Bell Toils for L.A. in First Victory : Raiders: He scores on runs of 71 and two yards against the Oilers, 30-26.

Nick Bell dreams about making big plays.

Literally.

He daydreams about them in practice and tries to think about them before he dozes off at night.

“The subconscious mind can be a powerful thing,” the Raider running back explained.

So can a 6-foot-2, 250-pound running back with some blocking in front him.

It was sweet dreams for Bell on Saturday after he made two big plays during the Raiders’ 30-26 victory over the Houston Oilers before a Coliseum crowd of 40,145.

Bell was scheduled to play only the final 15 minutes, but he came in during the second quarter when Eric Dickerson had to leave because of bruised ribs. Dickerson’s injury is not believed to be serious.

Bell’s first big play came during the third quarter with the Raiders hanging onto a 9-6 lead.

Taking advantage of blocks from Derrick Gainer in the backfield and David Jones downfield, Bell broke a tackle by the Oilers’ Bo Orlando near the line of scrimmage and went 71 yards down the left side for a touchdown.

“Once David made the block, I was gone,” said Bell, who finished with 102 yards in 13 carries.

Bell later scored the winning touchdown on a two-yard run with a little more than two minutes to play, culminating a 12-play, 82-yard drive.

That drive was vintage Todd Marinovich as he bounced back from what could have been a crushing interception earlier in the fourth quarter.

On several occasions, his primary receivers covered, his blocking broken down, Marinovich scrambled until he found an open man.

“Todd is football,” said receiver Tim Brown, Marinovich’s favorite target Saturday. “It’s not just X’s and O’s. He’s a football player. He’s like a sandlot player. Go behind the black car and I’ll hit you.”

Marinovich, who completed 10 of 18 for 177 yards, connected with Brown on a 52-yard scoring pass play during the fourth quarter.

That put the Raiders, who finished the exhibition season 1-3, back in front, 23-19, after the Oilers had answered Bell’s 71-yard run with two scoring passes to Ernest Givins. Warren Moon hooked up with Givins on a 17-yard touchdown play and backup quarterback Cody Carlson came right back to Givins for an 18-yard score.

Marinovich’s big second half came after an impressive first half by Jay Schroeder, who has already been declared the starter for next week’s regular-season opener at Denver.

Raider Coach Art Shell has tried to make it plain from the opening of training camp that there is no quarterback controversy.

But his message was lost on many in the crowd Saturday whose minds were apparently made up before they hit the turnstiles.

They booed Schroeder, who threw three interceptions last week, when he trotted into the huddle for the first time. They booed him when he stood over center. And they booed him when he dropped back to pass.

But from that point on, there wasn’t much to boo. Schroeder completed his first six passes and seven of 10 overall for 92 yards. He also connected with Willie Gault on a 19-yard touchdown pass.

That gave the Raiders a 9-0 lead. They had opened the scoring with a first-quarter safety by Howie Long.

Two field goals by Al Del Greco, from 24 and 52 yards, made the score 9-6 at the half.

Overall, the Raiders’ first-line defense held the volatile run-and-shoot offense of the Oilers (4-1) to 129 yards in the first half.

When the first-liners left in the second half, the game opened up.

The score was 23-19 during the fourth quarter when Marinovich saw a pass intercepted by Darryll Lewis. Carlson then hit Corey Harris with a 12-yard touchdown pass to give Houston a 26-23 lead.

But Marinovich drove the Raiders downfield. When they reached the Oiler two, Bell came out of the huddle with visions of a nightmare.

He remembered all too well a week ago, when the same unit in nearly the same situation was stopped short of the goal line by the Washington Redskins.

“It would have been a big disappointment not to score this time,” Bell said.

This time, his dream became reality.

Raider Notes

Raider offensive lineman Dan Turk had to leave during the second half because of a knee injury. . . . Running back Marcus Allen sat out the game because of a bruised f oot. . . . The Raiders saw two apparent touchdowns called back because of penalties, a 66-yard punt return by Tim Brown and a 47-yard scoring pass from Todd Marinovich to Sam Graddy. . . . Houston quarterback Warren Moon completed 12 of 22 passes for 158 yards and a touchdown in his first appearance in Los Angeles since playing at Hamilton High.