Shanahan Refuses to Point Finger at Beuerlein : Raider Coach Will Stick With Rookie at Quarterback Despite Offensive Slump

Let’s see . . .

You’ve got two Heisman Trophy winners in the backfield, and perhaps the greatest collection of wide receivers anywhere, and a line that isn’t being overrun. The opposition is bringing eight men up, daring you to pass, and you’ve scored 1 touchdown in 14 quarters , so where does the search lead?

Quarterback Steve Beuerlein.

Not so fast, you budding offensive coordinators out there. Raider Coach Mike Shanahan, the official offensive coordinator, says he’s sticking with Steve.

He didn’t put any time period on it, however, so who knows what happens if Beuerlein looks overmatched again Monday night in (shudder) Seattle? The return of Jay Schroeder would be a good bet.

With this set of Raider quarterbacks, it always comes back to experience. Schroeder didn’t have any with this system. Beuerlein had worked a lot with this system, but had never been in a pro game.

But for now, Beuerlein is still 3-1 since reassuming the No. 1 job . . . and he has only had one dreadful game, and Shanahan says it wasn’t all his fault.

“Steve--any time you have 4-5 dropped balls in a game, it does put added pressure on a quarterback,” Shanahan said Monday.

“We’ve got to ask great players to make great plays. And that did not happen Sunday.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence in Steve. Steve didn’t play one of his best games, but at the same time, a quarterback just doesn’t lose a football game. There are a number of things involved, a number of different areas. What our club has to do is look at each other--starting with me--right down the ladder.”

At the same time, Beuerlein has hit an unmistakable hump. He went 2 for his last 10 at San Francisco, so he’s now 13 for his last 41. He had shown a good command of what they were doing until Sunday, when he burned 3 timeouts with incorrect formation calls--a fourth was burned when the play came in late, a fifth by the field-goal unit.

Opponents are now challenging him openly with 8-man fronts, and getting away with it.

That solves the mystery of why the Raider running game hasn’t broken out.

“They used an 8-man front at San Diego, where they challenged us to throw the football,” Shanahan said. “Then this week against Atlanta. If you’ve got teams in an 8-man front and you’re not effective throwing the football, then you’re going to be in for a long day.”

Beuerlein has shown great poise, if not polish, in his first season on an active roster but such struggles are standard for the gig. Bernie Kosar, headiest of the heady, had his, so everyone else is likely to, too.

“You forget, he’s a rookie,” Shanahan said. “This is his first year. He’s going to have those games where he doesn’t play as well as he expects to play. At the same time, you have to wipe those days away. You look at what you’ve done wrong, go back in the next one and fire away.”

Shanahan, in shock as much as everyone else, said the loss to the lowly Atlanta Falcons “eats at you.”

He added: “There’s only one of two things to do: you can dwell on it and feel sorry for yourself, or you can go ahead and improve. I know which direction this football team will go.”

North to Seattle.

After that, we’ll see.

This is a really tough race to lose ground in.

If you still have the stomach to think of such things after Sunday’s grisly exhibition, the Raiders are still in the best position of the three contenders.

Their 5-0 AFC West record will break any 2-way tie.

By losing at Kansas City, Seattle dropped its division record to 3-2. The Seahawks would have to win all their remaining division games--home and home with the Raiders, at home with Denver--to tie.

Denver has a 3-3 division record. The Broncos’ only escape from death by tiebreaker is to win in the Coliseum and the Kingdome.

Other games to watch in the near future, besides next Monday night’s Raiders at Seattle:

Nov. 27--Rams at Denver. A must for the Broncos.

Dec. 4--Denver at Raiders. A must for both teams.

Dec. 4--Seahawks at New England. If Seattle is to avoid death by tiebreaker, it needs a road win, but New England is running the kind of bruising ground game with rookie John Stephens that has been eating up the Seahawks.

Raider Notes

Did the Raiders let down? “Let me tell you one thing,” Marcus Allen said. “We were extremely flat during warmups.” . . . The Raider defense yielded its first touchdown in 2 games, on that 12-yard drive after Steve Beuerlein’s fumble, and it wasn’t as overpowering as in the San Francisco 49ers game, allowing 130 yards rushing. Mike Shanahan praised Russell Carter, whose hits forced 2 fumbles, and Bill Pickel and Matt Millen, whom he said had their best games of the season.