The Daily Times from Salisbury, Maryland • 9

The Daily Times Saturday, December 26, 1992 PORT Page 9 Buslness13 Comlcs16 Redskins battle for playoU lives Raiders today at RFK win the division title with a victory over Houston or loas by Miami and would be aaaured of the home-field advan-tag throughout the playoffs with a victory. Miami Has clinched a playoff berth. The Dolphins can win the divitiion with a victory over New England plus a loss by Buffalo based on better conference record. At CENTRAL DIVISION Pittsburgh Haa clinched the division title. The Stealers art guaranteed a first-round bye in the playoffs wit a victory over Cleveland or a loas by San Diego.

Houston Hai clinched a wild-card simt, Ar WESTERN DIVISION San Diego Has clinched a playoff berth. The Charger can win the division title with a victory over Seattle or a loas by Kansas City. Kansas City Can clinch a playoff berth with a victory over Denver and can win the division title with a victory plus a loss by San Diego based on season sweep over Chargers. Denver Can clinch a wild-card spot by beating Kansas City. Ths Broncos cannot win the division.

NEW YORK (AP) NFL playoff possibilities entering today's action: NFC EASTERN DIVISION Dallas Has clinched tlx divUion title and a first-round plavolTbye. I'liilwdvlphia Hat clinched a playoff berth. Waaliinuton Can clinch wild-card spot with a victory ovr Ui iudJui plus a viclui-y by I'hifadi'lnlna. Can also clinch a wild-rard spot with a fuss by (ireen liuy. Nr'O CENTRAL DIVISION Minnesota Hat clinched the divwion title.

Green liay Can clinch a wild card apot with a victory ever Minnesota plus a toaa by either lluladolphia or Washington. NFC WESTERN DIVISION San Franclaeo Una clinched Die division title and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. New Orleans Has clinched a wdd card spot AFC EASTERN DIVISION Buffalo Has clinched a playoff berth. The Bills can Face Shell's WASHINGTON (AP) No matter what happens today, no playoff spot will be decided. That doesn't mean the Washington Redskins and Los Angeles Raid-era won't have issues great and small at stake.

A victory won't guarantee Washington a playoff spot; the easiest way for that to happen is if Green Bay loses to Minnesota on Sunday. Should that happen, the Redskins are in, regardless of whether they beat the Raiders. If Green Bay and Washington both win, the Redskins still make it, provided the Eagles defeat the Giants. But none of that will be clear until Sunday. Los Angeles, meanwhile, a team full of aging stars marked by inconsistent play, is 6-9 and playing for nothing more than pride.

That's something that Raiders coach Art Shell has in abundance. The former Maryland Eastern Shore star is not about to let his players forget that just two years ago, they were playing the Buffalo Bills for the AFC Lachey. Many consider that the best deal in the capital since William Seward snagged Alaska from the Russians for chump change way back in the Lincoln administration. There may be six games separating these teams in the win-loss column, but there's also Slenty to make Redskins coach oe Gibbs worry. For one, the Raiders feature a huge offensive line (their smallest starter, guard Steve Wisniewski, is 6-foot-4, 290 pounds), and a bruising running attack.

It's not a good matchup for us," Gibbs said. "That kind of thing isn't something that makes me feel good." One reason for his discomfort is that two other teams, the Giants and Philadelphia, feature big backs and bigger linemen and have run almost at will against the Redskins this season. "That's something we're going to have to shore up," admitted Washington free safety Brad Edwards. "Why it happens, I dont exactly know. Another thing to Schroeder is man in black Ex-Redskin makes his return worry about is their wide receivers they have so much speed there, it's, scary.

They've got a gold medal (courtesy of Willie Gault, in the 400-meter relay at the 1934 Olympics), and that's something nobody else can say." On the other side of the ball, the Raiders have the AFC's second-best run defense, behind only Buffalo. The Redskins will need to run the ball like they did against the Eagles, when Earnest Byncr's 93 yards helped them gain 118 yards on the Kaco on 'n f(R I 'l. i 1 Yv WASHINGTON (AP) Few recall that Jay Schroeder started 10 games for the 1987 world champion Washington Redskins, a year capped by Doug Williams Super Bowl heroics. The prevailing memory of Schroeder's Washington tenure came the year before, at the end of the 1986 NFC championship game, when he sat stunned on his knees in the swirling winds of frigid Giants Stadium. Lawrence Taylor had just sacked Schroeder to put the exclamation point on a 17-0 Giants win that set up their Super Bowl triumph over Denver.

