Familiar Faces Give a New Look to an Old Rivalry : Pro football: Allen, Montana will lead the Chiefs against the Raiders. Evans expected to start.

For three hours today, they will see him as a Kansas City Chief.

But for those who played with Marcus Allen, he will always be a Raider.

There is much at stake in today’s Raider-Chief matchup at Arrowhead Stadium, a meeting of 2-1 teams. And a lot of interesting faces in new places.

But the most intriguing matchup is Allen against the Raiders, the club to whom he supplied his talent, his leadership and his emotional competitiveness for the past 11 years.

In effect, it all came to an end on a Monday night in Miami last December when Allen went on national television to bare his soul about his feud with owner Al Davis.

Allen jumped at the chance to jump ship in the off-season as a free agent, but the running back left behind a lot of good friends.

That was obvious last week as the Raiders were asked over and over what it was going to be like to face their former teammate.

Never mind the words. The looks on most of their faces said this was going to be something special.

“I love Marcus like a brother,” defensive back Lionel Washington said. “But when it’s time to play, I’ll do what I do. We are going to try to shut him down. I’ll put a good hit on him and then I’ll pull him up.

“We are certainly not going to say, ‘Oh, it’s Marcus, so we’ll relax.’ He’s not going to relax on us.”

Linebacker Winston Moss smiled at the mention of Allen’s name.

“I think he did it (signing with the Chiefs) on purpose,” Moss said. “That way, he got to play the Raiders twice a year.

“As much as I like Marcus, I do not want him to have a big day. Competing against Marcus Allen will be the biggest challenge. I’m sure he can’t wait to face us.”

But cornerback Terry McDaniel downplayed any talk that facing Allen will be a unique experience.

“When I go out there, there are no faces with the uniforms, just numbers,” McDaniel said.

Even if there were no Allen, this game would be in the spotlight.

Barring a tie, one club will leave the field with a 3-1 record and at least a share of the AFC West lead. The other will be 2-2.

Now about those other faces trading places.

A year ago, quarterbacks Joe Montana and Vince Evans were both standing on the sidelines, Montana hoping to win back his starting job with the San Francisco 49ers and Evans hoping to finally win a starting job with the Raiders.

Both are expected to start today, Montana for the Chiefs, Evans making his first NFL start in an non-strike game in a decade as a fill-in for Jeff Hostetler, who has a sprained right ankle.

Then, there’s the Rocket. Is this finally Raghib Ismail’s week?

The receiver-return man was expected to be activated for opening day, but the Raiders believed that he wasn’t ready.

Ismail was expected to play in the Raiders’ second game after he was activated, but they believed that he still wasn’t ready.

He sat out the third game because of a strained back muscle.

Now, Ismail says that he is ready.

The Raiders figure to need all the help they can get. Kansas City has beaten the Raiders in seven of the nine meetings between them, playoffs included, since Marty Schottenheimer became the Chiefs’ coach in 1989. Kansas City has won six of the last seven meetings and five in a row at Arrowhead Stadium.

The only game the Chiefs lost this season was the one they had to play without Montana. With the four-time Super Bowl winner sidelined because of a wrist injury, Kansas City was beaten by the Houston Oilers, 30-0.

At 37, Montana has picked up right where he left off in San Francisco. He has completed 61.4% of his passes for 519 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions.

Allen, too, has picked up where he left off when his playing time was curtailed in Los Angeles. He is Kansas City’s leading rusher with 187 yards and a 5.2 average.

The Raiders might be happy to see Allen when they first take the field, but that feeling probably won’t last.