Raiders and Chiefs Play It Again, This Time for Some Answers

The race has come looking for the Raiders, who are happy to oblige. They’re 2-2 and today will play host to the first-place Kansas City Chiefs, who are but 3-1 in the Western Division of the AFC.

So with one little home victory, guess who’s back in first place?

Today offers a test of a lot of things, so let’s go to the dashes:

--The Chiefs as legitimate contenders.

Everyone knows they’re young, with 40 players under 30, and talented, with wins in six of their last seven games, counting last season, but are they ready to handle the old powers in the old powers’ stadiums?

They’re already hell in their own place. They have beaten the Raiders, 36-20, and the Seahawks, 28-7, at Arrowhead.

On the road? They were tied, 0-0, in the third quarter at Miami and wonder what might have happened if they’d gotten anything from their first-and-goal situation inside the Dolphin one-yard line in the second period.

But Coach John Mackovic sent in two option passes, a third-down pass and a fourth-down fake field goal, both of which failed. The Dolphins went on to win, 31-0.

Mackovic’s play selection was seen as a possible vote of no-confidence in his fledging running game. Whatever, it came in for intense review.

Said a Chief official last week: “They really nailed him for that one.”

Is this more than a Mackovic-Bill Kenney-Carlos Carson passing circus?

The Chiefs may have to provide the answer without Carson. The gazelle who burned the Raiders with five receptions for a 23.6-yard average and caught a touchdown pass on Mike Haynes, himself, is questionable with a knee injury.

--The Raiders as legitimate AFC West contenders.

This depends primarily on their offense. With no quarterback established, the line still struggling, and a passing game functionally built on one wide receiver, they’re still assembling it on the fly.

Here’s our weekly update on:

--Quarterback.

Marc Wilson or rookie Rusty Hilger? You won’t know until the introductions.

Wilson sprained his right ankle at New England, volunteered to return but was held out. He was practicing by Thursday and much improved by Friday, but Hilger was still getting as least as much work with the first unit.

The suspicion occurs that if the Raiders really thought that Wilson was their man, he would be starting. They’re intrigued by Hilger, but his inexperience hurts.

Last week, the coaches sent in his plays. If he plays, they’d do it again, and simplify things, as well. It’s a tough way to run a contender.

--The offensive line. Porous all season, it got solid late in the Patriot game, with Dave Dalby back at center and Don Mosebar back at right guard for Mickey Marvin.

But Coach Tom Flores said that might have been because of Patriot fatigue, and that Marvin was out only because of back spasms. There is a theory that Dalby can’t handle the new, giant nose tackles like Kansas City’s Bill Maas who spent the last meeting in the Raider backfield. In drills last week, the Marvin-Mosebar combo was back in.

The Raiders are still eager to throw out the line with their two best young players--Mosebar and Curt Marsh--in it. They’ll have to wait two more weeks until Marsh gets off injured reserve.

--Wide receiver. Rookie Jessie Hester is getting almost all the playing time, but he’s still dropping passes. Of the nine he’s caught, three were in one drive in Kansas City with the Chiefs up, 36-14.

The other new receiver, Dokie Williams, has been aces. His 22.1 average ranks fourth in the NFL.

Williams said: “When I came in, I was lucky enough to have Cliff Branch and even Calvin Muhummad in front of me. I really wasn’t expected to do a lot of things. Everything that happened to me was like gravy to the team. Jessie came in as a starter. It’s meat and potatoes time.”

It looks as though Hester will keep getting his chance, though. Al Davis seems keenly interested in his development.

--The secondary. Lester Hayes got scorched in Kansas City, but the Raiders may already have begun helping their cornerbacks. Joe Montana and Tony Eason both said that the Raiders had played more zone than expected.

“We’ve made some changes to give our defense a different look, so they couldn’t predict when to take their shot deep,” Flores said. “Our feeling has always been, if you try for four deep balls and you complete two, that’s pretty good. Those are going to be 40-yard gains, 50-yard gains.”

All the Raiders have are problems, right? They also play three of the next four at home and the other one is at Cleveland, giving them a chance to regroup. If they do, that will be everyone else’s problem.

Raider Notes

The Raiders are two-point favorites. . . . The Raiders activated nose tackle Mitch Willis to take the place of the recently axed Dave Stahls. Rookie quarterback Russ Jensen was brought off injured reserve earlier in the week.