Raiders Win, 16-0, but Have Empty Feeling : Pro football: They beat Colts, 16-0, before only 40,287 at the Coliseum. Schroeder passes for 181 yards as L.A. unveils a new offense.

The Raiders keep winning--and driving away customers. Sunday, their offense spread some more tar pit ooze on the Coliseum floor and scored a predictable 16-0 victory over the Indianapolis Colts before 40,287.

That is down 8,000 fans from last week’s three-point victory over Denver, and less than half of the stadium’s capacity. At this rate, the Raiders will clinch the AFC title sometime in December for the benefit of 100 cops and selected peanut vendors.

The Colts, not being one of the world’s great gate attractions, offer a plausible explanation for sagging attendance figures. So does a certain divisional race in the National League West.

But the Raider way of winning, which featured a nine-man offensive front at times against the Colts, must take some of the credit/blame for the general indifference to the team’s 2-1 start.

“They’re just going to have to accept the way we play football,” quarterback Jay Schroeder said of his team’s fans. “We’re not here to please the people in the stands, we’re here to win football games. If they don’t like the way we win, maybe they’ll have to go down to Houston and buy a house.”

Schroeder, again, had nothing to be ashamed of, completing 13 of 22 passes for 181 yards with a touchdown in another methodical performance. The Raiders actually threw a few times on first down, and even recognized Roger Craig once as a receiver on a screen pass.

“Sssssh, “ Schroeder whispered, “you’re wrecking our image.”

That image took another lumbering twist against the Colts as the Raiders unveiled their “Tilt” offensive formation, stacking two extra tackles on the left side, plus a tight end, giving the Raiders a eight-man front with one wideout, Willie Gault.

A goal-line formation for most teams, the Raiders ran it first and 10 at their 20.

“We’re making offensive linemen chic again,” said James FitzPatrick, one of the extra tackles. “Next thing you know we’ll be taking Jay out of the game and putting another lineman in.”

That should shake season ticket sales.

Tackle Reggie McElroy, another one of the tilters, said he never has seen the formation run in the NFL.

“We did it as a kid,” he said, “we did it in high school.”

This philosophy, mixed with some timely Schroeder passing, was plenty enough to overcome the Colts who, as usual, had enough of their own problems to worry about.

The game’s precious few highlights came early, specifically on a 10-play drive that led to the game’s only touchdown, a 16-yard scoring pass from Schroeder to Mervyn Fernandez with 12:30 left in the half.

The key play on the drive came on third and 15 at the Colts’ 36, when Schroeder dumped a screen pass of to Craig and watched him scamper 20 yards for a first down.

Passing to Craig is not an original thought--he is the top receiving back in NFL history--yet the Raiders have used him sparingly in the capacity, although it is best not to mention it in the presence of Coach Art Shell.

The Schroeder-to-Fernandez touchdown was a beautifully-timed passing route. Schroeder threw the ball before Fernandez turned his head on the cut.

Fernandez was still fuming over a pass he dropped in the previous series.

After the miss near the sidelines, Fernandez jerked his helmet from his head and spiked it, straps and bolts exploding on impact.

“When you don’t catch a ball you know you should have caught, it gets on the bad side of you,” he said afterward.

Fernandez wouldn’t make the same mistake twice on his touchdown reception.

“I squeezed the ball so tight I almost popped it,” he said. “No way I was going to let that go.”

Fernandez finished with seven catches for 90 yards.

The rest of the Raider offense consisted of three field goals by Jeff Jaeger, from 33, 41, and 33 yards.

The Raider defense could boast of the team’s first shutout since a 20-0 victory at Green Bay in the 1987 opener. But it was a strange shutout. The Colts averaged 4.7 yards per play, yet found ways to self-destruct time and again.

Dean Biasucci, once a respected NFL kicker, missed two field goals in the first half that could have cut the Raider lead to 13-6. Biasucci is two for eight this season.

Two drives in the second half were cut short on fumbles by Eric Dickerson. On third and 22 at the Colts’ 22, Bob Golic and Terry McDaniel stripped Dickerson of the ball after an eight-yard gain. The Raiders’ Jerry Robinson recovered at the Colts’ 33. It was the first fumble Dickerson had lost since Nov. 26 of 1989.

The Raiders couldn’t do much with the gift, though, and settled for another field goal by Jaeger.

“Yes, we’d like to score more points,” Schroeder said. “But we weren’t expected to score 40 points on them.”

Dickerson struck again early in the fourth, when he killed a drive with another fumble at the Raiders’ 12.

The Raider shutout was preserved when a desperate fourth-down pass by Jeff George sailed incomplete through the end zone.

The Colt offense, already in disarray, was further crippled by injuries to its offensive line. Left tackle Irv Pankey, acquired recently from the Rams, lasted one play before leaving because of a strained Achilles’ heel.

Center Ray Donaldson, who had never missed a game in 12 years, suffered a broken leg in the first half. When guard Bubba Paris left the game in the second half because of a sprained knee, the Colts were left with only five linemen.

It provided a perfect excuse for Coach Ron Meyer, who clings precariously to his job after falling to 0-3.

“You should be interviewing our team doctor rather than me,” he said.

Raider Notes

Roger Craig, who finished with 57 yards in 19 carries, had to leave game in the second half after aggravating his bruised left knee. “I had to come out,” Craig said. “It was really stiff. I tried to block it our throughout the game.” Craig has a pad to protect the knee, but says it keeps slipping up his leg during the game. Craig said he expects to play next week.

Guard Max Montoya aggravated his groin injury in the second quarter and did not return. Montoya said the injury especially bothers him on plays where he has to pull off the line. “Once I try to run outside of my little area, it really hurts me.” . . . The Raiders sacked Jeff George four times. Howie Long, Aaron Wallace and Anthony Smith had one sack each. The other was a team sack.

The Colts’ Eric Dickerson rushed for 77 yards in 20 carries and had five catches for 38 yards. . . . With three field goals Sunday, the Raiders’ Jeff Jaeger has made seven out of eight for the season. . . . George completed 21 of 32 passes for 220 yards. He was not intercepted. . . . Before Sunday, the Colts had not been shut out in 67 games. It was only the team’s second shutout since the franchise moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis in 1984. . . . Colt center Ray Donaldson had played in 168 consecutive games until suffering a broken leg in the first half.

* ERIC DICKERSON: Former Ram vents his frustration after losing two fumbles for Colts. C7

* MIKE DOWNEY: Who is Eddie Anderson? You don’t have to ask Raider opponents. C9