PRO FOOTBALL / WEEK 3 : Raiders Face the Mile High Broncos : Denver Is Coming Off a Big Victory Over Tough Bills

Just when you were sure the American Football Conference West (Worst? Wurst?) was worse still, when 8-8 seemed certain to win the division title going away, a powerhouse has emerged and it’s the . . .

Denver Broncos?

The team that hadn’t won a non-strike game on artificial turf since 1986? That was humiliated in seven straight national TV games, including Super Bowl XXII’s 42-10 rout by the Washington Redskins?

Not the namby-pambies who used to play that cute, bend-but-don’t-break defense and got bent over double last season, finishing No. 25 against the run?

Who had that little toy offensive line, who ran the ball just enough to let John Elway catch his breath and were No. 19 in rushing yardage?

Who needed 17 points off turnovers to get past the Kansas City Chiefs in their home opener?

Who didn’t have more than six players who would be able to start if they played for the Buffalo Bills, according to ABC’s Dan Dierdorf?

No, it’s not exactly that team. It’s the new Broncos, the team that arose last Monday night in Buffalo, on artificial turf, and smote their hosts, 28-14, out-rushing the Bills (Remember them? Great defense? Rock-ribbed running game?), 201 yards to 94.

Several explanations are possible:

It was a mirage.

It was a fluke.

The Bills were too busy yawning and watching Bruce Smith’s airplane imitations to crank it up.

The Broncos are vastly improved.

If it’s the last, then the rest of the division is in trouble, starting with the Raiders, who are already in trouble and are here today too.

What happened?

The Broncos fired their old genius, defensive coordinator Joe Collier and brought in Wade Phillips, Bum’s son and Buddy Ryan’s top lieutenant in Philadelphia, where he studied the art of the human-wave assault as applied to football. They also found a top line coach--former Raider Earl Leggett, the father of the Howie Long-Sean Jones-Bill Pickel-Greg Townsend nucleus, who finally tired of having directions phoned down from you-know-whom.

They drafted a 6-foot-3, 217-pound free safety, Steve Atwater, to go with all-pro Dennis Smith and set both of them near the line. They stopped stunting every which way and just told everyone to go play. Surprise, it’s working.

They phased in bigger offensive linemen, like 305-pound Gerald Perry, and added two backs: 232-pound Jeff Alexander and Bobby Humphrey, the almost-Heisman Trophy candidate from Alabama, whose foot fractures looked enough like Keith Byars’ to persuade 16 teams to pass on him in the supplemental draft. Alexander is an ace blocker and a respectable runner and receiver.

Humphrey? He just appears to be the best runner the franchise has had since Otis Armstrong. At Buffalo, he had 76 yards in 10 carries.

Of course, two games do not a powerhouse make, so here come the Raiders and Week 3.

Well, it’s not a good time for the Raiders.

Their promising offense will likely be without center Don Mosebar and right guard Steve Wisniewski. Fullback Steve Smith has sore ribs and Marcus Allen already has a sprained ankle serious enough to get him on the injury report, although, as always, he will play.

Given a running game, the Raiders have been something, even without Tim Brown. Steve Beuerlein and Jay Schroeder currently have quarterback rankings of 128.2 and 126.9, respectively, which would put them 1-2 in all of football if they’d thrown enough passes to be listed.

But then there’s that defense.

It got smoked for 178 yards rushing per exhibition and then, to prove that was no fluke, mirage or bad dream, gave up 161.5 in two real games. Last week, the Raiders fell to a shaky Chief team with few attributes other than big linemen, a 255-pound running back and a desire to run straight ahead and mash people.

That inspired last week’s open call for linebackers, wherein many were tried and 34-year-old Linden King, last year’s starter who was waived in the first cut, was un-retired and re-signed.

A Raider official privately

acknowledges some miscalculations:

--Cutting Matt Millen. They didn’t figure on Jerry Robinson’s groin pull lasting six weeks, but it has and Robinson says it’s as bad now as it was in the beginning. Jackie Shipp has been tried, found wanting, and behind him, the cupboard is bare. Twice-waived Rickey Hunley was auditioned last week but told to keep traveling.

--Finding an outside linebacker. They hoped it would be Otis Wilson, but his knee wasn’t ready. They hoped it would be Emanuel King, but Linden King’s resurrection suggests their hopes are fading there, too.

Whoever the linebackers are, it will make no difference if the line can’t push back. Nose tackle Bob Golic is said to be doing fine and Bill Pickel to be holding his own, but Greg Townsend’s switch to rushing linebacker is going badly. Scott Davis returns today but Howie Long limps to the bench in his place. The Raiders need both their ends, but will have to make do and hope for more upsets.

Raider Notes

The Broncos are six-point favorites. . . . John Elway’s great scramble at Buffalo obscures the fact that he’s off to another slow start--two scoring passes, four interceptions, the second-worst quarterback rating in the AFC. The short passing game is off and there are problems with the receivers running the right routes, and Elway, still throws bullets when softer passes would be better. Last week, Vance Johnson bemoaned his declining relationship with Elway.

On the Raiders’ last appearance in Denver, they came from 24-0 behind on a Monday night and won, 27-24, a rally that ties for third biggest in league history. The Broncos haven’t gotten over it. “Everybody who was on the team remembers that game,” Elway said. . . . New cornerback Tyrone Braxton has two interceptions and a touchdown, but is considered a gambler who can be burned. Steve Atwater is a better tackler than pass defender, so with two new cornerbacks and a rookie safety, the Bronco secondary could have problems. . . . The Broncos placed wide receiver Ricky Nattiel on injured reserve because of a broken kneecap, sidelining him for at least six weeks.