The next year, Schroeder's steadily eroding fierformance a oreshadowing of the inconsistency that has plauged him since led Redskins coach Joe Gibbs to replace him with Williams for the stretch run and Schroeder "We have a pretty positive attitude, and we'll snow up and make a good account of ourselves," Shell said. "It's tough to see the team struggling like this; I've never gone through anything like this. It's unbelievable; it's a nightmare. We just have to keep fighting." Standings. Page 10 There are subplots aplenty.

Washington has all the playoff incentive working on the premise that if theyre in the postseason, it's better to be there after a victory. Los Angeles, what with the fued between running back Marcus Allen and team president Al Davis as just the latest imbroglio, has vied all season with the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles for the title Turmoil, They will want to end a horrible season on a positive note. Oh yeah, there's also the return of Jay Schroeder, the former Washington quarterback who was sent packing before the 1983 season to Los Angeles in a trade for standout tackle Jim ing back and playing," insisted Schroeder. "I have a lot of good memories in that stadium, and I have a lot of friends in the area. I don't think there is any extra incentive." Maybe not anymore, but if this were 1988, not 1992, today's matchup would be hyped lute nothing since the first Reagan-Gorbachev summit Schroeder left town after a bitter, sometimes public- battle- with Gibbs that had his teammates and almost everyone else in town choosing sides.

"It was just a conflict of interest" Schroeder recalled this week. "It was two stubborn people trying to battle it out myself and coacfi Gibbs. All I asked was a fair chance to get the job back, and at training camp (1988) I didn't get any work; one of us was going and it wasn't going to be Williams." Of course not; the real battle and true ugliness came the season before, when Schroeder, never hugely popular with his teammates, fell out of favor. The steady, team-oriented Williams stepped in, and the reBt is history. Schroeder, nursing a sore shoulder, hopes to start in the season finale today.

He was the Raiders' starter when the season opened before being benched in favor of rookie Todd Marinovich. Golic already has bis game plan for today. "Ill be watching and 111 have all my Jets stuff on," he said. Coach Rich Kotite considers the 66,000 screaming fans who fill Veterans Stadium his 12th man on the field. But there's an even better reason for the Eagles to want to play at home they've been rotten on the road.

The Eagles are 3-5 away, beating Phoenix, Seattle and the Giants. The tough ones they've lost to Kansas City, Washington, Dallas, Green Bay and San Francisco. At home they're 7-0, including a 15-13 season-opening win over New Orleans. Kotite refuses to blame the noise encountered in most other stadiums for the Eagles' poor road mark. "The best way to quiet a crowd is to have some success, get ahead," he said.

The coach emphasized he's more concerned now with the game against the Giants Sunday than with the Eagles' first playoff game. "I've always felt we were going to the playoffs, but that is only a foot in the door," Kotite said. "Now is the time to bear down and hit the Giants game on an upswing. That's why the Giants game is so important" He said he has no intention of holding back against New York. "Well play everybody unless there is somebody who has an "Every phnse of our offense, our passing game, our running game, has been inconsistent, Schroeder said.

"We just haven't seemed to be able to put a game together. There's no explanation for it" Perhaps the biggest variable is Schroeder, who has a sore shoulder but vowed that he would play. Since being traded to the Raiders, he's held the starting job, lost it, and reclaimed it numerous times. AP Lf4rpboto South Dakota State during the Kaleo, who earned MVP honors Tim Barker If he can reach the majors with the Expos, Barker could form an all-Eastern Shore double play combination with De-lino Deshields. Deshields is from Seaford.

ground. A solid running game will help set up the pass, and Mark Rypien is coming off one of his best games of the season a 22-for-38, 272-yard performance against the Eagles. To look at them, with all the talent they have on defense Ronnie Lott, Howie Long to see them at 6-9 is kind of shocking," Rypien said. "We're going to have to find that balance on offense." The Raiders, meanwhile, will be looking for the same thing. the loose tonio Missions, Dodgers' Class AA affiliate.

