Raiders Trail Big Early, Rally Bit Late : Broncos Roll to 28-0 Lead, This Time Hold On for 31-21 Victory

Having pulled off professional football’s third-biggest rally in their last appearance, the Raiders arrived in Mile High Stadium Sunday apparently intent on breaking the record.

They put on an amazing comedy of errors--try two fumbled snaps, three interceptions, three consecutive holding penalties on tackle Rory Graves and a 12-men-on-the-field penalty against the defense--and fell behind, 28-0, but it was all for naught. This year’s rally got them only to within 28-21.

The Denver Broncos held on to exorcise the ghosts of last year’s game and won, 31-21.

“They just got that 21-point lead on us,” Greg Townsend said. “Twenty-four? Was it 28? I’ll get it right.”

It’s hard to count when the score is mounting so fast, but it’s getting to be an occupational hazard for the Raiders in Denver.

Last season, they fell behind, 24-0, and won in overtime, 30-27. It was Mike Shanahan’s first game back as a Raider, and Jay Schroeder’s first start.

Sunday, with the storm clouds of Al Davis’ displeasure gathering above Shanahan’s head, they came out convinced that they could throw on the young Bronco secondary and could reverse their fortunes on defense by attacking in waves.

What happened?

That fox, Dan Reeves, had his young secondary back off.

That greyhound, John Elway, ran away from the Raider rushers.

“They didn’t play very much man-to-man and that’s what we wanted to catch them in,” Mervyn Fernandez said. “When they played that three-deep zone, they dropped off, it seemed like 900 miles.”

On the first Raider possession, they marched smartly to the Bronco 45 . . . where Schroeder and center Dan Turk messed up the snap.

“I might have pulled away too quickly because the clock was down to one second,” Schroeder said. “I was trying to get the play off and he (Turk) was making line calls. The ball got on the ground and it got kicked forward.”

And a Bronco got on top of it.

Minutes later, Elway had his troops third and eight at the Raider 29. He dropped back. The rush came after him. He glided forward.

“Oh geez,” Al Davis moaned in the pressbox.

Townsend got his fingers on Elway’s shoulder pads but Elway ripped away, swooped upfield, got a good block at the five and dived into the end zone.

The rest of the half went like this:

Turk’s shotgun snap to Schroeder goes wide. Broncos recover at the Raider 16. Three running plays make it 14-0.

The Broncos start their third possession at their 47. Sammy Winder runs for seven. Elway hits Mark Jackson on a deep post behind Lionel Washington for the last 46 and a 21-0 lead.

Schroeder gets crunched by linebacker Simon Fletcher and fumbles the ball away at the Denver 45. Six plays later, Elway beats another Raider rush, tearing away from Mike Wise who spins him around, throwing back across his body to Jackson, who is running away from him in the end zone and it’s 28-0.

What’s a poor Raider to do?

“A lot of the guys on this team aren’t from here,” Greg Townsend said. “One thing we mentioned at halftime was, we’ve been here before. We did show some character out there. We made it a game. I’m thankful for that. We did make some progress. I don’t think we gave as much on the run as we had been.”

They did, actually, but the defense made some plays, too.

On the first Denver possession of the second half, Elway threw a short pass right to Washington, the Raider cornerback who was rolling up into a zone and caught the Bronco quarterback by surprise. Washington caught the ball at the Bronco 22 and returned it down the sideline, cut inside Elway at the five and scored.

On the second Raider possession of the fourth period, they caught Denver in something called “cover eight” and sprung Mervyn Fernandez open down the left sideline. Schroeder hit him at the Denver 34 and Fernandez outran the pursuit, completing a 75-yard scoring play.

“Cover eight is a cornerback up, a safety back,” Fernandez said. “The cornerback bumps you, the safety picks you up. But they play their safeties so far inside, we knew we could hit them on the sideline.”

On the next Denver series, they forced the Broncos into a third-and-eight, launched a safety blitz, and saw Townsend, Elway’s personal nemesis, arrive with a vengeance in Elway’s face. In 1985, Townsend turned the game here with a sack of Elway that forced a fumble in overtime and set up the winning field goal. Last season, Townsend turned the Coliseum meeting with an interception that he ran back for a touchdown. This time, he forced a fumble that Linden King, just six days out of retirement, picked up at the Denver 15 and returned it for his first pro touchdown.

That made the score 28-21.

The Raiders had already lost one threat when their late-third-period drive reached the Denver 12, and went into reverse on Graves’ three holds. Graves was a pleasant surprise at right tackle last season but his switch to the left side, where he doesn’t have the tight end’s help and is more exposed, has been a problem for him.

They got one chance to tie the game, taking over at their 37 with 4:13 left. At third and five, Schroeder went back to pass and buzzed a short pass over the line to a receiver hooking up. Instead, he hit rookie safety Steve Atwater, who was no more than 10 feet away, guarding Marcus Allen and hidden from Schroeder. Atwater leaped into the air and speared the pass.

The Broncos took over at the Raider 36, ground it out to the 21, ran the Raiders out of timeouts, and set up David Treadwell for a 38-yard field goal that made it 31-21.

The Raiders took what consolation was possible in their comeback and their character but character isn’t enough. They’re 1-2, already two games behind the Broncos (3-0). For the third straight game, they gave up more than 150 yards rushing (the Broncos got 170), so their main problem is unsolved. Either they dam it up soon or they’re going to get a lot of practice rallying.

OFF AND RUNNING; Denver’s John Elway is scrambling again. Chris Baker’s story, Page 10.