PRO FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : RAIDERS : Close Games Even Up, but at the Wrong Time

A tough overtime loss to Buffalo won’t soon be forgotten, but the Raiders can be thankful for all the close games they didn’t lose this season.

Five of the Raiders’ nine victories were decided by three or fewer points, three on the last play.

“We hate that it got away,” Coach Art Shell said of Sunday’s 30-27 loss to the Bills at the Coliseum. “The idea is to win more of those than you lose. You’re not going to win in all those situations. We’ve won our share of those.”

Wide receiver Mervyn Fernandez, who pleaded not guilty in Torrance last Friday to two felony charges of indecent exposure, had little to say about the matter after Sunday’s game.

“I really don’t want to comment on that right now,” he said. “I’m going to court for it, so I’m going to have to deal with it.”

On Oct. 30, Fernandez allegedly exposed himself to a woman from the balcony of his El Segundo apartment. He was freed on $5,000 bail pending a preliminary hearing on Jan. 14 in Inglewood Municipal Court.

Shell acknowledged that his defense was affected at the end of Sunday’s game because of Buffalo’s no-huddle offense.

“They might have gotten a little tired,” Shell said. “They were running a lot of snaps in a hurry. There wasn’t a lot of breathing in between.”