Raiders Really Need a Pep Talk at the Half : Is a 3-5 Record All Fans Can Expect, or Can Shell’s Team Turn It Around?

What’s wrong with the Raiders?

Ask a dozen people and you’ll get a dozen answers.

From Al Davis in the owner’s box to Coach Art Shell on the sidelines to the fan in the 76th row, everybody has solutions. But none have worked.

Switch quarterbacks. Rotate running backs. Bench wide receivers. Demote offensive coordinators. Vary defensive schemes. Trade for a kick returner. Shuffle the offensive line.

You name it, the Raiders have tried it.

Yet, despite a roster of talent that includes Tim Brown, Marcus Allen, Ronnie Lott, Eric Dickerson, Howie Long, Anthony Smith and Todd Marinovich, the Raiders stand 3-5 at the halfway point of their season and have beaten only one good team, the Buffalo Bills.

Asked about his club’s struggles the other day, Shell said, “Execution has been the problem for us.”

If it were only that simple.

That answer seems to indicate that the right players and right game plan are in place. All that needs to be done now is produce on the field.

But as the Raiders head into the second half of the season after a bye this week, the questions about this ’92 club run much deeper.

Following is a rundown, position by position:

QUARTERBACK

Veteran Jay Schroeder began this season as inconsistent as he had been at the end of last year.

Shell kept insisting that there was no quarterback controversy, but he was drowned out by the boos of the Coliseum fans and the uproar on every media outlet in town.

The Raiders finally pulled the trigger after their second game, giving the job to Marinovich, the second-year man.

But he has played like, well, like a man in his second year. Keep in mind that Marinovich is really a rookie, having played in only two games last season.

Of all the successful quarterbacks in recent memory, only the Miami Dolphins’ Dan Marino was able to succeed at the most complicated position in the NFL in his first season.

Marinovich has performed coolly at times and lost his poise at others, thrown interceptions when he should have taken a sack and completed clutch passes when he appeared to be sacked.

He is clearly still a project in process.

Question: Can he mature fast enough to make a difference in the second half?

RUNNING BACK

After eight games, the Raiders still can’t make up their minds who they want running the ball.

And the result has been a running game stuck in neutral.

They traded for Eric Dickerson, the second-leading rusher in NFL history, they start him and he is their leading rusher with 347 yards gained. But they rarely give him the ball in the second half.

They do give the ball to Marcus Allen, the leading rusher in Raider history, whenever the game is on the line and they need a clutch carry, but seldom otherwise.

And they give the ball to Nick Bell, the second-year man, only when they can work him in.

Question: Will they settle on somebody for the second half?

RECEIVER

The Raiders began the year with Willie Gault and Mervyn Fernandez as the starters and game-breaker Tim Brown next in line.

They also had high hopes for Sam Graddy.

Only Gault’s status has remained unchanged. He enjoyed a productive first half-season with 19 catches, three for touchdowns. All of last season, he caught only 20 passes, four for scores.

Brown has been promoted to a starting spot, Fernandez has been demoted, having caught only seven passes all season, and Graddy is out with a broken wrist.

Tight end Ethan Horton has quietly gone about his job, catching 17 passes, second among the receivers.

Question: None, as long as the starters stay healthy and productive.

OFFENSIVE LINE

Problems began when veteran guard Max Montoya suffered a knee injury in the second game, knocking him out for six weeks.

The right side of the line was further disrupted when tackle Steve Wright was shuffled in and out of the lineup because of injuries and inconsistent play.

Center Don Mosebar remains the anchor of the line.

Question: Can Montoya come back to lend his steadying influence?

DEFENSIVE LINE

The shuffling began in training camp with the holdouts of Greg Townsend and Scott Davis and an injury to Chester McGlockton, the team’s No. 1 draft choice.

Townsend eventually showed up, Davis never did. In effect, neither has McGlockton, who has been on and off the active roster because of a lingering foot injury.

But the spectacular play of Anthony Smith--he has a conference-leading nine sacks--and Nolan Harrison has filled the holes, complementing Howie Long and Townsend.

Questions: Has Bob Golic lost his job? Has Smith won the right to be a starter? Will McGlockton ever get healthy?

LINEBACKER

The play of left linebacker Aaron Wallace has been a pleasant surprise on a unit that was thought to be a weak link.

Riki Ellison in the middle, Winston Moss on the right and Anthony Bell in reserve have all contributed.

But the linebacking has been emblematic of the entire defense.

One week, the Raiders hold Buffalo’s Thurman Thomas to 52 yards on the ground. Another week, they give up 152 yards rushing to the Dallas Cowboys’ Emmitt Smith.

The Raiders went 10 quarters without giving up a touchdown, but gave up four in one game to the Cleveland Browns’ Eric Metcalf, who hasn’t scored before or since.

Question: Will they find consistency in the second half?

DEFENSIVE BACKS

The Raiders have generally shown consistency here with Lionel Washington and Terry McDaniel at the corners and Ronnie Lott and Eddie Anderson at the safety positions.

But even the secondary has suffered its share of breakdowns, such as the clutch pass by John Elway in his game-winning drive in the season opener and Metcalf’s big scoring catches.

The Raiders have intercepted a division-low five passes.

Question: Can the secondary force the turnovers so blatantly missing from the Raider defense? They have only nine take-aways, tying the New England Patriots for the AFC low.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Kicker Jeff Jaeger has symbolized the up-and-down season of the special teams.

Early on, he had trouble finding the uprights, missing six of his first 11 field-goal attempts. But since then, he has made five of seven, including a career-long 54-yarder and a 53-yarder.

A costly fumble on a kick return cost the Raiders a game in Cincinnati and they spent much of the first half looking for kick returners.

But both punter Jeff Gossett and punt returner Tim Brown are among the conference leaders.

Question: Have the special teams finally put their problems behind them?

But the overriding question remains about the ’92 Raiders heading into the second half.

Has this club merely suffered from lack of execution, lack of consistency and bad breaks, or is this simply a bad team?