Raiders Go With Bo’s Flow to Knock Off Chiefs, 20-14

Say his name and there’s music playing.

Vincent (Bo) Jackson.

Art Shell said they weren’t going to make him the focal point this week, but if there’s one thing Bo doesn’t know, it’s anonymity. While fans chanted his name, Jackson did one of his numbers Sunday at the Coliseum as the Raiders beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 20-14, and everything else--Shell’s hook of Jay Schroeder, the defense’s most impressive game--seemed to shrink in importance.

What else was there to talk about but Bo?

Like, after Shell inserted Steve Beuerlein in the third period, who starts next week?

“Bo may start at quarterback,” Shell said, laughing. “Bo knows everything so maybe Bo can start at quarterback.”

Responded Jackson: “You don’t get enough action from the quarterback position.”

His afternoon began modestly enough: 10 yards in seven carries in the first half, when he was telling himself not to try to do too much.

His second half was a little better:

A 19-yard bolt straight up the middle; a one-yard gain; 11 yards on a sweep; and for the piece de resistance, a reverse-his-field, outrun-half-the-roster burst of 45 yards in which be blew around All-Pro Deron Cherry as if he was bolted down.

“You feel sorry for the linemen when he does that,” Howie Long said, “but the guys you really feel for are the defensive back. The guy’s 230 and runs a 4.18 (40-yard dash). Pick a spot. Where are you going to grab on?”

In all, Jackson gained 85 yards in 11 carries, a 7.7 average . . . and then, with 10:07 left and his second career 100-yard game in sight, he was rested. He didn’t get another carry the rest of the game.

Was there a game Sunday before Bo busted loose?

Yes there was, but it was u-g-l-y.

It cost Schroeder his unbroken tenure as Raider quarterback since returning from his opening-day injury

Here are your high points in a capsule:

The Raider defense, No. 28 in a 28-team league against the rush until last week, was rocked by the Chiefs’ 57-yard touchdown drive on their opening possession, set up when Ron Jaworski faked magnificently to Christian Okoye on the first play, saw the entire defense follow Okoye around left end, and hit Pete Mandley 31 yards downfield.

After that, however, it was good night, Chiefs. Okoye, coming off a 95-yard game and three consecutive 100s, owner of a 4.7 average, was held to 52 yards and a 2.8.

The Raiders took a 10-7 lead at the half on Jeff Jaeger’s 18-yard field goal, and a late 80-yard touchdown drive, set up by two interference calls against Chiefs nickel back, Jayice Pearson. One gave the Raiders a first down after Schroeder threw incomplete on third and 17. The other on a third and six, gave the Raiders a first down at the Kansas City one-yard line. On the second, Pearson was ruled to have interfered with Mervyn Fernandez in the end zone, and replays suggested it was a bad call.

Did the Raiders care? Two plays later, guess which famous new Raider halfback slammed into the end zone?

That’s right, Bo knows touchdowns, too.

Early in the third period, Jaeger kicked the longest field goal of his career, a 50-yarder, and it was 13-7.

It then began to appear that neither team might ever score again. Schroeder was five for 16 when Shell reached for his second-string quarterback.

Beuerlein’s first drive was a new entrant’s dream: hand off, get out of the way and watch Bo run around ‘em. The Raiders went 70 yards--Jackson had 56 of them--and scored on Vance Mueller’s six-yard run to take a 20-7 lead.

After that, Beuerlein who hadn’t played since the opener, showed his own rust. He went one for five and missed a couple of open receivers.

So what have we got now?

Shell said he would figure out who his No. 1 quarterback is later.

“I don’t even want to think about it,” Beuerlein said. “It isn’t my decision. I don’t want to stir anything up.”

For his part, Schroeder, getting his first real hook of the year, was resigned if not overjoyed.

“Well, they wanted to see if they could spark the team,” Schroeder said. “There’s no problem. I can still play and I expect to play. I’m not worried about it.

“I was a little surprised. I wasn’t expecting it. Naturally I would have liked to throw the ball a little better but there were some situations when I tried to make something happen. I’ve got a few decorations on my back”--he showed off four bruises behind his right shoulder--”so it’s not like I wasn’t standing in there for a while.

“I was surprised. We were ahead in the game. I wasn’t throwing the ball well, but I’ve been known to come back and put a streak together in my time. I don’t like to be counted out before the fourth quarter.”

In all likelihood, he’ll retain the privilege of starting against the Philadelphia Eagles and Reggie White, so lucky him.

The Raiders cruised until the game’s final moments, when they let Steve DeBerg, in for the injured Ron Jaworski, pass the Chiefs 70 yards down the field, cutting it to 20-14 with 19 seconds left.

The Chiefs, of course, tried an onside kick but the Raiders’ Mike Dyal recovered it and Shell was about to go 2-0, the only undefeated coach in the National Football League, season and career.

“Well,” Shell mused, asked how he planned to keep it going, “I might retire.”

Raider Notes

The crowd was 40,453, the Raiders’ smallest of the season and their second smallest in Los Angeles, exclusive of strike games. . . . Chief Coach Marty Schottenheimer, on the pass interference call in the end zone against Jayice Pearson: “I’m not commenting on officiating. If I start now, I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop.” . . . The Chiefs went to a four-receiver set in the second half to try to spread the Raider defense and free Christian Okoye, but that didn’t work, either. “I said before the game, if we could get them out of their running formation, we’d win,” Howie Long said. “Bernie Kosar isn’t playing in Kansas City. I’m not demeaning their quarterbacks but Bernie’s still in Cleveland. Sorry, Marty.” . . . And Long on Bo Jackson: “I feel good for him. He’s a great player and he was under a lot of pressure. Of course, he doesn’t feel any pressure because he doesn’t care about it.”

Eddie Anderson, the stand-in for Vann McElroy who won last Monday’s game with an 87-yard interception return, intercepted his second pass Sunday. Between Anderson and McElroy, the Raiders have four interceptions. . . . Art Shell received his Hall of fame ring in a ceremony before the game. . . . The Raiders passed up a chance to try a 46-yard field goal in the last two minutes to try to run the clock out, a strategy that backfired when the Chiefs drove down the field to cut their lead to 20-14. Shell said they didn’t want to take a chance on a blocked kick and runback. . . . Ron Jaworski left the game with what was first called a sprained knee. The 38-year-old quarterback said later there was “some ligament damage.” He’ll be re-examined in Kansas City today.