This past season, he hit .271 with one homer, 26 RBIs and 25 stolen bases in 97 games. In 1991, he hit .292 with two homers, 46 RBIs and 32 steals, and was member of the Class AA and Texas League All-Star teams. But despite his success in the Dodgers organization, Barker said he felt a trade would be in his best interests. The Dodgers currently have a young shortstop in Jose Offer-man, as well as other infield prospects. "I thought things had kind of stalled with the Dodgers," said Barker, the ninth selection by Los Angeles in the June 1989 free agent draft.

"I think I'll have a better chance of getting to big leagues with the Expos than the Dodgers. "I didn't expect it, but 111 take it," Barker said of the "This will be a new start for me." Barker has been placed on Montreal's Class AAA Ottawa roster. He may get a shot at a backup infield job with the Ex- pos in spring training. the playoffs. As the latest example that time heals all wounds, take Schroeder, who returns to RFK Stadium today for the first time since the trade that sent him to the Los Angeles Raiders prior to the 1988 season.

Tm looking forward to com Gray quarterback John Kaleo of Maryland escapes pressure from the Blue's Doug Miller (38) of Blue-Gray All-Star Game Friday In Montgomery, Ala. Jason Youngblood (67) of Houston blocks for in leading the Gray team to a 27-17 victory. See ttory, page II. Jets have new fans Barker pleased with trade to Montreal Looks forward to a new start with Expos PHILADELPHIA (AP) The Philadelphia Eagles will be watching television today, hoping for the unexpected. The Eagles have clinched a (layoff spot but the site of their irst game hinges on the result of today's game between the New Orleans Saints and New York Jets.

If the favored Saints win, Philadelphia would open in New Orleans Jan. 2 or 3. But if the Jets pull an upset, the Eagles (10-5) can get the home-field advantage by beating the New York Giants (6-9) at home Sun- defensive tackle Mike SPORTS Today INSIDE: FUN IN THE SUN: Ths University of Kansas defeated Brig-ham Young 23-20 Friday to win ths Alohs Bowl A GOOD SIGN: The Oakland Athletics helped Mark McGwire make up his mind to re-sign with ths club by making up their minds to prevent a further breakup of last season's team Scoreboard ....................10 NBA, N1IL.m....w-m10 Football Baseball .....1 Auto racing .................12 111 be watching and III have all my Jets stuff on. Mike Colic injury that maybe we think is questionable. We have to get everybody playing hard to win games and we nave to do that Sunday," said.

want us to get our winning streak to four, want momentum going into the playoffs." The Eagles (10-5) also are motivated by an opportunity to complete the club's first unbeaten and untied season at home in 43 years. They were 6-0 at home in 1949, when they went 11-1 and defeated the Chicago Cardinals for the NFL title. Their best home season since was 5-0-1 in 1953. Although the Eagles beat the Giants 47-34 at Giants Stadium Nov. 22, it wasn't easy.

Philadel- Ehia fell behind 20-6 before relying for the victory. Giants coach Ray Handley said a Giants-Eagles matchup is always a confrontation between the two lines. "Their defensive line against our offensive line, that's what we struggle against," he Baid. By DAVE BROUGHTON Ually Times Hports Writer SALISBURY Tim Barker received a pleasant surprise for Christmas this year, a trade from the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Montreal Expos. Barker, a 1986 Wicomico High graduate, was dealt by the Dodgers to Montreal Thursday for Tim Wallach, a five-time all-star who has 204 career homer runs and 905 RBI.

"At first, I couldn't believe I was traded for a big leaguer straight up," Barker said when reached Christmas Day. 'The Expos must've had a lot of interest in me." Wallach, who is from the Ios Angeles area, hit .223 with nine home runs and 59 RBIs in 150 games with the Expos last season. He played in 150 or more games in 10 of his 11 full seasons in the majors and is the Expos' all-time hits lender with 1,694. He has won three Gold Gloves and played for the NL All-Star team five times. Barker, a 24-year-old shortstop, has spent the last two seasons playing for the San An.