Raiders Welcome Dry Run : Pro football: In exhibition game against 49ers today at Stanford, they will face offense used by division rivals Kansas City and Denver.

Some call it the West Coast offense.

Others, the Bill Walsh offense.

Still others, the Joe Montana offense.

Those who have been forced to play against it have been known to call it things unprintable in a family newspaper.

The basic elements are simple: Use split backs, two wide receivers and a tight end. Spread the offense out evenly, using all five as receivers. Stick to a short dropback by the quarterback, a quick attack and short passes. And make the personnel fit the game plan rather than vice versa.

Walsh and Montana used the offense to create a dynasty for the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980s.

Now, Montana has taken his talents to Kansas City and Walsh is coaching at Stanford.

But the system they created continues to prosper, and grow.

Variations have sprung up in Kansas City, naturally, and in Denver.

Because those are two key rivals for the Raiders in the AFC West, Coach Art Shell is happy his team is facing the 49ers in an exhibition game today at 1 p.m. at Stanford.

“It’s another West Coast offense, the original,” Shell said, “so it should help us get ready for Denver and Kansas City.”

Shell doesn’t see much difference with Coach George Seifert and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan on the sidelines instead of Walsh, and quarterback Steve Young in the backfield in place of Montana.

“It’s the same offense,” Shell said. “They are playing their people in the same patterns.”

There is one big difference.

“Joe ran when he had to,” Shell said. “Steve is the kind of guy who’ll run at the drop of a hat. He’s trying to be more patient, but he’s got 4.6 speed (in the 40-yard dash) and that’s running .”

The San Francisco game plan calls for Young to play 1 1/2 quarters this afternoon, with backup Steve Bono getting about the same amount of time. Bill Musgrave will play the fourth quarter.

Shell has much the same problem. He wants his new starter, Jeff Hostetler, to get as much time as possible to get accustomed to the Raider offense, a much more wide-open attack than he ran with the New York Giants.

So look for Hostetler to play the entire first half, just as he did in last weekend’s 19-3 exhibition victory over the Green Bay Packers.

That will leave the third quarter for backup Vince Evans. Last week, Todd Marinovich played the fourth quarter and rookie Billy Joe Hobert was used as a fill-in kicker for injured Jeff Jaeger. But Jaeger is sound again, meaning that any action Hobert gets will probably be at Marinovich’s expense.

The competition will continue for several other positions.

Alexander Wright will try to hold off veteran Willie Gault to remain the starting wide receiver on the left side. At this point, Gault might be competing with James Lofton for a roster spot.

Defensive lineman Anthony Smith will again battle for a starting role, Anthony Bell and Joe Kelly will continue their competition for the starting job at middle linebacker and strong safety Derrick Hoskins will keep working at staving off the challenge of rookie Patrick Bates.

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Traded by the Raiders to the 49ers during the offseason, receiver Mervyn Fernandez talked last Thursday about his frustrations last season.

“Art (Shell) called me in one day,” Fernandez told the San Francisco Chronicle, “and said he was going to start Tim Brown. . . . Then Tim Brown got hurt and I was behind him, but then they brought in Sam Graddy. I said, ‘Wait a minute. What’s going on here?’ and (Shell) said, ‘Well, that’s the way the cards are dealt sometime. You stay ready and you may get a shot.’ Then Sam got hurt and they brought in Alexander Wright. By that time, it was, ‘Let me out of here.’ ”

But Friday, apparently doubtful about his chances of making the 49ers, Fernandez, 33, decided it was let-me-out-of-here time again.

He announced his retirement.