Shanahan Standing on Firing Line, Taking All the Shots

It used to be that no one knew anything about Raider Coach Mike Shanahan, but that was in the good old days.

Now everyone knows one thing: Shanahan has a chance to become the poster boy for unemployment benefits.

Speculation about his prospects of being fired, about Al Davis’ impatience, about Davis calling the shots is everywhere. Network reporters, among them Davis confidants, seem to measure Shanahan’s future in hours. TV directors fasten their cameras on him for reaction shots in hard times-- “Get him while he’s here!” --to see if he’s squirming on the griddle.

Not yet, he isn’t.

Shanahan may have more gray hair at 37 then he had at 36, but his poise remains intact. He doesn’t bristle, get defensive or shut down.

“I’ve got a job to do,” he said Monday. “I guess when you come in here, you’ve always got a belief in yourself, in your players and the people around you. I believe we’re headed in the right direction.

“Right now, we’ve had some unfortunate things happen to us, a few key injuries, a couple of situations in games that we lost but we had an opportunity to win (the Raiders have out-gained both teams that beat them).

“My job is to get this program, this organization to where everybody will be proud and that’s what I intend to do. I haven’t been putting in 18 hours a day for the last year-and-a-half to listen to rumors or whatever may exist about my future.”

And the reports that Davis is bombarding him with, um, advice?

“I have never heard Al Davis on the headset since I’ve been here and I’ve got the headset on all the time. I’ve never heard Al Davis on the headset offensively or defensively since I’ve been here.”

This is not to say that Davis hasn’t been heard off the headset by someone else.

After the loss in Kansas City, Davis was overheard in the dressing room asking several players why they hadn’t thrown long to his favorite, Willie Gault, more often. During that game, he reportedly fumed in the coaches’ box about the failure to call a timeout before the first-half two-minute warning.

However, this isn’t exactly unprecedented for the Raiders, where it is known as Davis’ “hands-on” direction.

Raider insiders say this is standard fare after losses and too much can be made of it, since it happened to Tom Flores, who lasted nine seasons, and, according to one official, “to every coach Al has had since John Rauch.”

Raider insiders talk of Davis loudly dressing down Flores in front of his assistants in the dressing room after losses; of Davis sending a note to Flores at halftime of the Dallas game in 1986, ordering the switch from Marc Wilson to Jim Plunkett. In Minneapolis in 1987, a Raider official in the press box was overheard telephoning a Raider assistant coach, “Mr. Davis wants a new quarterback,” prompting the final benching of Rusty Hilger and the insertion of Wilson.

In fact, Davis has tried, in his way, to give Shanahan a free hand. In practice, this has meant that Davis has switched his focus to the defense, which Shanahan doesn’t coach. Of course, Davis also advertised his doubts about Shanahan widely around the league, which is one reason Shanahan’s standing is seen as so shaky now.

“A lot of people have asked me about it,” Shanahan said. “It just makes me more determined to get the job done.

“I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve never been in this situation before. If you’ve got any competitive spirit in your body, it just eats at you.

“You’re in a situation where things aren’t going perfect and everybody questions you. At the same time, you’ve got some strong beliefs because you’ve been with (coaches who had) a lot of wins along the way. You believe you’re doing the right thing and you’re going to get the job done. Even though some people are doubting you, it makes it that much more special when you do get it done.

“People are saying, ‘You’re 1-2, the season’s over.’ I don’t think that way. We’ve still got an excellent shot to be a heck of a football team. The main thing is to have our players believe it. It really doesn’t matter what circulates on the outside, as long as we’re strong within. If you do that, you’ve got a chance to accomplish some things that most people don’t think possible.

“The main thing is to win. If you don’t win, nothing else really matters.”

And if the Raiders don’t win this week . . .

They’re rated a two-point favorite over the Seattle Seahawks, but if they lose, they will be 1-3, heading to New York to play the Jets. After a home game against the Kansas City Chiefs, they embark on this phase of their schedule: at Philadelphia, Redskins, Bengals, at San Diego, at Houston. It would be wise not to test Mr. Davis’ patience by going in with a losing record.

Raider Notes

Mike Shanahan called the Raider defense after the first quarter in Denver “the best we’ve played this season.” The Broncos gained 126 of their 283 yards in that period and 76 of their 170 rushing yards. The Raider defense forced two turnovers for touchdowns.

Shanahan praised linebacker Linden King and strong safety Mike Harden, leading to speculation that both will start next week, King supplanting Emanuel King and Harden taking over for Zeph Lee. Of course, if Linden King starts, it will mean the club has gone full circle at outside linebacker: from Linden King to Otis Wilson to Emanuel King to Linden King.

Shanahan says Willie Gault didn’t play much in the second half because of a tight hamstring, but he expects him to be available Sunday. He hopes to have Don Mosebar and Steve Wisniewski back, doesn’t know about Howie Long and Jerry Robinson.