Raiders Start Off Slow Again and Lose, 24-14 : Quick-Striking Dolphins Go Up, 24-0

What’s wrong with the Raiders? How much time do you have?

Everybody’s had a theory as to the cause of the club’s steady slide toward the bottom of the AFC West.

First it was the quarterback. Then it was the offensive line, then the secondary, the defensive line, the new coach, the new offense, the injuries.

The Raiders’ new motto had become “Commitment to Excuses.”

But finally, following Sunday’s 24-14 loss to the Miami Dolphins before a crowd of 50,751 at the Coliseum, there may be only one all-encompassing theory and it was put to quarterback Jay Schroeder in the locker room.

What if, he was asked, this 2-4 team just doesn’t have the talent? Period.

Schroeder never blinked.

“There’s more talent in this room than you can imagine,” he said, looking around at his teammates. “It’s definitely not the talent. But it’s hard to put your finger on just what the problem is.”

The first place to start might be the first half of recent games. This club doesn’t exactly remind people of Ben Johnson coming out of the starting blocks.

Sunday marked the third week in a row that the Raiders surrendered 24 points before intermission.

They survived the first time against the Denver Broncos to win in overtime in one of the biggest comebacks in league history. The last 2 weeks, however, there have been no miracles.

It’s pretty hard to pull off a miracle, however, when you commit 5 turnovers as the Raiders did Sunday.

Four of those were interceptions thrown by Schroeder. Miami got 3 of its 4 scores off turnovers.

“We can’t keep doing that,” said Raider linebacker Matt Millen of the 24-point deficits, “but an optimist would at least say we’ve been consistent.”

There still are optimists to be found in the Raider locker room after Sunday’s game.

“What can I say?” Vann McElroy told a media crowd. “Why do we keep going in at halftime down by 24? I don’t know. If I knew, they’d come to me for advice.

“We’ve just got to start over fresh. What’s happened has happened. Almost every team in our division is in a hole. If you start saying negative things, you don’t have a chance. We’ve still got 10 games to go.”

The Raiders expect to have running back Bo Jackson, due to report today, for those 10 games, but it’s going to take more than a one-man band to change this tune. For awhile Sunday, it seemed as if the Raiders had finally changed their dismal first-half pattern of recent weeks.

More than 6 minutes into the second quarter, the game was still scoreless.

Then, in less than 9 minutes, it was all over.

The Dolphins began their run with an 11-play, 84-yard drive, climaxed by a 1-yard scoring dive by Lorenzo Hampton.

The Raiders received the kickoff, set up shop on their own 20-yard line and Schroeder proceeded to hand off to Vance Mueller, playing for the injured Marcus Allen.

Mueller took one step and ran head-on into Hugh Green. The Dolphin linebacker hit him with the full force of his 6-2, 228-pound frame, not to mention the cast he is wearing because of a dislocated wrist, and the result was a Mueller fumble. Safety Liffort Hobley picked up the loose ball and raced 19 yards into the end zone.

It was Miami’s second touchdown in 11 seconds.

Again the Raiders received the ball. Again they turned it over.

This time, the Dolphins took possession on an interception. Schroeder and his intended receiver, James Lofton, seemed to be on different wave lengths on this play. The ball landed far from Lofton in the arms of defensive back Jarvis Williams, who returned it 23 yards to set up a 45-yard field goal by Fuad Reveiz.

Before the half was over, Schroeder would again throw a pass intended for Lofton into the grasp of a Miami defender. This time, it was Don McNeal who came up with the interception with just 42 seconds to play.

Given another opportunity, Marino again cashed in, taking his team 42 yards. The last 11 and the score came on a Marino toss to Jim Jensen, wide open over the middle. Jenson was met at the goal line by defender Russell Carter, but Jensen managed to squirm over seconds before the half mercifully ended with the Raiders again down, 24-0.

The Raiders had only 94 yards in total offense in the first half, just 16 on the ground. Miami had 206 total yards.

The Raider offense made things a lot more respectable in the second half, finishing the game, as a matter of fact, with better numbers than the Dolphins. The Raiders collected 262 total yards after intermission to finish with 356, 90 more than the Dolphins.

Schroeder wound up with 21 completions in 37 attempts for 293 yards for the game. Most of that came in the second half when the Raiders made their futile run. In the final 30 minutes, Schroeder completed 14 of 21 for 215 yards and 2 touchdowns, which were the first 2 the Dolphin defense has given up through the air all season. Schroeder’s touchdown passes also broke a 12-quarter scoreless streak for that defense. The first score came on a 7-yard pass to Mervyn Fernandez, the second on a 13-yarder to Steve Strachan.

That put the Raiders back in the game, down by only 10 with just under 10 minutes to play. Not to worry. They soon self-destructed once again.

Driving for a score midway through the final period, Schroeder took aim at Willie Gault and, instead, threw his final interception of the long afternoon, this one picked off by Rodney Thomas.

“I was going to hit Willie in the seam,” Schroeder said. “The only problem was, I threw the ball high. The ball got away from me. If I would have brought it down, the play probably would have gone right straight into the end zone.”

It was a big moment for Thomas, a rookie from Ontario. The former Chaffey High performer saved the ball for his family, in attendance at the game.

“I have a trophy case at home,” he said. “I’m going to have my parents put this ball in there.”

There’d be no balls saved from this game by the Raiders.

After all their earlier problems, they saved still one more for the end.

On the move once again with a little over two minutes to play, the Raiders appeared to have come within 7 points of the Dolphins when Chris Bahr kicked a 50-yard field goal.

But a mixup in signals had left just 10 men on the field, only 6 instead of the required 7 on the line, and the kick was disallowed.

What’s wrong with the Raiders? Now you have an idea.

Raider Notes

Marcus Allen sat out the entire game because of a broken bone in his wrist, but he soon had plenty of company in the misery department. Defensive end Howie Long left before halftime with an injury to his right calf and never returned. Center Bill Lewis, attempting to come back from a sprained ankle, reinjured it. Also injured were linebacker Jerry Robinson (pulled back muscle), receiver Willie Gault (bruised shoulder), guard Bruce Wilkerson (tricep) and running back Vance Mueller (lacerated lip). The Raiders’ James Lofton led all receivers with 5 catches for 113 yards. Mervyn Fernandez had 3 for 55 yards. . . . The Raiders’ leading ballcarrier was Steve Smith with just 26 yards rushing. . . . The Dolphins’ Dan Marino continues to struggle, by his own standards. He completed just 14 of 36 for 175 yards and a touchdown with 1 interception. Mark Clayton was his leading receiver with 6 catches for 86 yards. Jim Jensen added 56 yards on 4 catches. . . . Sunday’s win broke a 10-year losing streak for the Dolphins against the Raiders, and it was the first time the Raiders had ever lost at home to Miami after 7 wins stretching back to the Oakland days. The Raiders still hold a 13-3-1 overall edge in the series.