Questions Linger in Wake of Loss to the Eagles : While Flores and Allen Take the Heat, Other Problems Need Raiders’ Attention

Tom Flores saw the rising of the sun Monday, or would have if he had turned off his projector and looked out the window. It happened just as he had predicted Sunday in the wake of the Raiders’ stunning upset by the Philadelphia Eagles when he was hard pressed for silver linings.

Other of Flores’ calls hadn’t gone as well and had become controversial, chief among them the decision to run one more play in overtime from the Eagle 16-yard line before trying a field goal.

Had he flashed back to the Bronco game in ’84 when he ordered the same thing, with the same results--a fumble and a loss?

“That would be pretty negative thinking,” Flores said with a little smile. “I leave that up to you guys to remind me afterward.”

In case the press had forgotten or had missed the point, Raider officials spent late Sunday afternoon muttering their own protests of their coach’s decision.

“I just decided to run one more play and possibly gain a little ground,” Flores said. “Then we’d have kicked on third down. But it didn’t work.

“You look at the film and you see what Marcus (Allen) saw. He was looking to make a cut and in doing so, lost control of the ball.

“They could have kicked a field goal (after Andre Waters had returned Allen’s fumble to to the Raider four) that would have been like an extra point. But they decided not to. Their decision worked. They won the game. My decision didn’t work. We lost the game.

“It’s not been my policy to point fingers at anybody, other than when somebody plays well. We go over that in the confines of the meeting room.

“When it happened against Denver (Frank Hawkins fumbled near the Bronco goal in overtime), I said I’d have done the same thing again,” Flores said. “In that Denver game, Dan Reeves did the same thing on the winning field goal. When it works, it’s fine. When it doesn’t work, it’s not fine. That’s the bottom line. You call the plays and you expect them to be executed.”

How controversial should it be?

Allen once fumbled a lot but has cut it back sharply. Last season, he fumbled three times in 380 carries.

Allen went into Sunday’s game with four fumbles this season, two of them in the opener at Denver. One of those was ripped out of his hands during a gang tackle and returned for a touchdown, the Raiders claiming the play should have been whistled dead.

Before his last carry Sunday, Allen had fumbled twice in his last 151 carries.

On that one, he presumably would be even more careful, knowing what was on the line. “I should have been a little smarter in that particular situation,” he said later.

Flores’ situation is like that of a third base coach. The runners who beat plays at the plate are quickly forgotten, but the ones who don’t aren’t. The Raiders have won several games after using a running play to position the ball in the middle of the field.

Were Allen’s competitive instincts the problem, then?

The Raiders would be in some trouble without those instincts. The previous week, Allen dragged half the Charger secondary into the end zone on his 28-yard touchdown run in overtime.

These things do happen. What were the Raiders doing in overtime with the Eagles, anyway?

Or does this game point to real Raider problems?

Like:

--When are their young receivers going to grow up?

Jessie Hester caught two touchdown passes but dropped another in the end zone while tucking it away, while the official behind him was in he midst of his touchdown signal. Hester has a terrific average--23 catches, 6 touchdowns--but he must have dropped one pass for every two he has caught this season.

His sub, rookie Rod Barksdale, is another long-ball threat who is having the same problem. Sunday he bobbled one right to Andre Waters, killing a late Raider threat. If Eagle Coach Buddy Ryan had then kept the ball on the ground where it belonged, it might well have been the last Raider threat.

--Has the offensive line grown up too much?

Does anyone think that Allen averaged 2.5 yards a carry because his ankle is still sore and that Jim Plunkett took six sacks because he’s 38?

The Raiders are up to 49 sacks allowed. The Eagle line manhandled the Raiders. Young Reggie White had four sacks, most of them against the Raider right tackle, 35-year-old Henry Lawrence, the last Pro Bowl player on their line. Another touchdown pass to Hester was called back when Lawrence was called for holding White.

How about running left behind Bruce Davis, the better run blocker? They tried that on fourth and one at the Eagle five late in the first half. Allen was thrown for a one-yard loss.

What ever happened to the days when Al Davis used to tell John Madden that the two most important positions were cornerback and offensive line? And Madden used to tell Davis he was wrong, it was offensive line and cornerback?

How could Davis, whose offensive line was aging, pick five players in the last draft--considered rich in offensive linemen--before taking one? That was Doug Marrone of Syracuse, who was cut in camp.

--How long can they keep playing man-to-man pass defense?

The Raiders protected young Sam Seale when he started in place of the injured Mike Haynes by playing more zone defense. Why not do the same for Haynes and Lester Hayes? They’re still fine cornerbacks but they’re 33 and 31, respectively, and no longer invulnerable.

The Raiders don’t need to throw everyone they have at the passer. Their front four is good enough that it can keep the heat on with minimal blitzing help.

--What happens when the opposition takes Todd Christensen away from Plunkett?

That’s what the Eagles did Sunday, often double-teaming the Raider tight end. Once, they wound up with their middle linebacker, Mike Reichenbach, trying to cover Hester, resulting in a 49-yard scoring play.

One of the ways that Plunkett has avoided sacks is with quick throws to Christensen. What happens when opponents see the Raider-Eagle film?

What did the Raiders really lose Sunday?

They’re still a good bet to win that second wild-card spot. They’re tied with the Bengals at 8-5. The Raiders have the better conference record, which would be the first tiebreaker, 7-2 to 5-4. The Bengals have the harder schedule--at New England, home against the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets.

Of course, the second wild-card has to play all its playoff games on the road. Considering the Raider record at home this season--they’re 3-3--maybe it isn’t such a great loss at that.

Raider Notes Coach Tom Flores, on whether the Raiders took the Eagles lightly: “You worry about it. You worry about a team that hasn’t won too much. Like I was worried about San Diego (where the Raiders had blown a 31-10 lead the week before). But we know San Diego. We know how San Diego is. We know records mean nothing when you go down there. We don’t play this team (the Eagles) that often. They didn’t do anything we hadn’t seen. We just didn’t play well.” . . . Jessie Hester came out of the game with a pulled hamstring and Flores says he may be doubtful for the Seattle game. . . . Hester on his drops: “It’s got to affect you. You’re human. You’ve let a lot of guys down.”