A Reduced Role Angers Allen : Pro football: Raiders drop their three-back rotation, place their 11-year veteran behind Dickerson and Bell.

The Raiders took the ball out of Marcus Allen’s hands Wednesday.

And Allen took it personally.

Allen was uncharacteristically angry upon learning that he had been demoted to third running back behind Eric Dickerson and Nick Bell.

Shell announced that he will abandon the team’s unsuccessful three-back rotation, going with Dickerson as the starter and Bell as the finisher.

And where does that leave Allen, an 11-year veteran and the leading rusher in Raider history?

“Third downs,” Shell said, “short yardage and goal-line situations.”

Allen had accepted his gradual demotion in the Raider organization stoically, refusing to address his decreased playing time, his failure to get a raise for several seasons or his alleged feud with owner Al Davis.

But Wednesday, Allen’s emotions took over. “It’s typical of the way the Raiders operate,” he said of the change in the backfield. “Sometimes, I think they’re keeping me here to torture me.”

On Tuesday, a federal judge in Los Angeles announced that Allen’s free-agency suit against the league will not go to trial before June 1. Although Shell had hinted on Monday that a change in the running back situation might be forthcoming for this week’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Allen indicated he thought the move might have been motivated by anger over his upcoming trial.

“The morning I get a court date on the calendar,” he said, “I come back and they demote me. You figure it out.”

How did Allen learn of his new role?

“I got it from Art,” he said. “They sugarcoated it.”

Shell painted a different picture in explaining the move.

“It’s very difficult to play three guys,” he said. “Eric, when he’s been given the opportunity to work, has been productive. Nick is a young guy who we feel is the future. We need to get him going. He’s a big back so, when he gets in late in the game when people are tired, he makes the plays. Playing three guys is very difficult to do. You hurt the team. You just can’t do it. You can’t keep everybody happy.”

While Allen wasn’t happy over the news, Dickerson didn’t conceal his joy over finally getting a chance to show he still has the skills that have enabled him to become the second leading rusher in NFL history.

“I have been disappointed in my role,” Dickerson said. “The most important thing is to win, but if they give me the ball, I know I can do very well.”

Dickerson leads the Raiders with 347 yards rushing in 95 carries. Bell has rushed 30 times for 172 yards, Allen 42 times for 159 yards.

But the Raiders’ last game, a 28-13 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, illustrates the problem. Dickerson rushed for 34 yards in four carries in the first quarter, serving as a key figure in the Raiders’ game-opening touchdown drive. But Dickerson only got four more carries the rest of the game, gaining eight yards.

“My role was never explained to me when I came here,” said Dickerson, who joined the Raiders via an off-season trade. “But I’ve always gone in thinking I’d play four quarters even if I knew I wasn’t going to.”

Dickerson said he had recently studied scoring sheets he had saved from some of his best games. He noted that, in those games, he usually gained the biggest chunk of yardage in the second half.

“They can’t give me the ball enough, to get me tired,” he said.