Chicago Tribune du lieu suivant : Chicago, Illinois • 47

Those Raider devils must have made pact with Satan himself i 1 David Israel Chictgo Trlbunt PrtM Strvlc SAN DIEGO Play me a chorus of "Sympathy for the Devil." Lucifer is on a roll. Someone sold his soul. The Oakland Raiders, destiny's demons, are In the Super Bowl. It was all blue smoke and mirrors what happened here. They coiled and sprang, attacking through the steam and from the murky depths of their homey netherworld.

Somebody must have made a pact. Because this Sunday was a day when everything clicked. Tipped passes became touchdowns for Jim Plunkett, busted plays became big gains, defensive gaffes became interceptions. They broke on top with that 65-yard tipped touchdown to Raymond Chester, the one that was right out of Satan's playbook, and they kept coming. Before the game was 24 minutes old, the Raiders were leading the San Diego Chargers 28-7.

San Diego mounted something of a comeback, and before 10 minutes of the second half had elapsed, the Raiders' advantage was reduced to 28-24. But that was as close as it would get. The Raiders spent the rest of the afternoon controlling the football and running down the clock. WITH 6:43 REMAINING Jn the fourth quarter they took possession of the ball on their own 25-yard line. They were leading 34-27.

In the third row of the press box, Al Davis, the managing general partner of the Raiders, football's rebellious genius, chomped on his gum and bit his Up nervously. From Davis, the Raiders draw their strength and sinister demeanor. A decade-and-a-half ago, Al Davis stage-managed the merger of the National Football League and the American Football League. Today he is party to a $160 million antitrust suit against the league in which he participates. On this Sunday he was wearing silver velour with black trim and so many diamonds set in white gold and sterling, touched by onyx.

He fidgeted and he squirmed and he muttered. In this drama, he was as much a protagonist as any of the competitors who soiled their uniforms. The clock ticked down and Davis muttered. At the two-minute warning, the Raiders had a first down on San Diego's "Twenty-nine seconds," someone said. "I can't even think," Davis said.

"You're doing all right," someone said. The seconds ticked off as if they were minutes, but they disappeared all right. And then the Oakland Raiders, the improbable misfits, best perceived as Oakland's outlaws, a band of cast-offs and retreads and ne'er-do-wells, were the champions of the American Football Conference, participants in the Super Bowl for the third time. A man who had been through these things for many autumns leaned over and handed Al Davis an old blue umbrella. On the umbrella was the logo of the American Football League.

"Win one for the old days," the man told Al Davis. Then Jim Otto, for years the Raiders center, once an all-pro, now a Hall of Famer, leaned over, extended his right hand, and offered congratulations. "THIS IS OUR greatest victory," Al Davis told Jim Otto. Then, for anyone who cared to listen, Al Davis started to analyze the game. "Cliff Branch scared them," he said.

"He means as much as John Jefferson in these things, but no one realizes it They changed their defense because of him. They went to a three-deep zone. And that Kenny King, he's got a chance to be something, doesn't he. But, mostly, I'm proud of Tom. Boy, am" I proud of Tom Flores.

With all this Junk everyone's been saying, he really did something. He did a job." In the Oakland dressing room, the players were saying they were just as proud as the owner. This does not happen often in American sport in 1981. But then there are few teams possessed of the curious chemistry that drives and binds the Raiders. "No man in this organization took more heat than Al Davis," announced Gene Upshaw, the left guard and captain.

"And he's going to get the game ball." "This is sweet, this is the Raider way," said John Ma-tuszak, the giant defensive lineman. "A lot of people give up on you or get mad at Al and get down on the team. No one wanted me. But Al took me in. And I give everything I have as long as I'm here.

It makes it that much sweeter. It really does." "Sinister, we're sinister," said Mark van Eeghen, the running back who gained 85 yards. "We've developed a tradition like that, and we're proud of it. We're not in any popularity contest. That stuff doesn't matter.

