Raiders Take Bite Out of Bengals, 28-7 : Pro Football: Injuries put Esiason, Brooks, Ball on sidelines; Gault, Jackson, defense make big plays for L.A.

Are you ready for this? A monster lurks once more in silver-and-blackdom, awake again and hungry after its four-year snooze.

Do you believe in magic? Once George Blanda rescued some football games for these guys but a rookie coach named Art Shell is threatening to salvage an entire second half of a decade.

Shell’s revived Raiders pillaged another alleged power Sunday, the defending American Conference champion Cincinnati Bengals, who succumbed, 28-7, before 51,080 in the Coliseum and left thankful to get out alive.

If barely. By halftime, the Raiders had knocked their entire starting offensive backfield out of the game.

Boomer Esiason lasted two series before leaving with a bruised lung and the Bengals already behind, 14-0.

Many teammates followed, or wanted to.

The Raiders outgained the Bengals in the first period, 208-53. A week ago, they outgained the Washington Redskins in the first period, 161 to minus-7.

They led, 28-0. A week ago, they led, 37-10.

Wasn’t there a word they liked to use for this in the old days? Domestic? Domicile? Oh, Dominate!

“It reminded me of the ’85 team that beat us here in the Coliseum,” Bengal tackle Anthony Munoz said.

“I would say the coaching change has been positive. Like I said, their intensity was incredible.”

The Raiders did this without Steve Beuerlein, Jerry Robinson and Eddie Anderson, all heroes of the resurgence, all injured. They didn’t pause to take roll. Back came Jay Schroeder, Howie Long, Greg Townsend, and ace scout Al Davis (see below), but most of all, the one, the only--does one even have to name him?--Bo Jackson.

Bo ran 92 yards for one touchdown. Bo broke the old Raider record, 91 yards, set by Bo.

Bo had another seven-yard run for the first Raider touchdown, in which he physically picked up safety Rickey Dixon and carried him into the end zone.

Bo had 127 yards by halftime, after which they--the Raiders, not the Bengals--limited him to four carries.

Bo finished with 159 yards in 13 carries. He has a 7.4 average this season and is on a pace that would take him to 1,284 yards, despite having played four games and averaged 16 carries. He is sixth in the AFC in rushing.

He posted back-to-back 100-yard games for the first time in his pro career. Jackson has done a lot of amazing things in his brief Raider career, but nothing to match this month of sustained excellence.

“He was the MVP of the All-Star baseball game,” Mike Haynes said. “I think this year he’s trying to get to get to be MVP of the Pro Bowl and become the answer to a trivia question. He just seemes to be possessed this year.”

Said the all-knowing Bo: “It was another day on the job.”

Not by a quivering larynx, it wasn’t. The Raiders were obliged to entrust their fledgling turnaround to the slumping Schroeder Sunday, Beuerlein having suffered a knee injury. Schroeder completed 28% of his passes over three weeks, which would be bad in Pop Warner. A bad start Sunday and the the Coliseum crowd figured to take up his case anew.

So what did the Raiders do?

Silly question: if it’s Sunday, throw deep.

Spurning safer, non-Raider alternatives like establishing the run or building Schroeder’s confidence with a short completion or two, they came out on the very first play, faked to Jackson going left, watched the entire Bengal defensive front go with him . . . and realize that he didn’t have the ball.

Schroeder did. Down the right side sped Willie Gault, the famous missing person. Schroeder launched one 68 yards. Gault made a diving catch and bounced to earth at the Bengal 17. Pandemonium ensued and the tide was turned, for good.

Where did the Raiders get this play?

“The guy who saw it was Mr. Davis,” Shell said. “He saw it on film and brought it to our attention. He said, ‘Hey, it’s there.’ ”

“Does Mr. Davis watch a lot of film?” an innocent asked, prompting the day’s biggest laugh.

Only between sunset and sunup. Shell said that Schroeder’s slump, and the natural Bengal inclination to suspect a first-play run by Jackson didn’t enter into it, but if it was coincidence, it was inspired coincidence.

“It was incredible,” guard John Gesek said. “We talked about that play for four days.”

