Raiders’ Perseverance Makes 4-0 Look Better

Were it not for that 4-0 record, the Raiders might be in a shambles. They’re knocking opponents out with one arm tied behind their back. They’re doing it without Bo Jackson, Howie Long, Garry Lewis, Mike Dyal, Bruce Wilkerson, Mike Wise, Dennis Price . . .

In order, that list includes one of the greatest athletes on the planet, a six-time Pro Bowl defensive end, a sensational rookie cornerback, their starting tight end, the starting right tackle, the Wise-guy who replaced Long, and another promising cornerback.

Sunday, they did it without starting strong safety Mike Harden, who was scratched from the lineup Saturday with a neck injury. Elvis Patterson, stale as yesterday’s toast, stepped in for Harden and dared anyone to notice the difference.

Bo was in town over the weekend, taking his final cuts with the Kansas City Royals, and you could almost hear his famous cross-training pledge all the way from Anaheim: Just do it.

And the Raiders are doing it, despite a series of injuries that provide a fine set of excuses for losing. Except that they’re winning.

At this rate of injury, the Raiders will run out of starters before games, so the bleeding must end soon.

“Hopefully, the rash of injuries will stop and we’ll hold on until we get a lot of those people back,” Coach Art Shell said Monday. “It makes it awfully tough, but we will do what we have to do to win football games. We’re not going to let that be an excuse for us not being prepared to play.”

It says something for the Raiders’ depth and resolve that they did not roll over as soon as Howie Long’s foot did on the artificial turf in the Seattle Kingdome.

“These guys believe that they’re going to find a way to win,” Shell said of his players. “That’s their philosophy. We talked about it all off-season and all during training camp. You’ve got to find a way to win. Things aren’t always going to be rosy for you. There are going to be trying times.”

A brief injury recap, and how obstacles were hurdled:

--Wilkerson. The starting right tackle injured his knee in training camp and is eligible to return from injured reserve this week, although he probably needs another week of rehabilitation. Steve Wright took his place and was part of a unit that dominated the Chicago defensive front in Sunday’s 24-10 win. Wright held Trace Armstrong, the NFL’s sack leader before the game, to no sacks and no tackles.

--Long. The all-pro defensive end broke his right foot against Seattle in Week 2 after a dominating performance in the opener against Denver. He’s not expected back until November. Shell has used two Mikes, Wise and Charles, and assorted schemes in Long’s place. The Raiders also took the opportunity to spring rookie Aaron Wallace on the league. He has four sacks in two weeks, including a Sunday sack of Jim Harbaugh that led to a fumble and Greg Townsend’s touchdown. The bad news from the Bears was that Shell lost Wise with an ankle sprain.

“It’s a day-to-day thing,” Shell said of Wise’s injury. “The trainers think he’ll probably be ready this week, but we’re not sure about that right now.”

--Dyal. The team’s starting tight end strained his hamstring in the Seattle game and has since joined Long on injured reserve. Everyone has pitched in to help here. After Dyal went down, Marcus Allen moved to tight end for one play and made the key block on Greg Bell’s game-winning touchdown against the Seahawks.

Ethan Horton has replaced Dyal for now. The team also signed Andy Parker as backup.

--Lewis. He was the surprise of training camp, a seventh-round choice who beat out Terry McDaniel at left corner. Lewis broke his collarbone against Pittsburgh Sept. 23 and remains on injured reserve. McDaniel has returned to his old position, so the team doesn’t suffer much here, even though McDaniel was burned deep Sunday on an 80-yard reception by Dennis Gentry.

--Harden. He injured his neck against Pittsburgh, but was expected to start against Chicago. Shell made the decision to hold him out Saturday.

“We’ve just got to be careful with it,” Shell said. “He aggravated it last Sunday and we just wanted to make sure. We didn’t want to throw him to the wolves.”

Patterson, released by teams on two coasts in his career--the New York Giants and San Diego Chargers--has found refuge in the Raider secondary.

“These guys are finding ways to win,” Shell said. “If a guy goes down, somebody has to step in and play. . . . Yes, we have more depth, we have better personnel. We’re better than we were last year.”