All that matters is that people respect us on the field. I don't know how they couldn't now." THEY ARE DESTINY'S demons and they wouldn't have It any other way. "We always pick up guys who seem on the outs in another organization," Gene Upshaw said. "But one thing about our organization is that any guy who walks into our locker room has a clean slate. We don't judge guys on their past.

And we don't worry about it, either. The past doesn't matter. Like right now I feel like we haven't done anything yet. All winning today did was give us the opportunity to play one more game. And I want to win that game because I want to see what Pete Rozelle does when he has to present the Super Bowl trophy to Al Davis.

When he comes into our locker room, I guarantee you he'll be booed. Because I'll lead it." The Raiders are the team that loves to be hated. They defy convention, they defy logic, they defy the odds, they defy the rules. Yet now they are in the Super Bowl. With just the Philadelphia Eagles and 60 minutes of decent football standing between them and the championship of the world they insistently challenge.

"What are you going to say when Rozelle hands you the Super Bowl trophy?" someone asked Al Davis. "C'mon, I don't believe in that stuff," Al Davis said. "That's what we're playing for. He handed me the trophy when we won in '77, and I thought just as much of him then as I do now." Then Al Davis smiled and hugged another player. Somewhere, Beelzebub was cashing a winning ticket.

35. "This has me worried," Davis said. "We're gonna have a tough decision on fourth down. They got three timeouts to use." AFTER A FIRST DOWN run gained three yard, the Chargers used the first of those three timeouts. On a piece of paper, Davis noted that Just four seconds had elapsed.

"Nothing to worry about," said Sara Bercovicb, the friend who was sitting to Davis' left. "You'll get the first down." "It's tough here," Davis said. On second down it got tougher. Another run netted another three yards. This time Davis noted that Just another four seconds bad elapsed.

He fidgeted some more, bit his lower lip, and snapped at someone he did not recognize who was peeking over his Ehoulder to read the notes he was keeping. The Super Bowl was so close and so far and Al Davis was on edge. "This kills you," he said to no one in particular. ON THIRD DOWN Plunkett dropped back to pass, saw a hole open, and ran for the first down. Al Davis stopped making notes.

After another run, the Chargers used their final timeout. "How much time left?" Al Davis asked. "Sixty-one seconds," someone said. "Plunkett falls on the ball, we run off 29 minutes, then he falls on the ball again and it's over," Davis said. Montgomery forgets pain Plunkett leads Oakland win Bob Verdi A'U Continued from page one field.

And more famous. Dorsett the caviar; Montgomery is meat and potatoes, plunging his stumpy frame into hopeless situations in search' of hope, or, perhaps, daylight His gluttony for punishment is one reason why repeated beatings come bis body's way. "That's just me," said Montgomery. "I fight for everything. I like to try and make things happen.

You never know, when you stick your nose in there, when something might pop open. Tony is different When he sees that there's no opening, he lays down. I don't mean he's a coward. That's probably smart. But it's just not me.

"I don't consider myself a Dorsett or an Earl Campbell yet. They're there, and I'm still in the making. But I do consider myself a premier running back in the National Football League. I don't compete with other runners, or believe in knocking other runners. I just dd what I can for my team.

If the publicity goes to other guys, it goes to other guys." EARLY IN THE FOURTH quarter Sunday, Montgomery chugged off right tackle again and bolted for 55 yards. On this rush, which transferred the Eagles from their 21 to Dallas' 24, Montgomery felt the persistent twinge in his leg. It caved in as it had In Florida, perhaps depriving him of a second touchdown. But by then, he could take a rest on the sideline and prepare for Philadelphia's final series moments later. The game, after all, had long since been taken off the board.

Montgomery nearly surpassed onetime Eagle Steve Van Buren's playoff record on that next drive. But after he had advanced the ball five yards, he fumbled it. That erased the yardage and, as it turns out, Montgomery's name from the books. "But records don't mean anything," he said. "Only the Super Bowl does, and that's where we're going.

