Record Searchlight from Redding, California • 21

a Super Bowl XVII tournament first-round results Raiders 27 Cleveland 10 Miami 28 NY Jets 44 San Diego 31 Washingtoi New England 13 Cincinnati 17 Pittsburgh 28 Detroit 7 Green Ba St Louis Bay 41 is 16 Dallas 30 Tampa Bay 17 Minnesota 30 Atlanta 24 Raiders rip Cleveland JETS FREEMAN McNEIL LOOKS FOR A CLEAR PATH DOWNFIELD IN SUNDAY PLAYOFF" He found lots of room racking up a team-record 211 yards and a touchdown in win over Bengals Jets pound Cincinnati 44-17 The Loa Angeles Times ANGELES Subtle it the first play from Raiders quarterback Jim Plunkett completed a 84-yard heave to Cliff Branch thereby firming the 5 worst fears Two offensive series later again on first doom he near-ly bombed them again barely over-! throwing Branch That made the Browns true be- lievers And easy pickings for the Raiders By the second quarter the Browns were playing a prevent I defense that was not preventing I anything except maybe quicker 1 embarrassment How far- off was' the Browns' secondary playing? too far to play in this i Plunkett said Which is why the Browns the only sub-JOO team (they I were 4-S this season) to make the playoffs be playing any more in the National Football League (NFL) this season Plun-( kett and the Raiders blew them I away with runs and short passes on two masterful second-half touch-j down drives to turn a 13-10 margin into a one-sided 27-10 first-round playoff win By winning the Raiders the top seed by virtue of their 6-1 regular-season record will play at the Coliseum here next weekend against the Jets care who we linebacker Ted Hendricks growled any of them in Browns coach Sam Rutigliano said the Browns came in here with three prime objectives: to dominate on special teams and Branch and Marcus Allen He ac mltted they were O-for-3 think we attacked anything except the meal on the Rutigliano said Alien the first rookie to lead the NFL In scoring since Gale Sayers in 1965 rushed 17 times for 72 yards and two touchdowns and caught six passes for 75 yards Plunkett who had his best game of the season (M-of-37 386 yards) despite two first-half interceptions spread it around against the beleaguered Browns secondary Branch caught five passes for 121 yards tight end Todd Christensen six for 93 Los Angeles moved the ball almost at util The 510 net yards (the Browns had 284) was a Raiders playoff record The Browns did not force the Raiders to punt until there was Just left in the first half Kill play by Browns quarterback and former USC star Paul McDonald (lS-of-37 281 yards a TD and no interceptions) and the Raiders penchant for stopping themselves with interceptions and penalties kept Cleveland in the game The turning point came at the start of the second half when the Browns trailing 13-10 drove from their own 32 to a first down on the Raiders 14 the first down thanks to an offsides penalty againt Raiders defensive end Lyle Alzado McDonald looked over the Raid- The big winners See C-4 cut back and coasted to the end zone for a 37-17 lead His return broke the playoff record 88-yard interception return by Walt Sumner in 1969 "I think the turnaround for the ballgame was when we threw the touchdown pass to Collinsworth the long one and got it called said Cincinnati coach Forrest Gregg other situation was the interception they made and carried in for the touchdown" New York added a 1-yard touchdown run by Dwayne Crutchfield for the final margin we got an opportunity we jumped on McNeil said had more opportunities than Cincinnati Anderson completed 26 of 35 passes for 354 yards with three interceptions bid said the turnovers were they key think this team is just as good as last just a matter of the Anderson said Jets punt once today a tough team to get behind on when you have to throw the stepped in front and kept them from going up said Darrol Ray who would pick off a pass and return it a playoff-record 98 yards in the fourth quarter was probably bigger than my Sparked by 24-yard run the Jets drove to the goahead touchdown on a 4-yard pass from Richard Todd to Wesley Walker Pat Leahy added his second field goal before the half giving the Jets a 20-14 advantage The New York defense forced Cincinnati to settle for just a field goal by Jim Breech in the third quarter despite driving to a first-and-goal on the New York 6-yard line Another scoring threat came up empty when Breech missed from 46 yards early in the fourth quarter The Jets marched 72 yards to a touchdown after miss with McNeil dashing 20 yards for the score and a 30-17 lead The Bengals had one more chance to get into the game but hurt themselves with two touchdown-nullifying penalties and clinching interception return 69-yard