Said Schroeder: “It was a boost for me but I think it was a bigger boost for the entire football team.

“The Bengals knew we were going to try to establish the run. You had to. You’ve got Bo Jackson running like crazy. But when you’ve got everybody coming up and you’ve got a guy as fast as Willie, there’s two obstacles you can’t stop at the same time.

“What I told myself going in was, ‘I don’t care if I throw the ball 80 yards and he can’t catch it, I’m going to make him run as fast as he can to get the football.’ ”

The throw went 75 yards in the air and when it came down in Gault’s hands, Schroeder was a changed quarterback. Three plays later, he converted a second-and-16 play with a pass over the middle to tight end Mike Dyal.

Three plays after that from the Bengal seven, Jackson slammed up the middle and ran into Rickey Dixon at the Bengal four. Dixon tried to stand him up. That didn’t work. Dixon tried to hop on and ride him down. Jackson carried him into the end zone. If he’d had farther to go, Dixon would have been starting his career as a jockey.

That was the first Raider series: 80 yards, five plays.

The second series went 92 in one: Bo around left end. All the way around. Fullback Steve Smith kicked the outside Bengal out. Dyal blocked the inside man. Jackson got to the corner cleanly, saw daylight, and did what he does.

“I had a great view,” Schroeder said. “Turned around, flipped him the ball, made sure there was nobody coming from the back side. By the time I turned around again, he’s running down the sideline. So I put my hands up (in the touchdown signal).

“There’s one defensive guy crossing the field to make it look good. He’s not going to catch Bo.

“So I put my hands up. Turned around, started slapping hands with the offensive linemen. Bo is probably about their 20-yard line by now.”

And good as gone. The Raiders led, 14-0, and made it 21-0 on their fourth possession, when Schroeder and Vance Mueller combined on a 25-yard scoring pass.

Landmarks in the great turnaround: last season, these same Bengals scored five touchdowns in six possessions and ran up a 45-7 lead against the Raiders.

Sunday, the Raiders scored three times in their first four possessions and staged a counter-rout.

For Davis and other long-strike devotees, Schroeder combined with Gault on an 84-yard scoring pass play in the third period. Gault had two catches Sunday for 147 yards. His per-catch average this season is now 28.5.

Meanwhile, the Bengals, as the Redskins did a week ago, spent the day in their catch-up offense, running up their statistics to little end.

They closed to 28-7 in the fourth quarter and then drove to the Raider one after Lewis Billups intercepted a pass by Schroeder.

There, on fourth and goal, they sent Stanford Jennings over the top. The Raider front, headed by linebacker Thomas Benson, met him at the goal. Jennings got about four feet in the air but he didn’t cross the line and the Raiders had a goal-line stand to feel good about, too.

Is this a happening team, or what? Magic Johnson watched from the sideline in his Raider T-shirt, having just flown back in from San Antonio after a Laker loss. Jet lag? You’re on Raider time now.

They may be headed to the wild-card game, the Super Bowl or Sacramento but they’re rolling somewhere.

Raider Notes

Art Shell’s record is now 4-1, and would be 5-0 if the Raiders had made two makeable field goals at Philadelphia. Next week, they’re at San Diego. They’ll play at Houston, then return home for three straight. . . . Bengal Coach Sam Wyche on Bo Jackson: “I hope everyone enjoys watching him now because he will go down as one of the legends of the game.” . . . Ex-Bengal Emmanuel King blocked Lee Johnson’s punt, the first for the Raiders in a non-strike game since Lester Hayes in 1986. . . . Greg Townsend had two sacks and has five in two weeks. Howie Long had one, has 2 1/2 in two weeks. . . . Long on Rickey Hunley, acquired on waivers, who played middle linebacker in the absence of Jerry Robinson, out with a concussion: “Rickey Hunley is a heck of a football player. Rickey Hunley is probably as much a victim of his personality as his ability. He was the player-rep (in Denver). He’s someone who stands up for what he believes in, which is fine. That’s being a man. We were fortunate to get him. That acquisition was like finding a diamond.”