Smith’s Job Would Appear to Be Catching

Jim Smith has caught 90 passes this year, but the L.A. Raiders rarely use him. They hardly ever throw to him and he isn’t even first-string. He spends a lot of his time as a messenger, delivering plays from the coach.

After scoring the only Raider touchdown in Sunday’s 19-10 triumph over the Kansas City Chiefs, Smith was asked to assess his performance.

“Brief,” he said.

He isn’t used to this. He caught a lot of passes as a high school kid in Blue Island, Ill. He caught a lot of passes at the University of Michigan, where the forward pass used to be thought of as radical. He caught a lot of passes for the Pittsburgh Steelers, some of them in Super Bowls XIII and XIV. And he caught 227 passes in three seasons with the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL, including 87 this very year.

Nobody in professional football--in 1984 NFL games or 1985 USFL play--pulled down more touchdown passes in the past year than Jim Smith did. Twenty times he struck paydirt. And he did it again Sunday. Let’s face it--this is a guy who could find the end zone blindfolded.

“One of the reasons we got Jim Smith was because he’s so good inside the 20,” Raider Coach Tom Flores said. “He’s got size and strength and he complements Jessie Hester, who’s got the speed.”

Hester, the first-round draft pick from Florida State, starts for Flores at one of the wide-receiver spots. Dokie Williams, the third-year man from UCLA, starts at the other. The Raiders generally go with the quick young foxes rather than the old gray mares.

After five games, both the tight end (Todd Christensen) and the running back (Marcus Allen) have caught more passes than any of the wide receivers. But Williams has been making some clutch catches of late, and Hester is showing signs of coming around after a slow start.

Now, if the Raiders can make more use of Smith, too, their passing attack--no matter who is playing quarterback--can turn this 3-2 team’s offense into something better than it has been.

“I’m not in the offense much, and I would like to be,” Smith said. “But I’m realistic enough to understand that it’s going to take a little time. I still have to familiarize myself with the Raiders and they have to get used to me. “Right now it’s a little frustrating, because I’m used to getting the ball. But it’ll come. I’m pretty sure it’ll come.”

At 30, Smith has been around. He knows what it is like to be the star of the show, having grabbed 3,559 yards worth of passes in the USFL, and he also knows what it is like to be ignored, because other receivers in his Pittsburgh days received a lot more attention than he did.

The Steelers still owned his rights when he decided that the time had come to wave by-by to the USFL. The Raiders showed some interest and that sounded good to Smith. He finished the preseason with Pittsburgh, then headed for L.A.

His offseason: One month. One month out of 12 in which Smith did not play professional football.

“I went to Florida and played golf,” he said. “It gave me just enough time to heal up.”

Having played football in the Midwest, North, East and South, there was only one place left to go. “I had never really been to the South until I played for Birmingham,” said Smith, who still makes his home there. “They love their football down there, let me tell you. Maybe it’s because there’s not much else to do. But I can tell you for a fact, they love it.”

The USFL was many things to many people--mostly bankers and process servers. To Smith it was fine. “It was an entirely enjoyable experience,” he said. “If I had it to do over again, I’d do it again in a minute.”

But now he is back in the NFL, playing among the league’s most notorious rebels and renegades. Smith once worked for the sheriff’s office in Washtenaw County, Mich.--Mr. Smith Goes to Washtenaw?--so maybe he can keep the Raiders in line.

On the other hand, he has seen some hard times himself. In June of 1982, Smith was arraigned in Ann Arbor on charges of carrying a concealed weapon and felonious assault. Apparently, a bunch of guys started driving by his house, yelling racial epithets, and Smith did not take to that too kindly. He got his gun out, and they drove off and filed charges.

The case was settled, though, leaving Smith able to concentrate on his football.

He is definitely an asset for the Raiders, whose receivers, except for Christensen, are long on talent and short on experience. The six-yard scoring pass he caught in the second period of Sunday’s game was ample evidence of that. With a defensive back draped all over him, Smith neatly tucked in the ball for the touchdown. The man can catch.

“That play was specially designed for me,” he said, “and hopefully there will be a few more of those before the season’s done.”

You would think 90 catches in one year were enough for one guy.