Broncos Get Chance to Regain Pride : Raiders: Denver’s dismal season would suddenly become brighter with a victory over slumping L.A.

Week 5 of the Raiders’ slump-stopping tour winds through Colorado, where the whole state might be in therapy if not for the No. 1-ranked Colorado Buffaloes. The Denver Broncos are going, going, gone, only this time it’s months before a Super Bowl kickoff.

The Raiders (7-5), losers of three of their last four games and relegated to sharing first place in the AFC West, have arrived just in time. What appeared months ago as a possible title fight between divisional heavyweights has been reduced to a face-saving mission today. Other than saving their pride, it’s too late for Denver (3-8), which has gone down in a great ball of orange fire in 1990. The Broncos have lost four consecutive games for the first time since 1972. Their roster is in shambles.

Hope of salvaging the season starts with a home-field victory over the Raiders, who aren’t welcome most places.

“Any time they can beat the Raiders, it’s a way to save their season,” Raider Coach Art Shell said. “Everybody looks forward to us, for whatever reasons. I’m sure they felt like they should have won the first game. But they didn’t. They don’t like the Raiders. We know that.”

Denver Coach Dan Reeves might have lost his grip on a team that has made three Super Bowl appearances in four years. The Broncos used to be the hottest ticket in the state, a family affair. But three Super Bowl blowouts and this year’s collapse has driven some Denver fans elsewhere.

“Luckily, the college football fans have Colorado to cheer for,” linebacker Karl Mecklenburg said this week. “A lot of the fans have jumped to the college side. We haven’t gotten as much grief as I might have expected.”

But there’s still a string to be played out, so last Wednesday Reeves lashed out at his team.

Shell might do the same if his team doesn’t turn it around soon. He keeps talking about the playoffs, but the Raiders have a recent history of fading down the stretch. Quarterback Jay Schroeder will return after suffering a sprained left knee last week, which is either good news or bad, depending on your opinion of Schroeder. It could be worse for the Raiders. They could be based in Denver, where some guy has perched himself on a billboard and is vowing not to come down until the Broncos win another game.

The blues took hold of the Rockies after last January’s 45-point loss to San Francisco in the Super Bowl and haven’t let go. They followed the Broncos into training camp and through what could end up as their worst season since a 2-7 finish in the strike-shortened 1982 season, Reeves’ first year as the coach.

Some wonder if this might be his last in Denver.

“Apparently, a lot of people are thinking that way for me,” Reeves said.

The Broncos have been hit with every problem imaginable, starting with a heart condition that took Reeves out of the picture for a short period last summer. He now claims to feel fine, other than the pain that comes with every loss.

“This is a tough business when you win,” Reeves said. “It’s a miserable business when you lose.”

There have been injuries, holdouts, a few off-the-field crises to rival anything the Raiders have ever mustered up, and one mile-high communications breakdown between Reeves and quarterback John Elway.

It’s all front-page news in Denver.

When did things turn sour? Start with defensive end Alphonso Carreker, sidelined a week before the opener because of a season-ending knee injury. Cornerback Tyrone Braxton joined Carreker on injured reserve Sept. 25 because of a knee injury.

Defensive end Jim Szymanski made it a season-ending threesome when he suffered a leg injury Oct. 16.

Defensive end Ron Holmes ended a bitter holdout two days before the opener. About 48 hours later, he was in Los Angeles recording his first quarterback sack, dumping Schroeder for a seven-yard loss.

Who needs training camp? Holmes does. He’s still looking for sack No. 2.

Meanwhile, defensive back Elliott Smith has been in an Arizona alcohol abuse treatment center.

Then there was news from the Denver police blotter. Two weeks ago, offensive lineman Gerald Perry was charged with his third sex-related offense in four years when he was accused of third-degree sexual assault against teammate Orson Mobley’s fiancee.

Perry has been on a paid leave of absence pending outcome of his trial, which began this week.

The spat between Elway and Reeves has been waiting to blow for years. It finally did when Elway went to the media and said he had a communication problem with Reeves.

The two have apparently since cleared the air, thin as it is in Denver.

Reeves would turn back the clock on the season if he could, but he doesn’t know what he could have done differently.

“Looking back, there was a problem with communication with the quarterback,” Reeves said. “Yeah, I would have handled that situation differently, but I wasn’t really aware that there was a problem.”

Until Reeves picked up his morning paper.

Reeves said that as bad as this season has been, he has no plans of fleeing the state.

“As far as my outlook on coaching (goes), that hasn’t changed at all,” he said. “I’d like to coach for as long as my health is good.”

A home victory over the Raiders would no doubt provide some relief, but the Broncos aren’t particular.

“We’ll take any kind of win,” Mecklenburg said. “A lucky win. A win against anybody would help this team.”

Raider Notes

The Raiders will wrap up free safety Eddie Anderson’s left knee and throw him out there again. Anderson has suffered bleeding in the knee since Nov. 4, but the team doesn’t have a suitable replacement. Whatever happened to Vann McElroy? “It’s something we’re got to monitor every week,” Coach Art Shell said of Anderson. “Practice is difficult, and after the game is very difficult. He’ll be able to play on it, as long as the bleeding stops in there.” . . . The Broncos’ Vance Johnson was doubtful all week because of a strained right calf, and Mark Jackson was questionable because of a sprained right knee and ankle. If they can’t play, their replacements as starting receivers will be Ricky Nattiel and former Ram Michael Young.