By Not Learning From Their Past, Raiders Repeat It : Opener: Loss to the Oilers’ run-and-shoot, 47-17, is much like the debacle in Buffalo that ended last season.

The Raiders were right about that Buffalo game being ancient history. Now, there’s a new game to review, mourn and pass off as a fluke. Like last January’s 48-point AFC title-game loss, the Raiders will try to forget and move on with their lives.

The latest horror occurred in Sunday’s opener at the Astrodome, where the Houston Oilers, picking up where the Bills left off, defeated the Raiders, 47-17, before 61,367.

The Raiders denied any connection to last season’s loss in Orchard Park, N.Y., except that it was incredibly similar and equally embarrassing. And, that Raider opponents are no doubt scurrying for no-huddle and/or run-and-shoot playbooks as they count the days until their shot at the Raider secondary.

“There’s no way you can say this is a carryover from Buffalo,” Raider quarterback Jay Schroeder insisted. “We had five games in between.”

Those were five exhibitions, none against teams with the type of gadget offenses that are giving the Raiders fits of late.

For those not counting exhibitions, the Raiders have been outscored in two games, 98-20, while giving up 961 total yards.

Coach Art Shell conceded these freak offenses are tricky to figure.

“You play conventional offenses,” he said, “then all of a sudden you run into this thing.”

Maybe the Raiders need a run-and-shoot defense.

New safety Ronnie Lott was supposed to help. So was linebacker Winston Moss. Sunday, they melted along with others into an artificial landscape owned and operated by Oiler quarterback Warren Moon, with help from his friends.

The Oilers amassed 459 yards. Moon completed 18 of 32 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns before taking off most of the fourth quarter.

The real pest, though, was tailback Allen Pinkett, who rushed for a 144 yards, a career high, in 26 carries. Pinkett was starting in place of holdout Lorenzo White.

The Oilers weren’t supposed to be a threat on the ground, having averaged only 88 yards in 1990. Yet, the Raiders made Pinkett into Gale Sayers. What gives?

“I’d rather not get into the specifics because I don’t want to give anything away,” Pinkett said.

To have a chance against Houston, the Raiders figured they had to keep the ball away from Moon and execute a near-perfect game plan themselves. Instead, they committed three turnovers that led to touchdowns.

Moon set a fierce tempo on his team’s first possession with an 87-yard scoring drive that consumed 9:23 of the first quarter and ended with an eight-yard run by Pinkett up the middle for a touchdown.

How would the Raiders answer? On their third play from scrimmage, Schroeder’s pass intended for Mervyn Fernandez was intercepted by safety Bubba McDowell, setting up a one-yard sneak by Moon for a touchdown with 13:30 left in the half.

“It was just stupid on my part,” Schroeder said of the interception that led to the Houston touchdown. “We’re not going to win the game on my pass. There was no reason to throw that ball.”

Trailing 13-0 isn’t what the Raiders had in mind.

The Raiders had a brief window of opportunity open, but let it close. Schroeder recovered from his early interception with a 59-yard touchdown pass to Willie Gault in the second quarter, cutting the lead to 16-7 at the half.

Given the Raiders’ plight, the game wasn’t beyond reach.

Then they played the second half. On second down of their opening possession, Marcus Allen fumbled the ball back to Houston at the Raiders’ 35. Moon accepted the turnover and soon turned it into a 21-yard scoring pass play to Earnest Givins, putting the Oilers up, 23-7.

The Raiders could answer only later in the quarter with a field goal, and those don’t add up fast enough against Houston’s offense.

The Oilers simply mounted another 82-yard scoring drive, capped by a 28-yard pass play from Moon to Tony Jones that stretched the lead to 30-10.

Is there any hope in stopping this machine?

“If I knew the answer to that question, we’d have won today,” Raider cornerback Lionel Washington said.

The Oilers made it 37-10 on the ensuing kickoff when Sam Graddy fumbled the return to Mike Dumas, who ran 19 yards for touchdown.

Shell pulled Schroeder out of the game with 14:55 remaining, replacing him with Vince Evans.

“At the end of the third period they were up by a lot of points, so I said ‘Let’s put in Vince,’ ” Shell reasoned. “Vince is a little more mobile than Jay. I said ‘Let’s see what he can accomplish.’ ”

Evans provided one of the game’s few Raider highlights, tossing an 80-yard scoring pass to Graddy with 9:29 left.

In the context of the game, though, it amounted to a bandage on a mortal wound.

The beat went on for the Oilers, who added a late touchdown to cap a 30-point victory.

Houston was so good it could afford to get picky about its performance.

“We didn’t put this game away as early as we should,” Oiler defensive tackle Doug Smith said. “We can’t be giving up big plays like we did. We can still get a lot better.”

So can the Raiders. In fact, it was their rallying cry. With 15 games remaining, they can still look ahead with hope.

“We’ll get better,” Allen said. “I’m not alarmed. We didn’t play well, but I’m not alarmed.”

Raider Notes

Raider tailback Marcus Allen had to leave the game in the second half after he suffered an injury to his right knee. Allen will have the knee examined today in Los Angeles. . . . Right guard Max Montoya was held out of the starting lineup with a groin pull he suffered in the exhibition season. His replacement, James FitzPatrick, was called for two holding penalties and allowed an early sack to quarterback Jay Schroeder. . . . Raider Sam Graddy had more receptions Sunday, three for 103 yards, than he had totaled in his entire career. Graddy entered the game with two catches in four seasons.