After 31 Years, They Still Seek Checkmate : Raiders: Nick Bell is an attempt to counter the Chiefs’ Christian Okoye, but who can catch Harvey Williams at Kansas City tonight?

The American Football League series began Sept. 16, 1960, when the Dallas Texans took on the Oakland Raiders, who changed their original name from the Senors after it was learned the team’s use of the Spanish word was ungrammatical.

OK, it was dumb, too.

The Texans moved to Kansas City and became the Chiefs. The Raiders roosted in Oakland until 1981 before moving south. In various incarnations, the teams have been matching wits for 31 years and resume a deep-rooted rivalry tonight at Arrowhead Stadium with a stake in the AFC West in the balance. Both teams have 5-3 records.

The Chiefs were the weaker half of the rivalry for the better part of two decades before Coach Marty Schottenheimer arrived in 1989. Kansas City is back in full force now, evoking 1960s memories of when Al Davis and Chief Coach Hank Stram maneuvered players against each other like chess pieces.

In 1967, Davis drafted future Hall of Fame guard Gene Upshaw to control Kansas City’s menacing defensive tackle, Buck Buchanan.

The wheels are still spinning in 1991. The Chiefs possess one of the most unique runners in football in tailback Christian Okoye, the 260-pound Nigerian who led the NFL with 1,480 rushing yards in 1989.

Bob Golic of the Raiders, when asked what kind of stress Okoye causes an opposing nose tackle, responded, “A stress fracture, actually.”

The Raiders have countered with a 252-pounder of their own--rookie tailback Nick Bell. Okoye, stunned by the death of his newborn child before training camp last season, rushed for only 805 yards in 1990, but another big back, 242-pound Barry Word, rushed for 1,015 yards.

The one-two punch of Okoye and Word allowed Kansas City to power its way to a series sweep over the Raiders in 1990. Rushing was supposed to be the Raiders game.

Okoye is back in top form this season, having rushed for 699 yards and averaged 4.6 yards per carry. The Chief offense has been pared to a few predictable running plays and an occasional play-action pass from quarterback Steve DeBerg.

Knowing Okoye is coming is one thing. Stopping him is another.

“The key thing to stopping Okoye is to make sure he runs laterally,” Raider Coach Art Shell said. “Once he gets his shoulder pads turned up field he can be awfully tough. You’d better tackle him around his ankles. You tackle him up top and he’s like a tank. He’s going to drag you along.”

Golic, who weighs 275 pounds, didn’t believe it until he met up with Okoye a few years ago.

“They talk about how you have to tackle him low,” Golic said. “I thought that was a very unmanly thing to do. So I hit him in the face and lost feeling in both arms.”

Bell is fast becoming the Raiders’ featured back. He is almost Okoye’s size, with better speed and moves. Bell has rushed for 186 yards and averaged four yards per carry in limited action.

The Chiefs have countered with a burst of speed named Harvey Williams, a rookie tailback from Louisiana State who is averaging five yards per carry.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” Schottenheimer said, “When Harvey’s in the game, it’s played with a different speed. He’s got tremendous acceleration, speed, and obviously, is very much a compliment for a guy like Christian or Barry.”

Although the Raiders held off Kansas City to win the AFC West last season, they still are kicking themselves over two losses to the Chiefs by a margin of five points. The Raiders had chances to win both games and had only themselves to blame.

A victory in either game would have landed the Raiders home-field advantage in the AFC championship game. Instead, they traveled to Buffalo and were humiliated. In a 9-7 loss at Kansas City on Nov. 4, the Raiders had the ball at the Chief 49 with 10 minutes left. A field goal would have meant the lead, but Shell instructed Jay Schroeder to throw two deep passes into a biting crosswind. Both fell incomplete, as did Schroeder’s third-down attempt.

Marcus Allen and Bo Jackson looked on from the Raider backfield.

In the rematch three weeks later at the Coliseum, two second-half fumbles by Schroeder led to two touchdowns in a 27-24 defeat.

The Raiders were still in the game at the end, but the Chiefs ran out the final 4:19 on the clock, the Raider defense unable to make a stand.

“I think they understand and remember what happened last year,” Shell said. “Those were two games that we had the opportunity to win that we let get away from us.”

Raider Notes

The Raiders are kings of Monday Night Football, owning a 29-6-1 overall record. This should be quite a test, though. The Chiefs have beaten their last two home opponents, Buffalo and Miami, by a total of 62 points. The Chiefs beat the Bills, 33-6, on an Oct. 7 Monday night game at Arrowhead. “We’re clearly not 27 points better than the Buffalo Bills,” Coach Marty Schottenheimer said. The Chiefs proved it last week with a 19-16 road loss to Denver. Schottenheimer never has had much luck with the Broncos, losing two AFC championship games to Denver while coaching the Cleveland Browns. Schottenheimer: “You know, I told somebody my experience with the Bronces leaves me in kind of a position where I didn’t even try to figure it out anymore.”

The Raiders and Chiefs haven’t played against each other on Monday night since 1977. . . . Kansas City’s defense is giving up 11.9 points per game. The secondary hadn’t given up a scoring pass for 19 quarters until Denver’s John Elway threw one last week. The defense still hasn’t yielded a 300-yard passing game. . . . The Raiders lead the overall series vs. Kansas City, 35-26-2. The teams have played twice each season since 1960, except in strike-shortened 1982, when they played once.