Blame It On . . . : Beuerlein Has Plenty of Ready-Made Excuses, but Buck Stops With Raider Quarterback

Excuses? If he was looking for them, Raider quarterback Steve Beuerlein had enough at his disposal to fill a playbook in explaining his team’s 38-35 loss to Houston Sunday.

Where do we begin?

A week ago might be a good place.

--Sad Sunday: Beuerlein, in his first regular-season game, leads his club to victory over the San Diego Chargers. Admittedly Charger quarterback Babe Laufenberg is not the second coming of Dan Fouts and Beuerlein hardly looks like the second coming of Jim Plunkett. But Beuerlein has his moments and keeps the mistakes to a minimum.

In the postgame locker room, however, it’s all forgotten amid the whispers over the impending deal to bring in Jay Schroeder from the Washington Redskins to take over Beuerlein’s starting job.

Late Sunday night, it’s official. Schroeder is a Raider and Beuerlein is several weeks away at most from becoming a backup.

--Blue Monday: Schroeder arrives in town and is treated by the media as a savior, on hand just in time to salvage the season. Against this backdrop, Beuerlein must go about planning for the Houston Oilers in what may be, win or lose, his final start.

This kind of stuff would be tough for a veteran to take. For a 23-year-old kid fighting for a job, it is doubly tough.

--Wicked Wednesday: As if he didn’t have enough on his mind, Beuerlein comes down with the first symptoms of a flu that will bug him over the next 72 hours.

Enough already? Beuerlein certainly felt so but there was more.

--Sad Sunday II: Figuring that only a brilliant performance can keep him out there much longer, Beuerlein strikes quickly and often in the first half, hitting Willie Gault with a 42-yard touchdown pass and Tim Brown with a 3-yarder.

Then, still before halftime, he lines his team up at the Oiler nine-yard line, fades back and stares into the face of an onrushing blitz.

No problem.

Acting like the cool veteran he is not, Beuerlein keeps his poise and lofts a soft toss over the onrushing lineman into the waiting arms of Steve Smith, who trots into the end zone.

Three touchdown passes in the half. If Beuerlein is going, it will not be quietly.

But still further problems lie ahead. An ankle injury knocks Don Mosebar out the game in the second half, further weakening an offensive line that is still trying to adjust to the loss of Jim Lachey last week in the Schroeder trade. The Oilers take advantage and sack Beuerlein five times.

Raider defensive back Terry McDaniel is also knocked out, weakening the defense and helping the Oilers to stage their fourth-quarter rally.

So there you have it, a list of excuses Alibi Ike would be proud of.

And whom did Beuerlein blame?

Basically, just himself.

“I had the opportunity to make a lot of big plays and I made a few, but the consistency was just not there,” he said. “I didn’t come through with the plays we needed to make. That’s the bottom line.”

Beuerlein refused to even talk about his flu bug, nor would he use Schroeder as a ready-made excuse.

“I felt good coming in,” he said, “as good as I ever have. I had heard all the talk about Schroeder before so the trade was no shock. It didn’t faze me. I knew the game plan. Nothing worried me except the Oilers. What can I say? I didn’t play well. That’s what it comes down to.

“This is a big disappointment to me. I put us in tough situations where we had to keep ending up punting. I’m not even close to being satisfied. I didn’t do it. I just didn’t do it “

In the past, Beuerlein would always insist, whatever his performance, that he was making progress. Not this time.

“I didn’t progress a whole lot,” he said. “I learned a lot, but I didn’t move the ball and that forced the defense to stay out there too long. I’m usually an optimistic person, but facts are facts.”

The fact is, Beuerlein completed 10 of 24 for 129 yards and 3 touchdowns. He had only one intercepted, a desperation throw at the end of the game. But he had some overthrows, some underthrows and some problems handling the rush.

So now the speculation and anticipation has grown ever more furious as to when Schroeder might make his first appearance. Next Sunday against the Rams?

“Steve Beuerlein hung in there,” Raider Coach Mike Shanahan said, “and he grew as a quarterback. I’m not going to speculate on what might happen. Jay Schroeder is progressing very well and when we feel he’s ready, obviously he’s going to get in there.”

Shanahan wasn’t ready to make an announcement Sunday, however. If he had, though, Beuerlein wouldn’t have been surprised. It just would have made his week complete.