Every year here, we've taken a little step closer. This is the big step, a bigger game than the Super Bowl itself, really." JAWORSKI CONFESSED THAT those smoke signals from Tampa about Montgomery's injuries were partly a ruse. The Eagles decided to "set up" the Cowboys by expressing an air of concern so "they would think all they had to do was show up to beat us." Well, the Cowboys showed up, but so did Wilbert Montgomery, and, an hour after the game, so did Steve Van Buren. "You're the greatest," he said, shaking Montgomery's band. "Thank you," said Montgomery.

"Thank you. You know, we really want-, ed to settle this thing with Dallas. Nobody else. They've been dominant for so long. Who knows? If they hadn't been beaten up playing the last few weeks like they have, maybe they'd be going to the Super Bowl instead of us.

But Mike Schmidt of the Phillies said the other night on TV that this is Philadelphia's year. I think he's right I think the best team won today." Wilbert Montgomery, Sunday's champion of true grit, made sure it would be that way. What's a bad knee when a man is 60 minutes from a Super Bowl, anyway? Continued from page one tor in the league, held Jefferson to four catches for 71 yards. Tight end Winslow, leading receiver in the league, caught only three passes for 42 yards. Winslow was restricted somewhat because of an injury that limited the play of Greg McCrary, the Chargers' other tight end.

Joiner was the Chargers' biggest contributor, catching both of Fouts' touchdown passes. IT WAS. PLUNKETT and the Raider offense that made the big plays. Scoring 21 points in the first quarter, the winners let a '28-7 lead dwindle to 28-14 by halftime and 28-24 by midway through the third quarter. But drives of 68 yards and 37 yards resulted in Chris Bahr field goals to hike the margin to 34-24 early in the fourth quarter.

When the Chargers closed to 34-27, the Raiders got the ball at their 25 with 6:43 to play. San Diego never aw it again. Sending Mark van Eeghen, King, and Derrick Jensen behind his huge line, Plunkett nursed yards and used seconds. "I was Just hoping we'd run so I didn't have to pass," he said. But when he did, he hit Arthur Whlttington for 6 yards on third and S.

He drew Wilbur Young offsides or third and S. And on third and 4 with 1:52 left, he told Coach Tom Flores be wanted to run quarterback draw. "He said no," said Plunkett So Plunkett faded back to pass and ran anyway, his fourth scramble of the day. He scored the second touchdown on a 5-yard run. That was after he hit Branch for 48 yards while rolling out He lofted a perfect 21-yard pass to King over a linebacker for the third touchdown, and then Branch ran 23 yards with a pass underneath the zone to set up the fourth touchdown.

"HE'S A IIEISMAN-Trophy winner, and he played on teams without any talent," Branch said. "He brought AP Lotwrphot San Diego's- Kellen Winslow has his facemask while trying to catch a pass in the fourth quarter, rudely readjusted by Oakland's Monte Jackson Jackson's exuberance resulted in a penalty. In the fifth week. "Al Davis told me to keep plugging," said Plunkett "That first pass, I don't know if it was an omen or what" THE RAIDERS 8CORED 6 of the II times they bad the ball. On the four occasions when they didn't magnificent punter Ray Guy almost made the San Diego wish they had.

He averaged 56 yards on four kicks, Including a 71-yarder. Oakland's fourth touchdown came after a fumble by Charger running back Mike Thomas at the San Diego 29. It was the only fumble the Chargers lost but they dropped four other halls, and Fouts had two passes intercepted. Oakland had no turnovers. "We didn't play well enough to win said San Diego Coach Don Coryell.

"Give Oakland credit" his talent to Oakland. He used all his receivers. He was in total command. "We're 12 and 2 with him, and that's very significant. We've been hungry all year.

We Just want to let people know the Raiders are back." One of the two teams to beat Plunkett was Philadelphia the other was Dallas. "We hope to even that up in two weeks," said Plunkett "I feel great. It's terrific. I've been a little skeptical. I proved something to me, that I can play in the NFL.