touchdown bomb to Cris Collinsworth was called hack for a penalty and a 6-yard touchdown scramble by Anderson was nullified by illegal motion Finally on first-and-goal from the Jet 11 Ray picked off a pass at the 2 raced down the right sideline Record Searchlight C-i Sports Monday January 10 1983 ere defense like the formation he had called and took time out have been worse than what happened next Charles White accustomed to finding more wide-open spaces when he starred here for USC cut right and saw Raiders defensive end Howie Long blocking his path He cut back against the grain and Raiders defensive aid Lyle Alzado stuffed him White fumbled and Jeff Barnes recovered for the Raiders on the 11 The 56555 Coliseum patrons then saw the overly cautious Browns defense bleeding yards on short passes underneath their deep zone and on short burets by Allen and fullback Kenny King The drive was textbook stuff Plunkett attempted and completed four passes the scorcher a 31-yarder to the Browns' 9 that Christensen caught and held despite cornerback Ron savage mid-air hit It was 89 yards on 12 plays Allen scoring without much resistance on a 3-yard run after the Raiders blockers buried the Browns Chris Bahr converted and it was Raiders 20-10 The Browns managed one first down before having to punt and the Raiders started pounding away again from their own 20 Eleven plays later reserve running back Frank Hawkins scored from a yard out with 12:01 left in the game Bahr converting for 27-10 It was 80 degrees at kickoff and the Raiders were confident they would wear down the Browns in a war of attrition The 89-yard drive which ate up 6:35 of die third quarter and the 80-yard drive which consumed 4:26 did Just that In the first half the pace was to the liking Despite the initial Plunkett-Branch gambit the Raiders had to settle for a 27-yard Bahr field goal and a 3d first-quarter lead A 52-yard field goal by Ms brother Matt the Browns placeklcker tied it with 12:24 left More half Thai taking advantage of the overly cautious Browns pass defenders Plunkett completed each of his six attempts aim guided the Raiders 88 yards on eight plays to make it 193 Two series later McDonald with Hendricks in his face Mt Ricky Feacher on a 43-yard scoring pass Hu PAT made it 10-10 Chris 37-yard field goal with 06 left in the half the Raiders a 13-10 lead LEFT TELLS IT ALL Rush after winning score CINCINNATI (AP) New York Jets running back Freeman McNeil had some modest goals in mind when he took the field Sunday for a first-round playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals By end he was in the National Football League (NFL) record book been thinking about getting about 80 yards and setting up a couple of sud McNeil the offensive star in the 44-17 clubbing of the defending American Conference (AFC) champion Bengals The NFL's leading rusher reached his goals early and kept going The second-year running back out of UCLA threw for one touchdown ran for another and racked up a playoff-record 211 yards rushing on 22 carries to give the Jets their first playoff victory since the 1969 Super Bowl The Jets 7-3 will visit the Los Angeles Raiders on Saturday The Bengals bowed out of the Super Bowl tournament with a 7-3 record McNeil ignited a comeback after the Jets fell! 14-3 then kept the pressure on the Cincinnati defense the rest of the way His rushing performance topped the previous playoff mark of 203 yards set by San Keith Lincoln in 1963 and the team record 180 yards by Matt Snell in 1964 was blessed" McNeil said was in the right place at the right PITTSBURGH (AP) The Pittsburgh Steelers' fanatic fans dug out their Terrible Towels for the first time in three years Sunday twirled them over their heads and talked enthusiastically about a fifth trip to the Super Bowl But after San Diego quarterback Dan Fouts shot down the Steelers with his passing in a 31-28 National Football League playoff victory the towels were used for crying And the Chargers not the Steelers were able to talk about a possible visit to Pasadena on Jan 30 for Super Bowl XVII want to play in a Super Bowl and have a big tight end Kellen Winslow said after catching a game-winning 12-yard touchdown pass from Fouts with a minute left The Chargers stopped a game short of the Super Bowl the past two seasons head to Miami for a semifinal-round American Conference game and a rematch of their 41-38 overtime playoff victory over the Dolphins last season talk about that game very Winslow said "People talk about it all the time but rd hate for that to be the gone I'm remembered for after done The Chargers were Jolted in the first 12 seconds Sunday when James Kooks fumbled the opening kickoff and