This Black Sunday Belongs to Falcons : Raiders: Atlanta, stealing a familiar script, comes through with a 21-17 victory.

The rip-off was shameless, from the tips of Coach Jerry Glanville’s black boots to the forearm shivers of his trash-talking corners.

If there were copyrights on meanness and darkness, the Raiders would be filing infringement charges today instead of wondering how the Atlanta Falcons could beat them at their own game.

The Falcons, who underwent a transfusion when Glanville took over last season, switching their home jerseys to black and their intentions as well, backed up their boasts Sunday, defeating the Raiders, 21-17, before a sellout crowd of 53,615 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

It was a Raider reproduction, chapter and verse, a great example of How To Lose Friends and Influence People.

Another coach might have accepted the victory graciously.

Glanville went for the jugular, as some suspect he instructs his young tacklers to do in the open field.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt who the best team is that wears black,” Glanville boasted.

This from the franchise that has forged one divisional title since 1966.

Still, the Falcons unloaded the truck on the Raiders: blitzes, passes, tirades and taunts. The officials unloaded what they could: 18 penalty flags, nine for each team.

On the game’s third play, the Falcons unloaded cornerback Deion Sanders on a blind-side blitz of quarterback Jay Schroeder, linebacker Jessie Tuggle picking up the fumble and running 18 yards for a touchdown.

Throughout, Glanville stormed the sidelines, a man possessed, fighting for causes reals and imagined.

In the second quarter, his unsportsmanlike conduct penalty prolonged a drive helped the Raiders tie the score at halftime, 7-7. Glanville would allow a few points to make some of his own.

“I don’t think we got one break,” he complained. “What’s unbelievable is that we won the game after all that happened to us.”

Another chapter from the Raiders Digest: Paranoia.

Almost as unbelievable as Glanville was what the Raiders were doing near the end of the game, when they still had time to stick it to a coach and his Falcons. When Roger Craig injured his shoulder in the second half, the Raiders bypassed backup Napoleon McCallum in favor of Marcus Wilson, a strong safety who was called off the developmental squad Saturday.

Sure, Wilson was a runner once at the University of Virginia, but he was converted to defense after the Raiders took him with a sixth-round pick in 1990. Wilson worked both sides of the ball on the scout team, but. . . .

Yet, there he was, the wrong Marcus carrying the fourth-quarter load for the Raiders. Was it a dream?

“I could have said, ‘Here I am, going from the practice squad to the limelight,’ ” Wilson recounted later. “But I didn’t (have to) think about that. Now I can look back and say that.”

Truth is, Wilson wasn’t bad. He finished with 21 yards in six carries down the stretch. He was in the backfield when the Raiders mounted a fourth-quarter rally.

Trailing, 21-14, the Raider defense stepped up with 9:23 left when safety Ronnie Lott deflected quarterback Chris Miller’s pass to Lionel Washington, who intercepted the ball at the Falcon 30.

The Raiders lost a yard from there but cut the lead to four on a 49-yard field goal by Jeff Jaeger.

The defense then held again, this time on three downs, forcing an Atlanta punt. The Raiders took over at their own 47 with 4:24 left.

“We got the field goal, which put us in a position where we had to get a touchdown,” Schroeder said later, sizing up the situation. “We just have to go down and get it.”

Schroeder came through big-time on third and 20 at his 37, connecting with Tim Brown on a 27-yard passing play. But what transpired thereafter might best be described as bewildering.

Wilson pounded out runs of seven and eight yards. Teammates on the sidelines could hardly contain their excitement for this unlikely secret weapon. But the drive collapsed in a heap on the Atlanta 20 at the two-minute warning.

Facing third and nine, the Raiders thought it wise to hand the ball on a draw to Wilson, who was stuffed for a three-yard loss. Raider Coach Art Shell said he was hoping to catch the Falcons off guard.

Shell said the play was foiled only by a missed blocking assignment.

“One of our guys got beat,” he said. “It could have broke for a big gain.”

Instead, it left the Raiders with a fourth and 12 at the 23 with 1:43 left.

Instead of trying to sustain the drive by trying to complete a pass for first down, Schroeder got greedy and went for the touchdown. His pass sailed over the head of his intended receiver, Brown, into the arms of cornerback Tim McKyer.

Receiver Mervyn Fernandez wandered the field uncovered inside the 10.

“If I go back and look at the film, I might have been able to hit Mervyn for the first down,” Schroeder admitted.

Instead, the Falcons took over, converted a key pass on third and five and ran out the clock.

Atlanta had secured its victory.

“They talked all week, that this would test where they’d be against a good football team,” Schroeder said. “I just wish a good football team showed up.”

The Raiders’ offense remains a serious concern. It squeaked out victories the last two weeks by scoring 16 points. Sunday, 17 points wasn’t enough. A lot of weeks it won’t be.

Schroeder completed only 10 of 32 passes for 116 yards. He had his moments, twice side-stepping a heavy rush in the first half to complete touchdown passes of four and five yards to tight end Andrew Glover and Ethan Horton.

But there weren’t enough moments. The Raiders were held to 159 yards, 72 rushing. Willie Gault did not catch a pass. Brown caught two.

“At some point, we have to come together and make some plays,” Brown said.

The defense, while generally holding Atlanta’s Red Gun offense in check, still allowed two critical scoring plays: a 25-yard pass from Miller to tailback Steve Broussard and a 46-yard scoring pass from Miller to Michael Haynes.

Worse yet, the Raiders gave Jerry Glanville the last word.

“If they were going to bring in the Tilt (offense), we were going to give them a headache,” he said of the Raiders’ unbalanced offensive line. “We knew by Thursday that we could play the Tilt. They can go play their pinball machine somewhere else.”

Raider Notes

Good news/bad news: Tailback Roger Craig made it through the game without aggravating his bruised left knee. However, he took a hit to his left shoulder in the second half and had to leave the game. Craig had X-rays taken afterward but results were not immediately available. Craig rushed for 24 yards in 14 carries. . . . Guard Max Montoya pulled his groin again and had to leave the game. “It’s very, very frustrating,” he said. “I’ve never had anything like this in my entire career. It’s not a good time to have an injury.” Montoya has been plagued by the pull since training camp. . . . Atlanta quarterback Chris Miller completed 17 of 31 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw three interceptions, giving him nine through four games. . . . How sloppy of a game was it? There were six penalties assessed on the Raiders’ four-play scoring drive in the third quarter. . . . Quarterback Jay Schroeder was sacked three times and took some vicious hits. “I think they’re back there to hit you, right?” he said. “That’s my job.” The Raiders’ defense recorded only one sack, but had three interceptions, two by Lionel Washington and one by Eddie Anderson.