THE NFL PLAYOFFS : * Raiders: Bengals say they are hurting (again), but Shell & Co. aren’t taking anything for granted today.

Cincinnati Coach Sam Wyche spent the week sounding as though preparations for today’s game against the Raiders amounted to shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic. For the second time in less than a month, his Bengals come to Los Angeles for a game with the Raiders equipped with more adhesive tape than hope.

At least Cincinnati booked a nonstop flight this time. No more cost-saving re-fueling stops in Kansas City for the playoffs, a reward no doubt for winning the division title. If nothing else, the Bengals are well rested for today’s AFC divisional playoff game at the Coliseum.

As the week wore on, Wyche would have had you believing the game was to be as lopsided as an early playoff matchup between David and Goliath. Wyche, of course, is hoping for a similar upset with a left-handed slinger named Boomer Esiason.

The Raiders have never bought Wyche’s poor-mouthing, but the Bengals are not without some serious problems. The left side of their offensive line--all-pro tackle Anthony Munoz and guard Bruce Reimers--has been dismantled because of injuries. Having to replace Munoz with rookie Kirk Scrafford is a decision a coach makes with a tissue box close at hand.

Wyche was spared no hankies this week. His talented multipurpose back, James Brooks, dislocated his left thumb in last week’s victory over Houston. This week in practice, they didn’t stop rolling the tape until Brooks’ thumb was fat as a watermelon. Brooks announced after one practice that he would not play with a hood ornament for a thumb. The Raiders are withholding judgment until kickoff.

“In some ways, we’re as lame as when we played (the Raiders) a few weeks ago,” Wyche said.

The Bengals lost that Dec. 16 game, 24-7, with an engine lacking several key components. Nothing much has changed.

“It’s a shame that we can’t come in full strength and find out who the best team is,” Wyche said. “We’ll find out if our team, at less than full strength, is good enough. It’s going to take somebody playing over their heads to win. For us.”

All news wasn’t discouraging, though. The Sam Wyche Toga Towel Relief Fund was proud to report that contributions to pay off his $27,000 fine for banishing women from the locker room earlier this season topped the $33,000 mark. All money will be contributed to a worthy cause, Wyche said.

The question remains whether Wyche has already donated today’s game to charity.

Raider Coach Art Shell, who has enough headaches preparing for the wacky world of Wyche and his no-huddle offense, bristles when opponents dust off the injury excuse and use it as a psychological ploy. Remember, the man works for Al Davis, so there isn’t much in the way of ploys that he hasn’t experienced.

OK, the Bengals are really hurt. It was all they could do to defeat Houston last week, 41-14. And isn’t getting hurt partly their own fault?

Had the Bengals finished with a better regular-season record, they might have received a first-round bye and Brooks wouldn’t have stuck his thumb where it didn’t belong.

Shell also remembers Esiason playing in that Dec. 16 game against the Raiders at the Coliseum, despite exaggerated reports of his demise.

“That bill of goods was sold to us on Boomer Esiason the first time we played them,” Shell said. “He wasn’t supposed to play at all, and he came out and played, and made an impact on that football team.”

Esiason lasted long enough to throw a scoring pass, but he was pulled in the third quarter after aggravating a groin injury.

Some Raiders aren’t afraid to admit that timing is everything in the football business. The Raiders have escaped serious injury this season, especially of late, and don’t apologize for it. Their starting quarterback, Jay Schroeder, started 16 games. Some weeks, the Raiders were hard-pressed to offer injuries at all. The week before the first Bengal game, the Raiders reported none.

This week, perhaps as a gesture of good will, they listed cornerback Lionel Washington with a hamstring pull that was 90% healed two weeks ago. The Raiders were deep enough this season to keep tailback Greg Bell on injured reserve for 11 weeks with a two-week ankle sprain. Who has room for a 1,000-yard rusher with Marcus Allen and Bo Jackson in the backfield?

Allen said it takes a combination of good fortune and talent to go all the way.

“I remember the last time we went to the Super Bowl (after the 1983 season),” I don’t think anybody got hurt,” he said. “And if they did, it wasn’t for very long and it wasn’t very serious. This year, we’ve just had a few nicks and bruises here and there, but for the most part of the season everybody’s been healthy. It’s a major plus. . . . Are you trying to ask whether we’re a team of destiny?”

Are the Raiders a team of destiny?

“I believe what happens is the way it’s supposed to happen,” Allen said. “That’s the way it’s supposed to be. It can’t be any other way.”

So, Brooks’ thumb was supposed to dislocate. Munoz’s shoulder aches. Reimers’ ankle throbs.

If Munoz can’t hold down the left side, the Bengals will ask Scrafford to take on Pro Bowl defensive end Greg Townsend and his Gang of Four.

Scrafford doesn’t want to hear what Townsend has to say of the Raiders’ defensive front.

“I think this line has got to be the best,” he said. “I don’t think, man for man, anyone can stand toe to toe against our defense.”

Especially when some toes are broken.

Raider Notes

In his last two games against Cincinnati, Bo Jackson has had runs of 92 and 88 yards. What about this? “I mean, what is there to talk about?” Bengal safety David Fulcher said of Bo. “The backside is definitely going to have the stay there for the cutback.” . . . Jackson rushed for 117 yards in eight carries in the last game. How to stop him? “I wish I had a formula,” Sam Wyche said. . . . Wyche said cornerback Eric Thomas is playing well again after returning to the lineup recently from off-season knee surgery.

How long has it been since the last Raider playoff game? Only six members of this year’s team--Marcus Allen, Howie Long, Greg Townsend, Don Mosebar, Bill Pickel and Jerry Robinson--remain from the 1985 Raider squad that lost a first-round game to New England. . . . Two of the league’s top rookie pass rushers are represented today in Cincinnati’s James Francis and the Raiders’ Aaron Wallace. Wallace had nine sacks in the regular season, Francis eight.