Shell Tries Old Ploy; It Works : Raiders: As he did last season, coach tells players to forget past and start season afresh after bye. Team responds by winning in Denver.

It worked once, so why not again? In 1990, the Raiders lost two consecutive games after a bye and fell to 6-3, with a heavyweight schedule to follow.

Coach Art Shell, working a psychological angle, reduced the remaining games to a separate mini-season and challenged his players to forget the past.

The Raiders won six of their last seven games to finish 12-4.

The crisis was more pronounced this season when the Raiders dropped to 5-4 after a tough loss Oct. 28 in Kansas City. Still, Shell dusted off an old script and gave it another read.

His team responded Sunday with the first victory of the rest of their season, a 17-16 decision over Denver that kept the Raiders in the divisional race.

“I said it was not out of the realm that we can’t win all seven games,” Shell said he told his team before the Bronco game.

It was some chore, what with Denver, New Orleans, Buffalo and Kansas City remaining on the schedule. But Shell is 5-0 against Denver Coach Dan Reeves. Who could have predicted that?

“I wanted them to forget the record as it was,” Shell said. “Forget the 5-4, that’s behind you now. There are seven games in front of you. What are you going to do with these seven games? That will determine your season for you.”

Shell’s Raiders are not what they were at this point last year. His team is in third place, not first. His Raiders lead the league in penalties and last-minute finishes.

Shell’s Raiders don’t have Bo Jackson to bust moves down a stretch. They didn’t have much of Marcus Allen or guard Max Montoya until Sunday, when both returned from injuries.

Shell’s Raiders don’t know week to week who’s going to end up in the backfield. One day it was Marcus Wilson.

With Roger Craig nursing an injury Sunday and hoping no one would notice, Shell shipped in former Navy back Napoleon McCallum, who had been collecting barnacles on the bench until getting his fourth-quarter summons.

Usually on mop-up duty, McCallum carried four times for 19 yards in prime time against the Broncos, proving Shell isn’t afraid to dig deep into his bench.

“He’s not an exciting-looking guy running the football,” Shell said of McCallum, “but what he gets is positive yardage.”

Craig would run through a wall for his team, but that’s the problem. Walls hurt. Craig gained 58 yards in 12 carries Sunday before he felt a rib pop out of place.

Shell saw Craig clutching his side on the sideline and reached for another card, McCallum.

This wasn’t how Shell’s backfield rotation was supposed to work.

“He wouldn’t have had to carry as many carries as he’s had with all our people healthy,” Shell said of Craig. “If it’s an injury where a guy really can’t handle it, I will not play him. The injuries he’s had, it’s tough to keep him out of there. He wants to play so bad, but if I think it’s a threatening injury, I will not play him.”

Shell handled Allen delicately in his first game back, using him primarily as the Raiders’ third-down receiving back. Shell said Allen’s playing time will increase substantially in upcoming weeks.

Shell’s role this season has been to keep a leaky boat afloat long enough for help to arrive. Shell took a good, hard look at his team at 5-4 and determined that, however flawed, his team has the makings of a contender.

“The players all played hard,” he said. “There was no lack of effort on anybody’s part. . . . If we don’t turn the ball over, if we don’t give up the easy touchdowns, if we don’t make stupid penalties on special teams, things are going to go our way.”

They did Sunday, when big James FitzPatrick saved a Raider victory when he blocked a last-second field-goal attempt.

Maybe it was the start of something big.