No Regrets as the Raiders Finally Win : Pro football: They end their losing streak at eight games with a 13-10 victory over the Giants after spending a week putting four defeats behind them.

Finally.

After eight consecutive losses over two seasons. After four losses to start this season.

After two quarterbacks and two offensive coordinators; after blowing one lead at the end of regulation and another in overtime; after turnovers and fumbles; missing players and missed blocks; damaging penalties and crushing injuries; after bad bounces and equally bad karma the Raiders finally won Sunday, edging the New York Giants, 13-10, with a second-half rally and a great defensive effort before 43,103 at the Coliseum.

When Sunday’s game was over, the Raiders produced what had to be a record number of smiles for the locker room of a 1-4 team.

But they insisted they had put the four losses behind them before Sunday’s opening kickoff.

Veteran Marcus Allen held several player meetings during the week to try and provide some inspiration.

The Raiders took the field Sunday with a rallying cry: “No regrets.”

It seemed to be on the lips of every player when the game had ended

“That was it, no regrets,” Raider defensive lineman Bob Golic said. “I don’t care about the first four games. Nobody in this room cares about the first four games.

“We decided that, today, we were going to leave everything on the field. It you took anything home, you’d be cheating yourself and your teammates. If they have to take you out on a stretcher, so be it.”

Despite all the adrenaline, the game looked like another potential disaster for the Raiders during the first half.

During those first 30 minutes:

--Starting quarterback Todd Marinovich twice left the field injured, once because of a cut finger and bruised wrist and another time when a Giant fell on him, causing Marinovich to lose his breath.

--Receiver Tim Brown played the entire game with a sore left hamstring.

--Kicker Jeff Jaeger, already in a deep slump, missed two more field-goal attempts.

--The Giants moved into a 7-0 lead on Jarrod Bunch’s five-yard scoring run.

--And with 22 seconds to play in the half, New York was a yard away from taking a 14-0 lead.

A 32-yard Phil Simms-to-Stephen Baker pass from the Raider 33 set the Giants up for what might have been the clinching touchdown.

But New York began its final sequence of the half by using up its last timeout.

Although Rodney Hampton was twice stopped for no gain, the Giants were still operating from the one on first down because of two Raider penalties that moved the ball about as close to the end zone as it could be without actually touching the goal line.

No matter.

The clock was down to 15 seconds. With no way to stop it on the ground, the Giants had to go to the air or run the risk of losing the sure field goal.

When two Simms passes failed, the Giants had only five seconds remaining.

Matt Bahr came through with an 18-yard field goal to give them a 10-0 lead, but the Raiders seemed to gain more emotionally from stopping the touchdown.

They scored on their first drive of the third period, Jaeger breaking his personal drought with a 26-yard field goal to make the score 10-3.

When they got the ball back, the Raiders drove to the tying touchdown.

On a third-and-14 from the Raider 32-yard line, Marinovich, his finger bandaged, his ribs soothed, spotted Brown in single coverage on a deep out pattern at their 45.

At first, it appeared Marinovich had thrown short, New York cornerback Mark Collins going up for a possible interception.

Collins got his fingertips on the ball.

But no more.

Brown came over the top of Collins and smoothly picked off the ball as it skipped off Collins’ fingers.

“It was a big play, and I didn’t make it,” Collins said. “I jumped as high as I could, and the ball sailed a bit. I couldn’t grasp the ball.”

Any other day, Brown probably turns and easily streaks into the end zone.

But this was not any other day. This was a day when he was playing with that bad hamstring.

“I said before the game that the worst thing would be to have to go 80 yards today,” Brown said. “But it happened, and I was going to do the best I could.”

Did he depend on adrenaline?

“Adrenaline got me about 30 yards,” he said.

Brown went down the right sideline, made an inside cut on Greg Jackson and finally reached the end zone on a 68-yard play, longest of Marinovich’s young Raider career.

During the fourth quarter, Jaeger came through with a personal best of his own, kicking a 54-yard field goal for the winning points.

“It was a big weight off my shoulders,” Jaeger said. “It’s been really frustrating. I feel like I’ve been letting everybody down on every kick. It’s been tough.”

And then the Raider defense held on for the final Giant drive, one kept alive by a penalty against the Raiders.

With the Giants punting from their 35-yard line, the Raiders were penalized for having too many men on the field, Anthony Bell failing to get off in time.

Nevertheless, the Raiders let the Giants get no closer than the Raider 42.

Their defense held the Giants to 278 yards, including only 105 on the ground. The Raiders also intercepted one Simms pass and sacked him three times.

At least one member of the Giants (1-3) wasn’t convinced the Raiders were the better team. “We lost to a bunch of ducks,” New York linebacker Pepper Johnson said. “What category does that put us in?”

And what did he mean by calling the Raiders ducks?

“They’re not good,” he replied.

Until Sunday, Bob Golic agreed.

“We were embarrassed,” he said of the 0-4 start. “But nobody in this room is going to be embarrassed anymore.”

* MARINOVICH: The frustration of being without a victory as a starting NFL quarterback finally ends. C8

* ELWAY: His two touchdown passes in the final two minutes give the Denver Broncos a 20-19 victory. C8