There were some doubts, especially when I was released by San Francisco. "I asked to be traded this summer, too, because I wasn't getting a chance to compete." The Raiders had traded for Dan PastorinL and Plunkett got hb chance only after Pastorinl was hurt Eagles take out their anger on stunned Cowboys m. They produced a second-quarter touchdown on a smash off tackle that tied the score at 7-7 after a 68-yard, 10-play Dallas march. A 26-yard field goal by barefoot Tony Franklin broke the deadlock and gave the Eagles a 10-7 lead midway through the third quarter after Cowboy quarterback Danny White, sacked for an 11-yard loss by Carl hairston, fumbled the bail over to Dennis Harrison on the Dallas 1L NEITHER QUARTERBACK distinguished himself as a passer on a frigid, blustery day. But at least Jaworskl 19 for 29 and 91 yards directed a winning attack.

One of the last of the visitors in the Eagles' post-game locker room was Roger Staubach, a retired quarterback. Linebacker Bill Bergey didn't Jet the occasion go unnoticed. "Hey, Roger," Bergey shouted. "We would have kicked their butts even if you were still with them." "I think you're right Staubach said softly. in the first quarter launched day of travesty for the wild-card Cowboys.

Montgomery's day of triumph was a day of tragedy for his Cowboy counterpart, running back Tony Dor-sett A fumble by Dorsett in the third quarter ruined a Cowboy rally when Dallas trailed by only three points. Six plays after RoyneU Young stripped the ball from Dorsett and Jerry Robinson scooped it up and ran 22 yards to the Cowboy 38, Leroy Harris spurted nine yards Into the end tone to put the Eagles up 17-7. Dorsett was unusually distraught after the fumble. "My fumble was the biggest play of the ball game," he said. "I hate knowing that I played a very big part in losing this game.

It will haunt me the rest of my career definitely the rest of the offseason. I felt like using my hands as claws and digging a bole in the turf and hiding for the rest of the year." DORSETT WAS HELD to 41 yards la 13 carries. But three of the yards were vital to the Cowboys' cause. Continued from page one would set him up and I'd cut his legs out from under him. Randy didn't like that very much." THE FlItED-lP offensive line cost the Eaglet a second-quarter touchdown when a 25-yard pass from Ron Jaworskl to Harold Carmichael was erased because of a personal foul on guard Woody Peoples.

On a later offensive series, the Eagles faced third down and 32 after Perot picked up a roughness penalty. But the line did a real Job for Montgomery, the glmpy running back who came off the training table and nearly set a record for an NFC title game. Montgomery's 194 yards in 26 rushes were only two short of Van Buren's record production of 196 against Los Angeles in 1949. "All week long I didn't know how my leg was going to hold up. That's the reason I kept going in and out of the bail game," said Montgomery, whose 42-yard touchdown burst off right tackle with only 2:11 elapsed 7 SMt.S) Philadelphia Coach Dick Vermeil and General Manager Jim Murray share the thrill of victory after Eagles' victory over Dallas Sunday.

The road to the Super Bowl AnQftfet 13 v'P? mmm The famous "Chicken" will be in Chicago next Sunday to perform his frantic antics during the Sting game. Don't miss him. 1 Tm mnr N'o "Super Cowl 'Jan. 25 i 30 Dallas "34- I Oallat Atlanta 27 Minnesota 16 at Philadelphia 20 Philadelphia' 31 Houston Semlflnala Oakland14 Qattund 87 Oakland 34 1 at i Cleveland 12 1 B(flo14 SanDleooS? at mmmmmmmmmt SanDteqogO CHICAGO MINNESOTA vs KICKS STING 1 CHICAGO STADIUM Jan. 18.

1 :30 p.m. ticket info: 558-KICK 4000 posters of the Chicken will be given away FREE1 Oakland A.y SWIG KIDOOtt SOCCER Lhicaqo Sling 3JJ N. Michigan Ave. Chicago, U.6U0UI AP Lmiwwtt San Diego's John Jefferson grabs a pass for 28 yards thrown by fellow receiver Kellen Winslow, who had taken a pitchout.from Dan Fouts. Tiltmt OrwDK.