Raiders Slipping Through the Cracks : Pro football: The Coliseum is restored, but L.A.’s performance again is a shambles against the Seahawks, 38-9.

No arm. No legs. No depth.

And no chance.

Depleted by injuries, demoralized by ejections and distracted by a critical defection, the Raiders were thoroughly and decisively beaten by the underdog Seattle Seahawks at the Coliseum on Sunday, 38-9.

It was the Raiders’ first appearance at the Coliseum since the January earthquake that caused $60 million in damage to the 71-year-old structure. While all the cracks and holes in the stadium have been nicely smoothed over, the cracks and holes in the Raiders seem to be widening daily.

Was it really only a week ago that this club was thought to have a shot at winning the Super Bowl?

At this point, winning a game seems beyond its reach.

Harsh?

Consider:

--The Raiders have lost both their games, by a cumulative score of 82-23.

--Their quarterback, Jeff Hostetler, either has a sore elbow, which he vehemently denies, or has simply lost his ability to throw a spiral.

--Their running game, already hurt by the season-ending injury to Napoleon McCallum a week earlier, remains inconsistent with no one able to step forward and claim the starting tailback job.

--Their players continue to lack the discipline to avoid costly penalties, three of them--Chester McGlockton, Aundray Bruce and Derrick Hoskins--getting ejected from Sunday’s debacle.

--Their defensive line, already hurt earlier in the week when end Scott Davis left the team because of “personal problems,” was further weakened Sunday when Jerry Ball suffered a pulled hamstring. With the earlier ejections of McGlockton and Bruce, the Raiders were down to four defensive linemen for most of the second half.

--And finally, even their most dependable big-game performer, Tim Brown, had an uncharacteristic day. Brown was unable to hang onto the ball, fumbling away a punt and letting a pass slip through his fingers for an interception.

Brown’s problems can be excused as a one-time thing. The others might be another matter.

The biggest concern has to be Hostetler, who looked at times Sunday as if he were throwing in a wind tunnel. That might have excused his performance a week earlier in Candlestick Park when he was throwing soft, fluttery passes that were often off target.

But there was no excuse Sunday. And no wind to speak of.

“There’s nothing physically wrong with him,” Coach Art Shell said of his quarterback. “He made some good throws. We dropped some balls om him. He missed a couple of shots. I think Jeff is fine.”

He didn’t look it. Several times, he had wide open receivers, but overthrew them. At times, he seemed to push the ball. The zip that enabled him to complete a club-record 15 consecutive passes in one game a year ago was missing. The arm that enabled him to throw for a club-record 424 yards in another game last season was malfunctioning.

And on those occasions when he reared back and fired, the long, smooth tight, perfectly placed passes of the past had been replaced by soft, high, wobbly throws that looked more like punts than passes. Some of them resembled the birds lazily sailing over the Coliseum on Sunday afternoon.

He hasn’t appeared right since the week of practice before the last exhibition. Hostetler started wearing a protective sleeve over the elbow at that point and sat out the final exhibition against the Houston Oilers. At the time, Shell said it was to protect Hostetler from the harsh artificial turf of the Astrodome.

On Sunday, Hostetler was still denying there was a problem.

“There’s nothing there,” he said in response to reports of an ailing arm. “If I had underthrown the ball, you could maybe say it had something to do with it. I had a couple of wide-open passes I needed to complete. We have to have those. (The fact that he didn’t complete them) may have had something to do with my arm, but it wasn’t anything to do with being hurt.”

Hostetler completed 17 of 36 for 181 yards. But he threw three interceptions and failed to complete a scoring pass.

Even those numbers are misleading. On one play, he attempted to hit Brown over the middle, but the ball was so far off target it sailed down the field and landed in the arms of teammate Alexander Wright, 15 yards away.

Still, with all the problems, the Raiders were in the game for the first half. Chris Warren’s four-yard run had given Seattle (2-0) the early lead.

An exchange of field goals, a 26-yarder by the Raiders’ Jeff Jaeger and a 33-yarder by the Seahawks’ John Kasay, made the halftime score 10-3.

But the most disastrous play of the game for the Raiders also occurred before halftime.

After a nine-yard run by Seahawk quarterback Rick Mirer, Raider linebacker Winston Moss hunched over Mirer and appeared to hit him in the face.

Enter Seahawk lineman Ray Roberts, who chased Moss down and shoved him.

Enter McGlockton, who went after Roberts.

Enter Bruce, who shoved Roberts.

Exit McGlockton, Bruce and Roberts, all ejected, and along with the two Raiders went the effectiveness of their defensive line.

After Ball was injured early in the third quarter, the Raiders were playing converted tight end John Duff and rookie Austin Robbins along with veterans Nolan Harrison and Anthony Smith. At times, the Raiders were forced to go to a three-man line.

Mirer threw three touchdown passes in the second half, a five-yarder to Brian Blades, a 40-yarder to Michael Bates and a 38-yarder to Warren. Seattle fullback Tracy Johnson closed out the scoring with a two-yard run. Twenty-four of the Seahawks’ points came after turnovers.

Cornerback Terry McDaniel accounted for the Raider scoring after intermission by returning a fumble 41 yards for the team’s only touchdown of the day.

“Everybody in that locker room is very low,” Shell said when the game had ended.

A lot lower than anybody dreamed the Raiders would be only one week ago.

Raider Notes

Defensive back Albert Lewis suffered a concussion when he collided with teammate Eddie Anderson, but the injury is not thought to be serious. . . . The Raiders were guilty of 13 penalties for 85 yards. . . . Seattle broke an eight-game losing streak against the Raiders.