THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Sunday, July 12, 2015

When Jake "The Snake" Plummer was a middle school student growing up in Boise, his brothers gave him a book written by a famous NFL quarterback, and young Jake was hooked.

The book was "Snake - The-On-And-Off-The-Field Exploits of Football's Wildest Renegade," by Ken "The Snake" Stabler, who carved out a 15-year career with the Oakland Raiders, Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints.

"If you read his book you might wonder, 'Oh my god, how did he influence this kid,'" Plummer said the other day, in a telephone interview from Colorado. "It's just tales of the fun times they had back in the day, before the paparazzi, social media ... you could go out and party the night before the game, and come to the game the next morning in a taxi and go play in an AFC championship game and do well."

While the stories of all-night carousing were entertaining, Plummer was more enamored by the cameraderie the players had off the field, and the freedom they had on it.

"It just makes me laugh at what the league's become," Plummer said, "because it's so image-conscious now, and yet Kenny Stabler is one of their legends, and ... just from reading the book - the NFL, wow, that sounds like fun, and I wanted to play in the NFL and have fun and be around those kind of characters."

Stabler died Wednesday of colon cancer. He was 69.

PLUMMER SAID his brothers called him "The Snake" occasionally when he was growing up, but after he read Stabler's book and started playing quarterback more often, the nickname stuck.

Stabler played in an era when quarterbacks called their own plays, and took a few more chances with their passes.

He passed for 27,938 career yards and 194 touchdowns, but he also tossed 222 interceptions. In 1978 with Oakland, he threw a whopping 30 interceptions - which would have gotten a QB benched, or worse, these days.

But he was also the NFL's MVP in 1974, led the Raiders to victory in Super Bowl XI, and was involved in some of the most famous plays in the history of the league.

His 30-yard touchdown run against the Pittsburgh Steelers late in a 1972 playoff game gave the Raiders the lead - only to be overshadowed by "The Immaculate Reception."

Two years later, his fluttering touchdown pass to Clarence Davis - who was surrounded by Miami players - in the "Sea of Hands" game produced the winning points and ended the Dolphins' hopes for a three-peat.

He threw the "Ghost to the post" pass to tight end Dave Casper to set up the winning points in overtime in a 1977 playoff game against the Baltimore Colts.

And one year later, his forward fumble in the "Holy Roller" game at San Diego was scooped up by Casper in the end zone for the winning points, and led to a rule change prohibiting that strategy.

"He did have the knack for making the play when the team needed it," Plummer said. "He wasn't the best all game, but when it mattered most, he stepped up, too. That's why that was kind of an apropos nickname, and that's who I always gave credit to for the nickname."

PLUMMER, WHO passed for 29,253 yards and 161 touchdowns in 10 seasons and threw 161 interceptions, was also known as someone who sometimes strayed from the script.

Plummer, who starred at Capital High in Boise and then at Arizona State, said there were similarities between the older, left-handed "Snake" of the 1970s and early 80s, and the righty-throwing "Snake" who played in the NFL from 1997 through 2006. Don't worry about throwing picks, Plummer said, as long as you can win the game at the end.

"Plus he was a leader, man," Plummer said of Stabler. "He was a leader, he did his thing, and his teammates loved him, and I learned a lot about that from reading that book - just how to be me, not be just programmed robot that some dude said I need to be in order to make it in the NFL, like a lot of these kids are now."

Plummer, 40, said he never met Stabler. However, Stabler had a daughter that also attended Arizona State while Plummer was there, and late in his career in Tempe, Plummer received an autographed photo from Stabler. "From one Snake to another," it read.

"I thought that was pretty sweet; I still have that one," Plummer said.

"It was sad to hear when he passed away," Jake "The Snake" said of Ken "The Snake". "He was one of those old-school QBs that won't come around ever again. Not in this environment."

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.