reserve linebacker Guy Ruff recovered for a touchdown and a 7-0 Pittsburgh lead The Chargers blow by Pittsburgh in For a while Sunday it appeared the Jets losers of two playoff games since their Super Bowl HI i would have little to be fill for Cincinnati quarterback Ken Anderson led the Bengals to a pair of touchdowns on their first two possessions for a 14-3 lead hitting Isaac Curtis with a 32-yard TD pass and Dan Ross with a 2-yarder when McNeil took over was thinking the same thing I always think when I get the portunity see what I can with the McNeil said was McNeil carried five times for 30 yards as the Jets drove deep into Cincinnati territory He then took a handoff and threw his first professional pass a 14-yard TD strike to receiver Derrick Gaffney had it in (the playbook)" said New York coach Walt Michaels was just an opportune time to use Not to be outdone the Bengals responded with an impressive drive from their 15 to the New York 10 From there Anderson tried to find wide receiver Cris Colllnaworth in the aid zone but Johnny Lynn made the first of three Jet interceptions to end the threat Chargers twice trailed by 11 prints Later a key interception thrown by Terry Bradshaw and a shanked 20-yard punt by John Goodson set up a pair of Charger touchdowns in the final nine minutes discouraged when we were down by 11" said Fouts who completed 27 of 42 passes for 333 yards and three touchdowns two of them to Winslow can we be discouraged? We're not the team that gets discouraged We know we can feel we can move the ball on anybody and score on Winslow said after catching seven passes for 102 yards Bradshaw nearly matched Fouta pass for pass completing 28 of 39 for 325 yards and two scorn After throwing a 14-yard scoring strike to John Stallworth with 14:10 left to push the Pittsburgh lead to 28-17 Bradshaw had completed 92 percent of Ms passes 25 of 28 for 302 yards The NFL playoff record for passing accuracy is 762 percent by Sammy Baugh of the Washington Redskins In 1943 But the Steelers playing their first playoff game in three seasons suddenly switched from the pass to the run hindsight we should have stayed witnthe Bradshaw said Bradshaw forced to throw on a third-down play was intercepted Todd completed 20 of 28 for 269 yards and one interception and sacked Anderson was dropped four times for losses of 21 yards Collinsworth said the penalty-nullified touchdown pass in the fourth quarter didn't cost the Bengals the game Dick Vermeil resigm with Et post 'agles PHILADELPHIA (AP) Philadelphia Eagles coach Dick Vermeil saying he was "emotionally burned after seven seasons in the National Football League resigned today and was replaced by Marion Campbell the defensive coordinator Vermeil whose reputation as a workaholic is well known in the NFL cried as he announced he was "going to take my own advice and step down out of going to get out of it to find if I can live with Vermeil told a news conference "If I I will be back in it think in the best interest of Dick Vermeil and my family and in the best Interest of the players I am emotionally burned out I think time for a change in the The Eagles were 3-8 in the strike-shortened 1962 season their worst record since they were 4-10 in 1976 Vermeil's best season with the Eagles was in 197930 when the team won the conference championship with a 12-4 record and went to Super Bowl XV where the Oakland Raiders triumphed Immediately after Vermeil made his announcement owner Leonard Tose named Campbell a former head coach of the Atlanta Falcons as the new coach opener by San Diego cornerback Jeff Allen at the Pittsburgh 29 and it took the Chargers just five plays to score Winslow caught an 8-yard scoring pass from Fouts with 8:42 remain- Bradshaw said he have thrown the ball on the interception but "in the heat of competition you do stupid things'' The Steelers again stopped on the ground had to punt with 3:59 left and Goodson shanked the ball off the side of his foot giving San Diego the ball at its 36 Steelers coach Chuck Noll said it was a an offense like that you want to make them (the Chargers) drive the length of the he said After a 5-yard penalty Fouts whipped a 17-yard pass to Winslow and Chuck Muncie who ran for 126 yards gained 31 yards on five carries to set up a thlrd-and-7 play at the Steeler 11 Fouts then fooled the Steelers with a misdirection pass play In which Winslow slipped into the left corner of the end zone expected the Fouts said of the game-winning score the only way they stopped us all day I looked over at Robin Cole and his eyes were Mg You can tell coming when the linebackers start to foam at the mouth and their eyes get FACE OF WINSLOW Congratulated by Bob I.