Raiders’ Chief Concern Is Now Themselves : Can They Recover Today From Their Poor Showings Against Eagles and Seahawks?

Now that the mandatory grudge angle is out of the way, we turn to the real business of today’s Raider-Chief game, namely, finding out one important thing:

What do the Raiders have left?

Do they still have a shot at the playoffs? Are they still a playoff-caliber team? Can their offensive line, which will include two new starters, be stabilized? Can the defensive secondary pull out of its nosedive?

What hasn’t gone wrong for the Raiders? At the very moment they seemed to have accomplished their annual trick of turning a slow start around, with the revered Jim Plunkett back at quarterback, an 8-4 record and an easy schedule left, their world caved in.

In the wake of the 37-0 loss at Seattle, their worst beating since 1963, when Al Davis was their coach, indignities are still piling up. Lester Hayes was lost to injury. Dokie Williams may not play. Eugene Klein’s lawsuit, which the Raiders contended was only an attempt to harass Davis and which Davis scornfully pooh-poohed, was lost.

Today, they’ll be entertaining mostly season-ticket holders, minus what could be a significant no-show factor, while the Rams play to a full house at Anaheim Stadium and on local TV. However you define town, right now the Raiders, who have been riding high around here for four years, are clearly the second team in it.

If the Raiders like the feeling of being up against the wall, today is their day.

Their starting wide receivers may be Tim Moffett and Rod Barksdale, who, between them, have caught 19 passes in the NFL. With Hayes’ regular season ended by a broken left foot, Sam Seale will move into his hot spot, left cornerback. Plunkett will be playing on a painfully sprained right arch.

And in the offensive line, the team’s most embattled unit, Shelby Jordan takes the right tackle spot that has belonged to Henry Lawrence since the 1977 season. Is this the first step in a reconstruction of the aging line that might have started two years ago but didn’t? If so, it can’t be the last step. At 34, Jordan is only a year younger than Lawrence.

Lawrence, actually, had appeared to be struggling less than left tackle Bruce Davis, at least until the last two games. The huge Davis was considered a better run-blocker than pass-blocker--no virtue among the Raiders--and pretty much a utility player until last season, when Jordan was hurt in an exhibition. Davis moved in, played a part in Marcus Allen’s 1,759-yard season and was voted the team’s top lineman by his teammates.

This season, however, they went back to Raider ball, Allen was hurt and the running game dropped off sharply--a 3.7-yard average, compared to last season’s 4.3. Davis leads the team in holding penalties and the Raiders have taken 60 sacks, which would be the worst in the NFL in any season in which the Philadelphia Eagles weren’t breaking new ground.

So why did Jordan replace Lawrence? One theory is that Jordan is a natural right tackle, and besides, the leading Chief sacker, Art Still, plays on the Raider right side.

Said a Raider official: “If they could have put Shelby in at both tackles, they probably would.”

Chris Riehm, a pickup from the USFL, takes over Charley Hannah’s left guard spot, although this was probably only the consequence of the broken bone in Hannah’s right hand. Even so, Riehm is one of the team’s few young linemen considered prospects, so for him, this is the sound of opportunity knocking.

The Chiefs hear the same sound, which was why they flew to Palm Springs Thursday for three extra days of warmth. They have a shot at their first trip to the playoffs since 1971, and owner Lamar Hunt is sparing no expense.

The Chiefs have had their own ups and downs, which was still preferable to most of their seasons. At 8-6, they’re a victory away from their second winning season since 1973, even if it was built against the easier last-place team’s schedule. Since they were 7-3, before losing to the Broncos, the 2-9 Cardinals and the 3-9 Bills, this hasn’t been received as well as it otherwise might have been.

Keenly disappointed a year ago after a 3-1 start was followed by a 3-9 finish, Hunt dubbed this “The Year of the Challenge,” a slogan interpreted to mean that Coach John Mackovic had to get into the playoffs, or get awfully close, to survive.

The football magazines are guessing that Mackovic is through. The better-educated guessing among Kansas City writers, however, is that Mackovic will be brought back next season, the last on his five-year contract.

The Chiefs have the NFL’s worst-rated offense but a fine young, strong defensive unit. On a yards-allowed-per-play basis, Kansas City is second in the NFL only to the Bears.

Still, a four-time Pro Bowl performer, is said to be having one of his finest seasons, and the Chiefs consider third-year nose tackle Bill Maas nothing less than the best in the game.

Their secondary is considered one of the game’s fine, young units, led by free safety Deron Cherry, who became a starter in 1983 when Gary Barbaro jumped to the USFL and who has since intercepted more passes than any other player in the NFL.

For the Raiders, they’ll be a long day’s work, or the start of a different era.

Raider Notes

Playoff prospects: Saturday’s loss by the Jets meant that the Raiders will qualify if they win their last two games. Two wins by Kansas City would give the Chiefs a shot. . . . Whatever hard feelings the players retain, the organizations’ feud seems to be over. The Raiders had suggested they wouldn’t participate in anything with the Chiefs, down to the annual AFC West publicists’ meeting, but last week everything was business as usual. The two publicity directors even went to lunch together. . . . Ironically, a Chief source says the angriest Raider was Coach Tom Flores, who is usually the calmest Raider. Flores was known to be unhappy about Chief Coach John Mackovic’s showing the press game films to illustrate his protests. Commissioner Pete Rozelle fined Mackovic for it--$5,000 according to a Raider source. Only Greg Townsend, whose suspension cost $7,800, was hit harder.

Mackovic has since done all he could to downplay the incident, short of retracting anything he said. He said last week: “I didn’t really say that (the Raiders were a dirty team). I said I felt some things were out of hand. I haven’t said anything since, really. I think they play a good brand of football. Perhaps if I had it to do over, I might do it differently, but perhaps I wouldn’t.” . . . Dokie Williams, who had an arthroscopic probe of his right knee Monday, put on pads for the first time Friday and may make it back. . . . Bill Kenney, who sat out last week with a bruised right hand, is expected to return at quarterback and to come out throwing for the Chiefs. Their running game has been a no-show for the decade. Kansas City runners have had three 50-yard rushing games all season, two in the opener, with the high-water mark being Herman Heard’s 62 yards. No Chief has run for 100 yards in a game since 1981. Last year they made North Carolina’s Ethan Horton, whom everyone liked, the first halfback drafted, but Horton didn’t work out. The Chiefs waived him this year, and several other teams, including the Raiders, tried him out without signing him.

One scenario for the Raider offensive line has center Don Mosebar moving back to tackle, his natural position, with rookie Bill Lewis going to center, on the theory that tackles are harder to find than centers, and more important. Mosebar, who took over from the smaller Dave Dalby, offers the advantage of being able to block the big nose tackles by himself, but Lewis, at 6-6, 275, is no small man. . . . What might the impact of the Eugene Klein $5-million award be on the Raiders? A Raider source says they’re covered by insurance, so except for higher premiums, it would be nothing.