Raiders’ Touch for Touchdowns Is Gone : Lowly Falcons Are Good Enough to Gain 12-6 Win

You make the call:

Quick, Raider fans, what’s it called when a player carries the ball over that last chalk line?

a) Touchdown.

b) First down.

c) Bringdown.

Aw, you guys are too good. It’s a) Touchdown. The Raiders haven’t scored any in two games so Sunday they suffered a massive c) Bringdown, right in the middle of what was supposed to be their triumphant return to sole possession of first place.

That’s right. They accomplished something thought to be impossible Sunday, losing to the lowly, no-more-impressive-than-usual Atlanta Falcons, 12-6, to remain in their three-way comatose waltz atop the AFC West.

You want to know what happened to 3 weeks of good feeling?

The ultra-diplomatic Mike Shanahan called it “one of the worst football exhibitions I’ve ever been associated with offensively.”

Steve Beuerlein (11 for 31, an interception, 3 sacks) said he’d been lost out there.

“Without sounding like a martyr,” said Beuerlein, a champion at owning-up. “I think I deserve a lot of the blame.”

His teammates fled the premises before anyone thought of making them stay and watch the film.

Nobody, but nobody said, “Hey, we’re still tied for first place.” It was that bad.

For perspective, that Falcon defense was the 27th worst in the league (there are only 28 teams) and had not held a team under 100 yards rushing all season.

They held the Raiders to 65.

Shanahan said it was because they put eight players on the line.

Beuerlein said he knew why, too.

“They’ve been doing that each week,” Beuerlein said. “They’re saying, ‘We’re going to stick eight men on the line until you can hurt us with the passing game.’

“I think it’s a direct reflection on me.”

So much for his honeymoon. Beuerlein didn’t hide for a minute, coming straight out to face the press and forthrightly ripping himself until the locker room was almost empty.

Are his woes to be regarded as surprising? Beuerlein has outstripped a lot of expectations in his first season, but if John Elway, Bernie Kosar and every other rookie quarterback in two decades except Dan Marino floundered, why not him?

“I really didn’t have a grasp, once the game got going,” Beuerlein said. “And I don’t what to attribute it to (anything).”

Try inexperience, it’s as good a place to start as any.

“They disguise their defenses very good,” Mervyn Fernandez said. “I think they confused Steve a little.”

You think the Falcon coach, old Marion Campbell, a.k.a. Swamp Fox, a veteran defensive coordinator, hasn’t been turning rookies’ heads around since Beuerlein was at Anaheim’s Servite High?

With the Raiders going nowhere, and the Falcons going nowhere either, this game was what you might call . . . real dull.

To dispense with a lot of game action, we’ll just note that Marcus Allen lost a fumble at the goal line for the second straight week in the second period . . . and the Falcons built a 6-0 lead by the third . . . and the Raiders tied it, 6-6, in the fourth.

And then, when Raider fans thought victory was unavoidable--the Falcons had a plane to catch, didn’t they?--Beuerlein was sacked for a 17-yard loss by Aundray Bruce, fumbled the ball backward another 11 yards and saw Bruce fall on it at the Raider 11.

Four plays later, John Settle plunged that magic yard for the first touchdown anyone had scored in a Raider game in two weeks. How much do those things count again?

To underline the point, Atlanta’s Greg Davis missed the extra point try, pulling his kick left, giving the Raiders a chance to win. . . .

Which they never came close to.

Tim Brown, whose returns gave him an vehicle with which to duel with Chris Bahr for the title of Raider Mr. Offense, returned the kickoff 33 yards to the Raider 42. The drive died at the Raider 45.

The Raiders then were unable to call timeout as the Falcons ran out the clock, because they’d already used all their timeouts trying to line up correctly.

“They’re looking to you and I’m sure they could see in the huddle that I didn’t have it together,” said Beuerlein, sparing himself nothing.

“On that last play, we came up to the huddle. There was a little confusion. I put us in the wrong formation. Timmy (Brown) figured it out and he went over to where he was supposed to be.

“As I dropped back, I just wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be looking for and I held the ball too long. There’s no excuse for it. It just happened and I’ve got to figure it out.

“That’s something I prided myself on, knowing what was going on, putting us in the right formation, making the right reads.

“It’s embarrassing. We got beat by a team we should have beaten. . . . That (failing to break the first-place tie) just rubs salt in the wound. We had a golden opportunity. We were sitting right where we wanted to sit and we knew we had to have this game. It hurts.

“I’m going to lose a lot of sleep this week thinking about it. But now you’ve got to see what you’re made of. That’s what this business is about. Otherwise you won’t be around a long time.”

Of course, there’s always the possibility Shanahan will bring Jay Schroeder back.

Shanahan said he hadn’t thought about it.

Beuerlein said he couldn’t worry about it.

One way or another, the Raiders are going to get their quarterbacks some experience this season, not to mention some experiences.

Raider Notes

The Falcons said they’d put in a new defense called “Waco-30,” with an extra inside linebacker, the ends set wider and the safeties playing up, too. Privately, they said they wanted to make Steve Beuerlein beat them. . . . Marcus Allen, playing the last six games with his broken left wrist, had lost two fumbles all season before fumbling at the 1 in San Francisco, and the 2 Sunday. Said Allen: “The guy (Atlanta cornerback Scott Case, who knocked the ball loose with a diving tackle) just made a great play. I’m not going to make excuses but it’s tough running left and holding the ball in your right hand. I’m sick and tired of this cast but I have to play with it.” . . . Seems like old times: ex-Raider Jessie Hester caught three passes, some of them difficult, then dropped one in the end zone after getting behind Ron Fellows. . . . Bo Jackson’s 25 yards in 9 carries was his career low.