Raiders Humbled as They Stumble Their Way to 5-6

The Raiders drew a line in the dirt and staked their future on it, starting their gimpy No. 1 quarterback, making a bodyguard of their fullback and giving the ball solely to their Bo to see what would happen.

It didn’t quite live up to their hopes.

They were on AstroTurf, in the House of Pain. The Oilers rolled a convoy over their line that seemed to take all Sunday afternoon to pass, 419 yards of offense against a once-proud defense, and squashed the Raiders, 23-7.

“Nothing really to say,” said Howie Long, disconsolately and succinctly.

“We just got our butts kicked.”

All the way to 5-6. They’re two games behind the 7-4 wild-card contenders Houston and Miami, one behind 6-5 Cincinnati. Color them endangered.

And, to add injury to insult, Bo Jackson left in the third period with a twinge in his left thigh.

“I felt the same type of twinge last year when we played the Saints in New Orleans,” he said. “And then the next play, I tore my hamstring. So we just played it safe.”

In that case, anyway.

How badly do the Raiders thirst for the playoffs?

In a surprise, they started Steve Beuerlein, who has suggested recently he might be the bright, young quarterback they’ve searched half a decade for. Beuerlein has a partially torn ligament in his right knee. The game was on unforgiving artificial turf, against an unforgiving defense.

Saturday, Beuerlein went back into the lineup.

Did Art Shell think they were running any risk?

“No,” Shell said. “You run a risk any time you play anyone out there.”

Said Beuerlein: “I don’t want any focus on that at all.

“Obviously, there was concern coming in. The decision wasn’t made until late in the week. It was something people weren’t sure about.

“But that’s not why we lost the ball game. That’s not why I didn’t get the ball in the end zone. Bottom line is, we just got out-played. I felt like I could get it done out there and I didn’t do my job very well.

“I have no idea (what percent he was). I really have no idea. The knee is not where it needs to be. It’s not anywhere near 100%. But the bottom line is, I was out there playing. If I’m going to play, I’ve got to get the job done. With or without the bad knee.”

Beuerlein was neither savior nor goat. He had the Raiders within 10-7, in good field position (Raider 41) in the closing seconds of the first half, when he threw one over the middle to Mervyn Fernandez. Fernandez got both hands on it, but tipped it into the air behind him.

Houston’s Tracey Eaton caught it, ran 13 yards and lateraled to Jeff Donaldson, who went another 14 to the Raider 36.

Four plays later, Warren Moon found Leonard Harris when the Raider defense couldn’t. He was all alone in the end zone and Moon threw him an 11-yard touchdown pass to make it 17-7.

The Raiders’ Timmy Ware then fumbled the second half kickoff. Before you could say, “Wait ‘til next year,” Tony Zendejas had kicked a 20-yard field goal and it was 20-7.

Down 20-7, the Raiders had to start throwing. Jackson, who had rushed for 36 yards in the first quarter, and 50 by halftime, got only two more carries and four more yards and finished with his low of the season--54 yards, a 4.9 average.

“He averaged five yards a crack--sub-par for Bo,” said ex-Raider Sean Jones, ironically, while the Houston press tried to get him to say how they’d stopped Jackson.

“He came in averaging 6.8.

“Bo ran with authority. They say he’s not tough. The only people who talk that . . . don’t play.

“The first time he ran the ball, for 13 yards? I counted 59,000 people staring. I never saw a guy like that. Every time he touched the ball, people go, ‘Ahhhh . . . ‘ “

“How did we do it? Our offense.

“You hand the ball to your offense and they hold the ball seven minutes. They score. Now it’s goodby Ground Bo, they’ve got to go to Air Beuerlein.”

The Raiders never got inside the Houston 40 after that, not that they had that many chances. The Oilers had the ball for 9:32 in the third period, for 11:32 in the fourth.

In all, Houston had the ball 39:48 to the Raiders’ 20:12.

The Oilers out-gained them, 419-243.

In the first half, before the Oilers started running under wraps, it was 250-96.

In his first five weeks, Shell continually praised his team for working hard, adding in difficult moments at Philadelphia and San Diego that it could hold its head up.

Sunday, he dispensed with all that.

“We were totally out-played by a real good football team,” Shell said. “We didn’t do anything offensively, we didn’t do anything defensively, or on special teams.

“They just totally out-classed us.”

Moments later, the TV lights went off and Shell climbed down from the podium.

“Mother said there’d be days like this,” he murmured.

Raider Notes

Gordon McCarter’s officiating crew made their point by ejecting Oiler bomb squadder Eugene Seale when a fight broke out on the opening kickoff, and the game between these two famed intimidators was relatively clean. . . . The Oilers took only eight penalties for 49 yards. The Raiders were called for 12 for 119, including two more holds on Rory Graves. . . . Bo Jackson’s low total before Sunday’s 54 was 79 yards, at Philadelphia. His low average was also against the Eagles--4.4. . . . Raider fullback Steve Smith was kept back to protect Steve Beuerlein, and didn’t carry the ball until the last two minutes of the third period. It was his only one. . . . Raider punter Jeff Gossett, cut by the Oilers last season, had a big day in his return to the Astrodome: a 42.3 average, with no return yardage for a 42.3 net average. . . . Vince Evans, who hadn’t played since the 1987 strike games, went the last series, which started at the Raider 4 with 1:52 left. Evans stumbled running onto the field, but on his first play, threw a 40-yard completion to Willie Gault. Feel good to be back? “Yes sir, buddy,” said Evans, smiling. “It looked the same. The guys were still out there growling, talking jive.”. . . Raider nose tackle Bob Golic was knocked woozy, although he returned. “They say I wasn’t unconscious,” he said, “but I don’t remember coming off the field.”