Opposites Attack Tonight : Pro football: Confident Raiders try to build toward a big season against unsure Rams in Anaheim.

One team, confident of its direction, views tonight’s game as just another dress rehearsal, an elaborate practice session complete with officials and a big crowd.

The other team, unsure where it is going--on the field or off--sees tonight’s game as crucial, as important as anything that will follow. It is time for this club to stop practicing and start producing.

The Raiders and the Rams.

They share Southern California and they’ll share the field tonight when they meet in an exhibition game at Anaheim Stadium.

But they share little else.

The Raiders appear headed for a successful season. Even Art Shell, the team’s usually reticent coach, concedes that his team is talented.

A victory tonight would be nice, but the Raiders have already proved what they can do in this exhibition season, having beaten their division archrival, the Denver Broncos, in Barcelona, and the defending Super Bowl champion Cowboys in Dallas, before losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers last week.

The Raiders will be more concerned with some key personnel decisions that have to be made before the season opener two weeks hence.

Who will be the starting running backs?

Will Greg Biekert or Rob Fredrickson be able to do the job as the starting middle linebacker?

Will starting wide receiver Alexander Wright hold off the challenge of James Jett?

Can Nick Bell, the starting fullback in this game a year ago, hang onto a roster spot at tight end?

Is Scott Davis ready to take a spot as a starter on the defensive line?

Where will veteran defensive back Albert Lewis fit into the secondary?

Ty Montgomery has been the starting tailback this exhibition season, with Napoleon McCallum at fullback, both of them returning to the roles they filled at the end of last season. But waiting in the wings are the two high-profile free agents signed in the off-season, tailback Harvey Williams and fullback Tom Rathman.

Is Rathman, a veteran of eight years in the league and two Super Bowls, expecting to be the opening-night starter?

“I’ve got to believe I’m expecting that,” he said. “It’s a good situation here, but at the same time, I don’t know what they’re thinking. I feel like I need to establish myself and earn the job as opposed to them giving it to me.

“I’m not frustrated at the way they’re handling things at this point. It’s good. Nap and Ty have been here a long time and they deserve to be there right now. It’s going to take somebody proving themselves to get them out of the starting spots.”

Besides, the Raiders have never put a big premium on who starts. They have always been more concerned with who finishes.

As for concern over the Raider running game, which sank to a preseason low last Saturday when the team gained only 50 yards rushing, it is difficult to form any solid opinions based on the exhibitions.

That’s because:

--The Raiders’ proficiency with the passing game hasn’t left much time for the running game to develop.

--No back has been in there long enough to develop a rhythm.

--The Steelers put up an eight-man front at times last week, yet the Raiders kept running. That would not figure to be the case in a game that counted.

On the other side of the field tonight is a team that knows who will do the running.

But not much else.

Jerome Bettis, coming off a season in which he gained 1,429 yards, is the primary ballcarrier.

But he and quarterback Chris Miller are only going to be as successful as their offensive line. And right now, that’s not too successful.

Coach Chuck Knox keeps moving his linemen around, trying to find an effective combination.

“It’s still an evaluation process,” he said.

It’s definitely not an evolution process, because the Rams have decided to go back to experience over youth, putting 18-year veteran Jackie Slater into the lineup for tonight’s game at right tackle in place of two-year veteran Darryl Ashmore.

After having 99 yards of offensive output called back last week against the New England Patriots because of penalties, after top draft choice Wayne Gandy, the left tackle, was whistled four times for lining up illegally, Knox has shaken up his line again, looking for stability from Slater, 40.

Knox will also put Bill Schultz in at left guard in place of Tom Newberry.

“What I would like to see first is the elimination of the self-inflicted wounds, the lining up off-side, for example,” Knox said. “You don’t give yourself a chance to win if it’s first and 15.”

The Rams haven’t done much winning of late, regular season or exhibition season. They were 5-11 last year, have lost seven consecutive exhibition games over the last three years and are 0-2 this summer, having lost to the Green Bay Packers on the road and New England at home.

The Rams have scored only one touchdown in the two games.

Add to that the uncertainty over where they will play after this season and last week’s home crowd of 24,847 is understandable.

The Raiders have agreed to play in the Coliseum this season after extensive, costly reconstruction work repaired the earthquake damage. But owner Al Davis wants some assurances about improvements to the old stadium before signing a long-term deal.

The Rams aren’t ready to sign anything in Anaheim. Instead, they are looking at their options around the country.

So tonight these teams meet, perhaps for the last game of this summer freeway series.

By next year, who knows?

Occasional Rivals

It’s only about 30 miles from the Coliseum to Anaheim Stadium, but proximity hasn’t done much to get the Los Angeles football teams together on a football field since the Raiders moved here for the 1982 season. A look at the results of their meetings since the move: Year: Result

1982: Raiders 37, Rams 31

1985: Raiders 16, Rams 6

1988: Rams 22, Raiders 17

1991: Raiders 20, Rams 17

*1992: Rams 24, Raiders 10

*1993: Raiders 20, Rams 19

* Exhibition season