Raiders Fade Out; Rams Zoom In, 38-16 : Seahawks Hold Off Comeback to Win, 43-37

Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, Raiders to their living rooms. . . .

Fate delivered this playoff berth to them as if it were room service, on a silver platter, like a roast pig with an apple in its mouth.

Fate whispered seductively, “All you must do is beat those renown homers, the Broncos and Seahawks, in the Coliseum. Lose, if you must, to the Falcons, stink up the Kingdome, fall face down in Buffalo, but only win this last game . . . “

Fate didn’t know how much she was asking.

The Raiders came up with a last debacle Sunday, allowing Dave Krieg 400 passing yards within three quarters . Jay Schroeder played catch up spectacularly but came up one bomb short and the Raiders lost, 43-37, to the Seahawks.

So it’s see you later for the silver and black, which lost four of its last five games and misses the playoffs for the third straight season.

“As I mentioned back in training camp, I’m not at an age where I really want to start to rebuild,” said Todd Christensen, back from injured reserve for a last four-catches-on-a-late-drive hurrah.

“But evidently I have no choice but to view 1988 as a rebuilding year.”

Evidently. When this team goes down the tubes, it doesn’t believe in half-measures.

This is what the defense has done, after carrying the club to a 6-5 record with its performance at San Francisco, after which there was much talk about the young lions on the line:

--Allowed 130 yards rushing in a loss to the hapless Atlanta Falcons, who were coming off a home loss to the San Diego Chargers.

--Allowed 247 rushing yards and 5 Krieg touchdown passes in a loss at Seattle.

--Helped build a 21-0 lead over Denver on Greg Townsend’s touchdown interception return; held on as John Elway passed for 324 yards in a 21-20 win.

--Allowed 255 rushing yards in a wipeout at Buffalo.

And then came Sunday, when they gave up a fast 490 in the crunch.

The Raiders even got the early momentum. They threw one blitz at Krieg on his first possession, Jerry Robinson came steaming through, and Krieg dropped the ball out of his small right hand. Bill Pickel fell on it at the Seattle 6-yard line, the Raiders took it in for a 7-0 lead and the scribes of the Pacific Northwest prepared their little-tyke-disintegrates-again stories.

And the Seahawks, obviously, shellshocked beyond hope, marched 82 yards to a tying score, in 5 little plays.

You sensed the Raiders were in trouble when on the second play, Krieg threw a little swing pass to his big fullback, John L. Williams, who was as free as D.B. Cooper. Williams had to run 20 yards downfield to find someone to run over. That was safety Vann McElroy. John L. steamed another 16 yards with Ron Fellows on his back before settling for a 36-yard gain.

Three plays after that, Steve Largent turned Mike Haynes around like a top--Haynes thought he had help deep, but he was wrong--and caught Krieg’s 35-yard scoring pass.

After that, it was a fireworks show.

The Seahawks ran it up to 14-7, the touchdown on a 17-yard pass to Brian Blades, one of the two he caught for touchdowns with Fellows covering.

Schroeder threw an awesome, 60-yards-plus-in-the-air, 51-official-yard touchdown pass to Willie Gault, the third pass Gault had caught since the first month of the season.

“I was just supposed to be clearing it out for Mervyn (Fernandez) underneath,” Gault said. “But Jay told me to be alert.

“I saw the ball in the air, and I said, “Thank you, God.’ ”

The Seahawks took a 23-17 lead by the half.

Krieg threw his second touchdown pass to Blades, a 30-yarder, midway through the third period, making it 30-17.

The Raiders cut it to 30-20 on a Chris Bahr field goal, all they got after recovering punt returner Bobby Joe Edmonds’ fumble at the Seattle 16.

On the very next play from scrimmage, Krieg rolled right, threw a screen pass back to his left to John L. . . . who took it 75 yards right down the middle of the field, into the end zone.

Seattle led, 37-20.

Did that deflate the Raiders?

“Well,” said McElroy, managing a tiny grin, “it didn’t exactly pick everybody up.

“It was that ‘32’ (calling Williams by his uniform number, the highest compliment players give). He really broke our backs.

“After our last game in Seattle, after Dave threw those five TD passes, I thought our secondary guys would respond well. We weren’t happy with what had happened, the guys were gonna get after it.

“And then they start doing some things, getting the ball to ’32.’ And then when everybody comes up to stop that, they throw the other stuff.”

The Raiders cut it to 37-27 with a 59-yard drive, ending on Schroeder’s fourth-down, 4-yard swing pass to Steve Smith.

And again, on the very next play from scrimmage, the Seahawks struck. This time it was a handoff to Curt Warner, who pitched it back to Krieg, who hit a wide-open Blades for 55 yards, Fellows having taken the bait hook, line and in all probability, his starting position.

Schroeder then threw another awesome launch, a 54-yarder--63 in the air--to Mervyn Fernandez in the end zone.

Schroeder kept rallying the Raiders, cutting it finally to 43-37 on Bahr’s 24-yard field goal with 2:21 left.

Now if the Raiders could just stop ‘em.

The Raiders knew they were going to run, right? The Seahawks punched it in there twice . . . for 13 yards and a first down. The second rush was an 8-yarder by someone named Kevin Harmon, Warner having left the game with a bad ankle.

Then the Raiders held. Seattle punted with 1:16 left.

Schroeder took over at his 33, got the Raiders to the Seahawk 45, threw 4 last incompletions, the last a prayer toward Fernandez surrounded by 7 Seattle defenders in the end zone which was batted away, and there’s another season for you.

“We fought our butts off,” said Schroeder later. “We’re down to our last play out there and everybody thinks we can still do it. If you have that kind of atmosphere, it’s a good thing for the future.”

All the Raiders are left with is their future, but who knows what lies ahead?

Mike Shanahan probably isn’t in real trouble, but there has been speculation about what Al Davis’ season-long dissatisfaction with the defensive assistants and coordinator Charlie Sumner will mean.

Will Bo Jackson deign to return?

The aftermaths of losing seasons aren’t marked by serenity in silver and blackdom, which now trembles before its master’s displeasure.

Raider Notes

Todd Christensen: “For once, finally, I don’t think the owner’s going to have to sit at home and wonder about the quarterback situation anymore. (Jay) Schroeder not only played well the last three games, but he really took charge in this game. He called his own plays a few times and made some big plays, not just throwing but running and making decisions.” . . . Howie Long saw spot duty after a 10-week absence with a calf injury, but said he was only at 60%. “The first step wasn’t bad,” Long said, “but as soon as I put the other one down and got into a guy, I faded.” . . . Greg Townsend had 2 sacks, finishing the season with 10 1/2. Mike Wise, the young defensive end who had 6 1/2 by the San Francisco game, never got another. . . . Mike Shanahan said the Raider special teams played their poorest game of the season at Buffalo, but they were worse Sunday. Said Shanahan: “Our special teams didn’t do the job.”