In Raiders’ Numbers Game, They Have One That Counts

Such is the state of the Raiders that they can render Bengals and statistics meaningless.

Sunday, the Raiders rolled out numbers you shouldn’t bring home with your offensive coordinator: 19 net yards passing, 176 total yards.

The Cincinnati Bengals outgained them by more than 100 yards in offense and averaged more yards per play, five to 4.6.

But the Bengals lost, 38-14. And it wasn’t that close.

The Elias Sports Bureau reports that the last time a team had fewer net yards passing in a game than the Raiders was 1989, when Pittsburgh was held to 17 yards. The difference was the Steelers lost, 51-0.

Yet the only statistic of real interest to the Raiders is three consecutive victories and a share of the AFC West lead with Denver at 8-4. And because the Raiders have swept the Broncos, first place is technically theirs.

The Raiders, who have outscored their opponents the last two weeks, 69-21, hardly resemble the team that dropped to 3-3 on Oct. 6 with a home loss to the previously winless San Diego Chargers.

With a season on the brink, the Raiders have won five of six games since and suddenly control their course. Four victories to close the season will earn them their second consecutive division title.

Raider goals that were once modest--score a rushing touchdown, stay in the race--have grown with each passing week. When the team dropped to 5-4 after a Monday night loss to Kansas City, the Raiders were rightly branded as wild-card fodder.

But November caught Denver and Kansas City napping, and the Raiders have surged.

“We had seven games left, and (reporters) were sold that all these teams were going to win all the games they had remaining,” Coach Art Shell said of the Chiefs and Broncos. “I didn’t feel that way. I just felt, as you go along, with seven games to go, if we took care of business, somewhere along the line . . . we had to play some of these teams anyway. We still do. Things have a way of working themselves out.”

Take Sunday, when a Raider victory and losses by the Broncos and Chiefs vaulted Shell’s team into first place.

Ah, but the rest is yet to come.

“You can’t be totally satisfied,” Shell said. “I’ve said all along, if we took care of our own business, at the end of the year, we’d be standing tall, where we want to be.”

The Raiders must protect their lead against San Diego, then Buffalo, New Orleans and Kansas City.

The Broncos face New England, Phoenix, Cleveland, and San Diego. That seemed an easy route until the upstart Patriots beat the Bills on Sunday, and Cleveland defeated the Chiefs.

Although all victories count the same, it’s important to be headed in the right direction in late November. The Broncos have struggled recently, having lost two of their last three.

The Raiders, meanwhile, are riding the wave of their two most explosive scoring outbursts of the season. The Raider running game is finally producing after weeks of struggle, and it’s no coincidence that the surge has coincided with the full-time return of right guard Max Montoya.

“The group is back together as a unit, playing, not to take anything away from the people we’ve had to utilize in those situations, like (James FitzPatrick) and Reggie (McElroy),” Shell said. “But Max is a big part of what we do up front, and his being back in there has to help us.”

Shell said that he expects the running game to continue gaining momentum.

“You’ve got to hold tight early in the year,” Shell said. “Toward the end of the season, you’d better be getting it in gear.”