ANALYSIS : Raiders Need to Regroup

What happened?

How did the Raiders go from a team penciled in for a Super Bowl berth to a team being crossed off the list of contenders in one week?

From excellence to embarrassment. Were they ever that good? Are they really this bad?

Even Coach Art Shell conceded that “maybe I overrated the talent on this team.” He added that he didn’t believe he had, but others are not so sure.

Media representatives, football experts and coaches across the nation were touting a team that seemed to have filled all its needs in a busy off-season.

Faced with a suspect running game, they signed fullback Tom Rathman and tailback Harvey Williams, drafted Nebraska ballcarrier Calvin Jones and added huge offensive lineman Kevin Gogan.

Faced with the retirement of defensive lineman Howie Long, they brought Scott Davis out of retirement and signed veteran Jerry Ball.

Faced with questions about depth in their secondary, they signed veteran Albert Lewis, coming off one of his best seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs.

It looked good on paper. But two games into the season--games the Raiders have lost by a combined score of 82-23--that paper has been trashed.

Now, an 0-2 record is not sufficient reason to give up on a team. The Dallas Cowboys, for instance, were 0-2 last year and went on to have a pretty good year.

But they were without only one key player for those games, running back Emmitt Smith. The Raiders’ problems run much deeper and, in fairness to the prognosticators, could not have been predicted.

For example:

--No one knew during the summer of optimism that quarterback Jeff Hostetler would either injure his elbow, which appeared to be the case Sunday, although he denies it, or simply lose his touch.

He looked better on Monday in practice, making a few short throws with crispness. But without an effective running game, the Raiders will be lost without their quarterback. They built their offensive game plan on the fleet feet of the fastest receiving corps in the league. But without a strong arm to get them the ball, those receivers might as well join atrack team.

--No one knew that Napoleon McCallum would suffer a season-ending knee injury in the opener. McCallum, though not blessed with great speed, had developed into an effective runner on short-yardage plays. He scored three touchdowns in the regular season last year in only 37 carries and added five more scores in two playoff games.

With Rathman to block for him, McCallum figured to get some more. Rathman has shown an ability to rush for touchdowns himself in the past, but who will block for him?

--No one knew Davis would walk out on the team after the season opener, leaving a gaping hole in the defensive line.

None of those things could have been anticipated by the Raiders. Several other things, however, could be or could have been done.

They chose running back Williams, saying he could do the job. And maybe he could, if he ever got the ball.

Instead, the Raiders have stuck with Ty Montgomery, a converted wide receiver, as the starting tailback. Williams got only four carries against the San Francisco 49ers in the first game and only five in Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks. It’s hard to tell from that what he can do.

Give him the ball and let’s find out.

Knowing that Davis has left football unexpectedly twice before, the Raiders might have given themselves some insurance by keeping veteran Greg Townsend, rather than releasing him at the start of training camp.

And they might have kept another veteran, middle linebacker Joe Kelly, rather than cutting him because of salary-cap considerations. Second-year man Greg Biekert has made big strides since last year and figures to get even better. But for now, the Raiders have a defense that has given up the most points in the league.

There are still 14 games to play. Plenty of time for the Raiders to get back to respectability if their quarterback is injury-free, if they find a tailback, if Davis comes back, if they get more help on the defensive line and if the huge number of penalties can be reduced.

That’s a lot more ifs than there were seven days ago. But that was back when the name Raiders was followed by an exclamation mark rather than a question mark.