L.A. Teams Have Shots at Division Titles : Raiders Just Need to Beat Seattle

In the race you almost couldn’t fall out of, the last contender drops today as the Raiders and the Seattle Seahawks, also known as the Fortunate .500, meet for the title of the AFC West, a k a the Western .500.

Get the theme here?

The Raiders (7-8) need only to tie for the lead at 8-8. They would then have split their season series with the Seahawks, the first tiebreaker, and would go to the second, division record, which they would win, 7-1 to 5-3.

The Seahawks (8-7), however, need only a victory--or a tie--in today’s game for their first division title.

It’s a game with more possibilities than who gets to salvage some respectability. This one is lose-at-your-own peril, because the winds of change howl around both organizations.

The Seahawks have a new owner, dreaming of a vibrant, new direction . . . and seemingly some new personnel to implement it.

The Raiders have their old owner, dreaming of a vibrant, new rebirth . . . and wondering why he’s being kept waiting.

The new man in Seattle is Ken Behring, who bought the club from the Nordstrom family for $99 million. The Nordstroms were exemplary: civic-minded, supportive and publicity-shy. Behring watches games from the sidelines, has opinions and likes to talk to reporters, such as 2 weeks ago when he conducted a tour of his Danville, Calif., home for a Seattle TV crew, and was asked about the Seahawks.

“I think we’re in the entertainment business,” said Behring, who until recently had only been in the real estate development business.

“And I want the direction of our team to be a more open, a more aggressive, a more taking chances because, looking back, I believe the teams that went the whole way really were really out there playing to win.”

He believes?

If you’re picky about credentials, Behring’s football experience consists of having played in high school and been a fan since.

And what about his coach, Chuck Knox, whose conservative ways raised the Seahawks from also-rans to contenders?

What Behring was describing, the TV interviewer asked, didn’t sound like Ground Chuck, did it?

“It’s probably not,” Behring said. “But I think indirectly Chuck has been hearing what I’ve been saying. And I think last week (a 27-24 victory over the Houston Oilers), we were a pretty exciting team.”

The taciturn Knox has grown even more taciturn, saying only that he expects to stay. However, Knox knows he can expect a tender from his old friend, Detroit Lions owner William Clay Ford, so there’s a limit to what he has to put up with.

If he leaves, the speculation goes, wouldn’t Behring start thinking of an old acquaintance he met through John Madden--Tom Flores?

But maybe this is just reading too much into an inexperienced owner’s indiscreet declaration.

Nope.

Other Seahawks are teetering, too. General Manager Mike McCormack, respected throughout the league, is thought to be preparing his resignation. A couple of weeks ago, Behring flew Miami athletic director Sam Jankovich to his corporate offices for an interview.

Worse, in the middle of a stretch drive, however modest, the Seahawk players are aware of the machinations going on above their heads.

Said tight end John Spagnola after last week’s rout of the Denver Broncos:

“It seems like there’s a neutron bomb hanging over this team right now. The buildings remain intact but who knows what else will stay?”

Who knows, indeed?

If the Raiders are going to play a good game this season, they’d better get a move on, because today’s is the last on the regular schedule, and the loser is out of wild-card consideration.

To date, they’ve played one very good defensive game against a quality opponent--at San Francisco.

And offensively?

“I’m not sure we’ve had one,” Raider Coach Mike Shanahan said. “I’m not sure we’ve had one where you can look back and say, ‘This is the type of game we can be proud of.’ ”

If Shanahan seems to deserve at least a passing grade in his rookie season, with the chance of earning a gold star today, he probably failed to live up to his own hopes, not to mention Al Davis’.

It is hard to determine what Davis’ grumbling means. A likely answer is that this has been only a mild extension of the trial-by-fire environment he creates for all his coaches, engendered by Shanahan’s insistence on calling his own game. If Flores, who was more Davis’ philosophical pupil, had to listen to a harangue here and there, why not the new guy?

On the other hand, likely is not a word to be thrown around in discussing Al Davis.

And what of Davis’ threat to fire two defensive assistants on the spot early in the season? Has that been forgotten?

Let’s put it this way: a Raider victory today might lessen the traffic headed for LAX.

Raider Notes

The Raiders are 3-point favorites. . . . The Seahawks need to run, and the Raiders need to stop them. Which will happen? In the last 3 games, Seattle’s totals have been 247-20-230, and the Seahawks have gone 2-1. Meanwhile, the Raiders allowed 247-50-255 and went 1-2. . . . When the Raiders have the ball: They haven’t run for 150 yards in 4 games. The Seahawks’ 4.5-yards-a-rush yield is second worst in the league. . . . Howie Long, who was hoping for a miracle recovery, is doubtful. Tight end Todd Christensen has been reactivated, though his importance in the new scheme is a fraction of what it was. Christensen’s receptions for the last 3 seasons, including this one: 95-47-11. . . . What home-field advantage? Seattle has won 2 of 5 regular-season meetings in the Coliseum under Coach Chuck Knox. Seattle is 3-4 on the road, 3-2 on grass. Raiders are 3-4 at home. The Seahawks, an expansion team in 1976, actually lead the series, 12-11.

Despite the 247 rushing yards the Seahawks hit them with in the Kingdome, the Raiders are confident. Said a veteran: “They’ll never do that here.” . . . However: the Seattle running game which could once be depended on to die as soon as it hit grass, has averaged 146 yards a game this season on natural turf. Has the emergence of fullback John L. Williams, and the fact that he and Curt Warner block so well for each other, raised their game? Warner has rushed for 1,004 yards and a 3.9 average, Williams for 818 and a 4.7. . . . It’s the biggest Raider game for Jay Schroeder, who excelled in them as a Redskin. He was 27-8 as Washington’s starter, led a playoff upset of the Bears in Chicago in ‘86, and rallied the Redskins from fourth-quarter deficits to victory 9 times in 35 starts. . . . This is more amazing considering Schroeder’s experience before taking over for Joe Theismann, who had just had his leg broken by Lawrence Taylor in that Monday night game in ’85. Schroeder had one college start at UCLA, against Oregon State, in the Japan Bowl. “How can you think of yourself as a big-game player,” he said, laughing, “when you’d never played in one?” . . . And now? “I don’t think you can act like it’s not a big game. I think it’s fun. It’s a chance to prove yourself. If you can crank it up another notch or two, that’s what separates football players from good football players.”

If the Raiders win, they’ll become the second 8-8 team to win its division. Cleveland did it in 1985. . . . Does Knox hear Ken Behring? For all his conservatism, Knox has always believed in throwing long, but in the recent Raider game, he had Dave Krieg launching one bomb after another. Against the Broncos, Knox ordered a daring fourth-and-inches pass with seconds left in the half that became an easy touchdown for a 28-7 lead. . . . Pro franchise owners in the same city are usually ultra-polite to each other, but this was Behring on Mariner owner George Argyros: “ . . . I’m not sure he wants to win.” . . . Since Krieg returned from injury this season, the Seahawks are averaging 27 points a game. . . . They won’t have the Boz to kick around: Brian Bosworth is on injured reserve and has missed the entire Seahawk surge.