or two ago and that the Bears’ Doug Flutie had until several hours ago--is the one thing that Hilger can’t do anything about, himself, unless they ask him to make out the lineup card.
“We have two veteran quarterbacks on this team,” Flores said. “If we only had one of them--Jim Plunkett or Marc Wilson--you would have seen Hilger more this season.”
Previously this season, Hilger had only thrown a total of eight passes. He had completed four of them for 50 yards. Against the Colts, when he was both the leading passer and the leading rusher for the Raiders, he completed 15 of 30 passes for 216 yards and ran for 32 yards.
His 14-yard touchdown throw to tight end Todd Christensen followed the bomb of the day--a pass that Hilger lofted to wide receiver Rod Barksdale for a net gain of 54 yards.
There were some fumbles and misplays by other Raiders that were partly Hilger’s fault, no doubt. But he passed the one major test of a young quarterback: He showed the poise to bring his team from behind.
He did this in the third quarter, when, after the Colts had pulled ahead, 23-17, Hilger’s throws restored the lead to the Raiders, 24-23.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, moreover, Hilger moved them 56 yards to what could have been the insurance touchdown, ending it all for the Colts. But on third and seven, wide receiver Tim Moffett dropped Hilger’s 14-yard pass in the end zone. On fourth down, Chris Bahr missed an easy field goal. And those two plays more or less summed up the Raiders’ 1986.
It was in the final 2 1/2 minutes that the Raiders made their last big mistake in a season to forget, misplaying a punt. This forced Hilger to commence his first, and last, NFL two-minute drill on the Raiders’ four-yard line.
Whereupon he marched them 90 yards.
It was pretty neat, but it wasn’t enough.
Are the Raiders considering Hilger for No. 1 next year?
“Sure,” Flores said.
