Raiders Are Hardly Off and Running, as They Were a Year Ago

After six weeks in 1990, the Raiders were 5-1 with an uninjured Bo Jackson waiting on deck. The Raiders had restored confidence in quarterback Jay Schroeder, had scored an emotional comeback victory over the Seattle Seahawks at the Kingdome, and were off and running toward the AFC West title.

Through six weeks of 1991, the Raiders are 3-3 and groping for answers. Their offense is still a chalkboard concept. Their dream-team backfield of Marcus Allen and Jackson is history.

Allen remains on injured reserve with sprained knee ligaments. Jackson is expected to report in about 10 days, but this time he will arrive with a noticeable limp. Bo comes not to the rescue, but probably to fail the team physical and collect millions in salary and insurance settlements for the hip injury he suffered in a playoff game last January.

Not exactly the jump-start the Raiders were expecting.

Meanwhile, the Raiders’ conservative, no-frills, ground control offense has yet to score a touchdown rushing.

“We have 10 games left,” Coach Art Shell said Monday. “Hopefully we’ll score one.”

Not much is going right. In Sunday’s loss to the San Diego Chargers, Schroeder had at least four passes dropped or bobbled, two of which were intercepted.

“It’s frustrating,” Shell said. “I thought Jay threw the ball really well. We had receivers open. It was unfortunate for us that we dropped some balls. But they’re trying like hell and I know that. They want to make plays and we’ve just got to finish the plays.”

The Raider special teams played poorly. And tight end Ethan Horton committed an unsportsmanlike spike after scoring a touchdown, giving the Chargers a 15-yard kickoff advantage.

“You just can’t do things like that,” Shell said of Horton’s blunder.

Yet, despite his team’s woes, Shell said that he isn’t planning any major shake-ups or personnel changes. And although today is the NFL’s trading deadline, the Raiders aren’t planning any major deals.

Where do you find a faster receiver than Willie Gault? Where do you find one with more moves than Tim Brown? Better hands than the usually-reliable Mervyn Fernandez?

Holdout tailback Bobby Humphrey is on the trading block, but there is no chance the Denver Broncos will make such a deal within the division.

“There’s always talk,” Shell said of trade possibilities. “But no, I don’t expect anything right now.”

If Shell is anything he is patient and level-headed, a cool commander. Deep down, he knows this is basically the same 12-4 team that earned him coach-of-the-year honors in 1990.

For all their troubles, the Raiders trail division-leading Denver by only a game and have defeated the Broncos in their first meeting.

But there are serious concerns. It has been suggested more than once that Shell open up his mundane offense.

“We’ve tried passing, we’ve tried running,” he said. “What does ‘open up’ mean? If we’re passing, I assume that means we’re opening up.”

What isn’t happening isn’t because of lack of effort, Shell said.

“There’s a time to get tough with them and there’s a time not to,” he said. “They’re trying hard. We’ll point things out to them. We point out the positives, we point out the negatives. In my mind they’re trying hard. I know they are. No doubt in my mind they want to do well.”

If anything, Shell thinks his offensive players are pressing too hard.

“It could be,” Shell said. “Look, they want to score. We all want to score the seven points. We want to get the touchdowns. And sometimes you can drive yourself so hard, you’re trying so hard that maybe you start making mistakes that keep you from getting in there. We just have relax, believe in what we’re doing and execute.”