It Might Be Easy to Look Ahead, but Shell Says Raiders Won’t
Their egos lifeboat-inflated after Sunday’s blowout at Black Bottom, the Raiders can confidently look past two NFL weaklings in consecutive weeks and concentrate on a home-stretch triple play against Buffalo, New Orleans and Kansas City.
That summation, of course, is the stuff of Coach Art Shell’s worst nightmare in the wake of an impressive 31-7 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
Preventing his team from drawing such a conclusion is why Shell makes the big bucks.
What’s a 25-year Raider to think otherwise?
“Let’s see, we just demolished the Seahawks at home and the coach wants me to lose sleep over Cincinnati, 1-10, then San Diego, 3-8? Maybe the coach needs to loosen up with some Nintendo.”
Well, stand back and watch Shell. This is a man who hates to look past the end of his desk.
“No, we’re not trying to save anything.” he said Monday. “We can’t afford to in light of what’s been happening to us during the season. We’ve been up and down. And if you start looking toward the last three games of the year, or the last four games of the year, then you’re going to set yourself up for a fall. We can’t afford to do that. Maybe Washington can, but we can’t.”
Shell can build a convincing case for any opponent, no matter the challenge. Take Cincinnati: The Bengals, defanged as they might appear, are essentially the same Bengals who gave the Raiders all they could handle in last year’s playoffs.
The Chargers? This one requires Shell only to point to the Chargers’ 24-21 win over New Orleans Sunday, or to the Chargers’ 21-13 win over the Raiders on Oct. 6.
Shell acknowledges that the Raiders overlooked a few opponents during his playing days. Back then, who didn’t? What pregame speech prepares you for Tampa Bay Buccaneers of 1976?
“You can’t do that anymore,” Shell said. “The talent is being equally distributed. I think there is a fine line between winning and losing in this league. You’ve got stars on each team. The teams that don’t make mistakes are the teams that are normally going to win the football game.”
Just because Shell won’t look ahead, though, doesn’t mean the rest of the world can’t take a peek:
--Denver. The Broncos lead the division at 8-3 and have the clearest path to the title, courtesy of a cupcake fifth-place schedule. And that’s thanks to last year’s 5-11 finish. Denver drew the New England Patriots twice this season. Shouldn’t there be a law?
The Broncos close the season against Seattle, New England, Cleveland, Phoenix and San Diego, losers all, with a combined record of 19-37.
--Kansas City. The Chiefs, tied with the Raiders for second at 7-4, face Cleveland, Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco and the Raiders. The keys: What kind of team will the Chargers, who have won two straight, be on Dec. 8?
And, will 49er quarterback Steve Young be back at full strength to face the Chiefs on Dec. 14 at Candlestick Park?
--Buffalo. It’s Murderers’ Row starting Dec. 8 at home against the Bills, who exposed some Raider tendencies in 1990. Then the Raiders play at New Orleans on Dec. 16 before closing the season at home against the Chiefs, who have defeated the Raiders three straight times.
Based on a series sweep, the Raiders will win the division title if they tie for first with Denver.
