Post by TheShadow on Jan 8, 2006 9:53:33 GMT -5
sfgate.com
A Pick from the past Interception saved Raiders in '81
Steve Kroner, Chronicle Staff Writer
Even after a quarter century, Mike Davis clearly remembers the details surrounding his signature moment in the NFL. However, thanks to a rock-solid Cleveland Municipal Stadium field, Davis' faculties weren't all clicking in the moments immediately following what has to rank as the most significant interception in Raiders history.
"When I hit my head on the frozen turf," the former defensive back said in a recent telephone interview, "it might have been the hardest hit in my life. When I stood up, I was a little spacey, but I knew what I had done."
What Davis had done on Jan. 4, 1981, was pick off a Brian Sipe pass intended for Ozzie Newsome in the end zone with 41 seconds remaining in an AFC playoff game. The Browns, who had marched from their 14 to the Oakland 13, were a field goal away from the AFC Championship Game. Instead, the Raiders prevailed 14-12, then proceeded to beat San Diego and Philadelphia en route to their second Super Bowl title.
The day before the Raiders-Browns matchup, the teams were scheduled to practice at the same facility, with the Raiders going first. Near the end of Oakland's time, a Browns representative said Cleveland had decided to forego its practice because of the frigid conditions.
"We thought that was funny," Davis said, "but when we got out there on Sunday, we didn't think it was that funny."
The Raiders probably weren't chuckling that Sunday when the game-time temperature was 1 degree, with the wind-chill factor estimated at minus-37.
"I'd coached in cold weather before, but nothing that cold," then-Raiders coach Tom Flores recalled.
The conditions played a major role in the decision by Browns coach Sam Rutigliano to call for a pass on that second down with less than a minute to go. Kicker Don Cockroft had had an extra-point attempt blocked by Ted Hendricks, and, with uncertain footing, even a 30-yard kick was no gimme.
The Browns ran a play called Red Right 88 and it was read right by Davis. He cut in front of Newsome, made the catch, and 77,665 fans -- who had been in full throat as Cleveland was driving -- suddenly were speechless.
"It was eerie," Davis said. "There was almost no sound."
"When I think back to that game, and specifically to that play," Rutigliano said in a clevelandbrowns.com story last January, "the first thing that comes to mind is the silence -- the unbelievable utter silence -- after it happened."
Twenty-five years later, this thought should make Browns fans even more despondent when they remember Red Right 88: Davis didn't possess exactly the greatest pair of hands in pro football.
"If you were going to throw the ball to Mike playing catch," Flores said, "he might not get it. Mike had the worst hands of the guys in our secondary."
Davis agreed with Flores, saying if he had been more adept at hanging onto the ball, he probably would have averaged five or six interceptions per season. In fact, Davis had only 11 regular-season interceptions in his nine-year NFL career (1978-85 with the Raiders and 1987 with the Chargers).
On the other hand, Flores said, Davis was "tough as you could be." If Davis were hurt, "you had to drag him off the field."
Said Davis: "I tried to do whatever it takes to win. I never wanted to let my teammates, staff, city or self down. Separated shoulder, bruised knee, sprained ankles, you name it, somewhere along the line, you put it out of your mind and play the game."
When Davis was done playing the game, he spent 1988 as a recuperative year, mostly reading and playing golf. He then worked in the insurance business -- "It was a glorious thing to do financially," Davis said, "but it wasn't me."
In the 1990s, he got back into football as an assistant coach at Long Beach State (when longtime Raiders defensive back Willie Brown was the head coach) and Eastern Michigan.
More recently, Davis was a coach for two years at Cathedral High in Los Angeles. While at Cathedral, Davis coached his son, Mike Jr., a cornerback who finished his four-year career at Arizona State last month when the Sun Devils beat Rutgers 45-40 in the Insight Bowl.
Mike Sr., 49, and his wife, Mary, live in Burbank with their younger son, Allen, who's a senior at Burbank High. Mary runs MLD Public Relations, and Allen hopes to play volleyball in college.
Mike Sr. believes Mike Jr. has the ability to play in the NFL. "He's better than me when I was in my second year as a pro," the elder Davis said.
If Mike Jr. does get a shot at the pro game, he would do well to heed the message his dad learned early in his time with the Raiders. Mike Sr. said in the moments before Sipe's fateful pass in 1981, he had this thought in his mind:
"Hope the play comes your way. When the play is on the line, you want them to throw the ball your way."