Elway Dazzles Raiders : Bo Jackson’s Two TDs Can’t Prevent 7th Loss

For you Raider fans who can tolerate progress in tiny increments, your heroes played better Sunday.

Of course, they did fall behind by the customary double figures. On the other hand, they scored a touchdown in the first half. That’s the first time the regular team has done that since the season opener. Not only that, it felt so good that they scored another one.

Of course, they scored none after halftime and lost, 23-17, to the amazing John Elway and his wards, the Denver Broncos, before 61,318 in the Coliseum.

But after running up deficits of 28, 23, 18 and 16 points in their games since the strike, the Raiders must be tickled pink just to chase someone into the fourth quarter, right?

Wrong. There’s still no joy in Mudville.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a bittersweet feeling,” Marc Wilson said. “There’s no sweet.

“This team is not in business to play well and lose. This team is strictly in business to win. If you play here, you’re supposed to win.”

If you don’t for seven games in a row, then you’re the 1987 Raiders, heading into next Monday night’s showdown/mismatch at Seattle, where they haven’t even come within 30 points in three years. Do we hear eight?

Briefly stated, the Raiders lost Sunday because their line couldn’t pass protect against a team whose rush was said to have gone the way of the buffalo, and because they couldn’t begin to deal with Elway. Elway was brilliant, but the Bronco pass rush? Even in arch-supportive Denver, it was a civic disgrace until it landed on top of Wilson six times Sunday.

However, in this season of unremitting Raider ineptitude, it is significant to note that they had one bright spot which stood out like a lightning bolt in a telephone booth: Bo Jackson’s 35-yard run for his first professional touchdown.

If Dominque Wilkins is the Human Highlight Film, then on Sunday Jackson became the Entire Raider Highlight Film with a dash that you had to see to believe. You probably will see it too, since they’re likely to be re-running it when there are TV sets on Mars.

The Raiders trailed, 13-0, when Jackson started to sweep right, pivoted back the other way--yes, it was designed that way--sprinted around left end, encountered Denver cornerback Mike Harden 10 years downfield, butted Harden straight over backwards, ran right over him, got to the sideline, sped along it, and then as the Bronco pursuit arrived, went airborne at the five-yard line and dove into the end zone.

Pause for everyone to go nuts. They kept running it on the video board and the fans kept cheering it.

“Denver pursues so well, we knew if we put Marcus (Allen) in motion and flipped Bo the ball, they’d all come running like crazy, and they did,” Wilson said. “They were in the wrong coverage, though. Which is why Bo had to run over Harden.

“That was a big-time play. That’ll probably be on every highlight film from now until who knows when?”

Harden wasn’t the only Bronco Bo busted, either Sunday. He ran right over safety Randy Robbins on another play. In all, he ran for 98 yards in 13 carries, a 7.5 average. In his four-game career, he’s up to 254 yards in 41 carries, a 6.2 average.

For the first time, Jackson and Allen spent an entire game in the same backfield. Allen lined up at fullback, blocked manfully all day, flipped Karl Mecklenburg straight over on one blitz, and ran for 44 yards and a 4.0 average, himself. In all, the Raiders totalled a hardy 149 yards and a 5.7 average.

Also Wilson completed 15 of his 21 pass attempts and threw no interceptions.

So how come they scored only two crummy touchdowns?

Last week at San Diego, the infant offensive line, with its four new starters in five positions, and three since the strike, was called for holding seven times. This time, it committed no holding penalties but allowed six sacks.

The Raiders didn’t convert a single third-down until the third period. The Broncos kept blitzing on third down and the Raiders kept wilting in the heat.

“Especially on third-and-short,” Wilson said. “They brought a lot of people and we had trouble picking it up.

“And it’s unfortunate. Because that was when we really had a chance to do something. Prior to that, they were so conservative on defense, we didn’t have a chance to to throw the ball down the field. On third down, they’re giving us that opportunity and we’re having trouble protecting long enough to do that.”

Meanwhile, guess who was picking up 5 of 8 third downs in the first half--Tampa Bay’s 54% team mark leads the league right now--and 9 of 16 overall?

That’s right, Elway. He missed his second 300-yard passing game in a row by two yards. He marched the Broncos 59 yards on their first possession for a field goal, threw a 24-yard touchdown pass on their second possession, marched them 57 for a field goal on their third.

After Jackson’s run electrified the crowd and the Raiders and cut it to 13-7, Elway marched the Broncos 82 yards for a touchdown.

After the Raiders cut it to 20-17 in the third period, he marched the Broncos 48 yards but Rich Karlis missed a 41-yard field goal try.

So then, after the Raiders marched into Bronco territory again, and the Denver pass rush (Ken Kragen beating rookie guard Bill Lewis for a sack) truncated another drive, Elway took his club 83 yards to the Raider 3. This time, Karlis connected from 20 yards and it was 23-17.

And then, after the Raiders elected to punt on fourth-and-three at their 45 with 4:56 left, Elway made sure they never got the ball back. He drove the Broncos from his 26 to the Raider 19 to run the clock entirely out.

Elway picked up a third-and-seven with a 25-yard laser shot over the middle to Ricky Nattiel, and a third-and-fifth with a terrific-as-usual scramble, rolling all the way to the left sideline, ducking Sean Jones there, coming all the way back across and then up the field for 12 yards.

“Their entire offense, I mean their entire offense is geared around him,” Howie Long said. “They rolled out to our right. We were out there. We shut it down. Sean is getting cracked back by the running back and he gets over to the sideline and almost catches him. Elway cuts all the way back across the grain.”

There was another third-and-10 on that drive. Elway got nine yards on a quarterback draw. Then on fourth-and-one, he dove for the first down that made sure the Raiders wouldn’t touch the ball again until the Kingdome.

Elway only ran for 27 yards Sunday but he had 23 on this drive. Heaven knows what he might have done if the Raiders had really mounted a challenge.

“It’s a strange feeling,” said Long late in the day. “We’re like a 12-cylinder Jaguar. We’re one cylinder away.

“If you have one cylinder that doesn’t run well, no matter how good those other 11 cylinder are, the car is not going to run well. We’re one cylinder away.”

Is it the same cylinder that’s misfiring every time?

“That’s not for me to say,” said Long.

Well maybe the Raiders can get ‘em next week.

Or the week after.

Or 1988.

Raider Notes Including Sunday’s two, the Raiders have now scored three touchdowns all season in first halves, not counting the strike games. . . . The victory was costly to the Broncos. Pro Bowl strong safety Dennis Smith suffered a broken forearm. Halfback Steve Sewell got his jaw broken. . . . Raider cornerback Mike Haynes left the game with an injury to his right instep, but X-rays were negative. . . . Tom Flores on the seventh straight loss: “I’ve kind of run out of words. To be honest with you, I’ve just kind of run out of words.” . . . Did Flores consider going on fourth-and-three in the fourth quarter? “I thought about it but we had all our timeouts left. I thought if we got a good punt, we would get them inside their 20. We didn’t get a good punt and the rest is history.”