Raider Defense Is Pushed Aside by Chiefs, 24-19

Raiders aren’t famous for their manners , but this is a new day, so when their defensive front was overrun--again--and Mike Shanahan had to publicly concede that fact--again--there was a gracious attempt to make it a team effort.

Shanahan, who doesn’t coach the defense, mentioned it almost offhandedly in a list of other problems.

Jay Schroeder tried to assume responsibility.

Vann McElroy allowed that there seemed to be a problem up front but he couldn’t tell why and would have to check the films.

Here is what’s happening:

The Raiders, having been blown off the ball all exhibition season, are still going down like wheat. The Chiefs rolled up another 152 yards rushing on them Sunday and ran off with the game the Raiders needed for an early-season breakout, 24-19, at Arrowhead Stadium.

Afterward, Shanahan ran down a list of errors and then threw in this:

“Defensively, they controlled the line of scrimmage. They pushed us up and down the field. They controlled the ball.”

This came as a surprise only to people who have been out of the country. The Raiders gave up 178 rushing yards a game and 4.8 a carry in the exhibition season. They gave up 171 to the Chargers last week, and neither the Chargers nor the Chiefs has led the league in rushing lately. This was the second time in three weeks Shanahan had been obliged to say that his defensive front was dominated, an admission that John Madden and Tom Flores didn’t have to make that often in 19 years.

So what can the Raiders do about it?

“Well, that’s a good question,” Shanahan said.

OK boys and girls, can you spell Matt Millen?

Pro Bowl linebacker a year ago? 260-pounder? Famed for stepping up into the guard hole? Cut by the Raiders, signed by the 49ers?

Who wants to take credit for that one today?

Of course, three key players--Howie Long, Scott Davis and Jerry Robinson--have been set back by injury, with only Long seeing any action. And there’s a new defensive coordinator, Dave Adolph, with a new scheme. And Sunday only one player in the seven-man front--Mike Wise--was starting in the same spot that he ended in last season.

Unable to control even the modest Chief offense, the Raiders wasted a great start by what looks like a promising offense.

Schroeder, who directed a 79-yard touchdown drive before being driven out with a separated shoulder in the opener, returned Sunday to lead two touchdown drives and a third for a field goal in the Raiders’ first three possessions.

By halftime, Schroeder’s 1989 line read: 12 for 16, 228 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions.

By halftime, however, the Raiders were also down, 17-16.

For every terrific thing the Raider offense did, the Raider defense allowed a Kansas City answer.

Schroeder throws a 25-yard touchdown pass to Mervyn Fernandez?

Steve DeBerg combines on a 49-yard scoring play with tight end Chris Dressel. This comes after successive runs of seven, six, nine and nine yards, so when DeBerg fakes a handoff, the Raider front bites like a starving guppy. Dressel crosses the field almost unnoticed by the linebackers, catches the ball, gets an escort and runs through Zeph Lee at the goal line.

Schroeder throws a three-yard touchdown pass to Trey Junkin?

The Chiefs march 80 yards in the dying seconds of the half . . . with a little help from the Raiders, who let DeBerg pull them offsides on fourth-and-one at his own 29-yard line with a vintage John Elway head snap. The Chiefs go the rest of the way on their own, however.

The Raiders started the second half the same way.

On offense:

Schroeder led a drive to the Kansas City 23 and Jaeger kicked a 40-yard field goal for a 19-17 lead.

And defense:

After Jaeger’s kick, there was 25:03 left in the game . . . and the Chiefs had the ball for 18:13 of it.

The damage was done midway through the fourth quarter on an 87-yard drive, kept alive by four Raider penalties, including two pass interferences worth 50 yards charged to the bright young cornerback, Terry McDaniel. McDaniel argued the second call but said later, “It could have gone either way.”

At the end of the drive, the Chiefs had a third-and-three at the Raider three, which is usually a passing situation . . . and dared to run Herman Heard straight ahead.

Heard got the three.

Two plays later, the mighty Christian Okoye bulled a couple of little Raider defensive backs--to the 254-pound Okoye, all defensive backs are as nothing--and blasted the final yard into the end zone.

Schroeder, who had thrown an interception preceding the Chiefs’ winning march, later took it all on himself.

“The ball that was intercepted was a screen play to the right, believe it or not,” Schroeder said. “I got a little wild hair and tried to throw the ball down the field. I don’t think I’ll try that again.

“We needed some points and I knew that. That’s what I told the team in the huddle: ‘Some way, somehow we’ve got to come out with some points.’ And then to turn around a couple of plays later and do that, there’s no excuse for that. There’s nowhere else to look. I’m the guy.”

Schroeder also cheerily did a number on himself for overthrowing Willie Gault in the first half (“Willie was about 10 yards ahead of everybody. . . . I got all pumped up and just launched it. As soon as I threw it, I said, ‘I don’t care who he is, he isn’t catching this one.’ ”) If Schroeder made a mistake or two or three, this was still a sharp outing for him, one of his best as a Raider.

After the Chiefs went ahead, Schroeder had a final shot and threatened to do something with it, connecting with Fernandez for 19 yards and Mike Dyal for 10, and marching the Raiders to a first down at the Chiefs’ 44. There, he was sacked on successive downs on a couple of greyhound rushes by the hot rookie linebacker, Derrick Thomas.

The Chiefs got the ball back with 3:37 left, needing to run out as much of it as they could.

They ran all 3:37 out.

Okoye had gains of six, five, four and 10 yards before DeBerg went to his knee three times.

The Raiders had better study the position. Unless they starting shutting someone down, they’re going to be assuming it, themselves.

Raider Notes

The Raider offensive line was without center Don Mosebar (sore knee, although it was not mentioned in the injury report), and lost guard Steve Wisniewski (sprained ankle, X-rays negative), but played well. . . . Jay Schroeder’s separated left shoulder twinged again when Derrick Thomas dropped him at the end of the game. “It’s sore now and we’ll see how it comes back,” Schroeder said. . . . Fullback Steve Smith missed the last Raider series after taking a shot to the ribs. He was to have X-rays after the team returns home. . . . Trey Junkin’s reception was his 11th lifetime; the touchdown was his fourth. . . . Vann McElroy’s interception was his 31st, putting him in third place in team history behind Lester Hayes and Willie Brown, tied at 39. . . . No injury report here would be complete without a mention of Bo Jackson. Kansas City writers say Jackson has stopped trying to steal bases and isn’t running out ground balls. They suspect that his hamstring pull is still bothering him.