That Sideline Incident Was ‘Just Talk’ : Pro football: Raider Coach Art Shell tries to downplay his argument with Jeff Hostetler as merely part of the game. Quarterback says he has ‘no regrets.’

A day after shouting at quarterback Jeff Hostetler on the sideline, Los Angeles Raider Coach Art Shell downplayed the incident, calling it “just talk.”

Hostetler said the argument stemmed from his changing plays sent in by the coach. He said it was his responsibility as quarterback to do what he did.

“I don’t regret at all the way I handled it,” he said.

Shell and Hostetler were captured by television cameras as they argued late in the second quarter of the Raiders’ 20-17 overtime loss to the Miami Dolphins at Joe Robbie Stadium Sunday.

“What sideline incident?” Shell asked straight-faced when the subject was broached Monday. “It was just a coach and a player having a discussion, just talk.

“What happened yesterday is over. Yesterday’s game is gone, it’s on to the next one. We’re trying to win, we don’t have time to think about what’s past. I’m moving forward, I’m sure he is, too.

“I’m not going to discuss that anymore. It’s a dead issue. It’s nothing big, it’s just a coach and a player having a discussion.”

Hostetler, speaking after a team meeting, said he was surprised by Shell’s reaction on the sideline.

“I changed a couple of plays,” he said. “Art didn’t like it. He’s the head coach and it’s his decision.

“It was something as a quarterback, you have a feel for the game, you’re in the huddle with the rest of the guys, sometimes you want to change something because guys are more comfortable with it. I’m the quarterback, I take responsibility for what I did. The rest was Art’s decision.”

The Raiders (2-4) led, 10-7, when Hostetler, who had been taking a pounding from the Dolphins, exchanged words with Shell after throwing three straight incompletions.

Shell reacted by replacing Hostetler with Vince Evans for two series. But Hostetler started the second half and played the rest of the game, which turned out to be one of his poorest as a Raider.

Hostetler finished 8-for-23 for 95 yards, but was under constant pressure and had several on-target passes dropped.

“The passing game has to pick up, that’s the key for us,” Shell said. “It just really hasn’t gotten untracked. It’s not the kind of machine it should be.

“It starts with pass protection, there’s no doubt about that. We had some breakdowns in pass protection yesterday and that hurt us. And we dropped some balls, we had six or seven drops. That’s too many.”

Like his coach, Evans minimized the sideline argument.

“No, it’s not going to be a problem,” Evans said. “They’re both great competitors, Hoss and Coach Shell. It won’t be a big deal, I’m sure it will all be cleared up.

“I show frustration on the sideline, as I’m sure a lot of guys do. When you don’t come out with victories, it’s frustrating. But we’re going to pull it together.”

Raiders linebacker Winston Moss admitted that such incidents aren’t often seen during games.

“The most important thing is to not make it any more than it is,” Moss said. “We make a couple plays, we win the ballgame, we’re not talking about this now.

“All these guys are men. Art and Jeff saw things differently. Of course, it’s emotional. Tempers get hot, those things happen everywhere. Things are going to get hot, that’s just part of football.”

The Dolphins tied the game, 17-17, early in the fourth quarter by moving 43 yards in six plays after recovering a fumbled punt by Tim Brown. Television replays indicated Brown lost the ball after hitting the ground.

“It was not a fumble,” Shell said. “It was a terrible call, terrible. You could see Tim Brown, see he was going to get nailed and he goes down. And now they get the ball . . . it’s a short field. That’s very frustrating.”

Shell also pointed out that his team had five holding calls in the first half and the Dolphins had none.

“There are infractions on the other side that aren’t called,” he said. “I just want the playing field level, that’s all. When there’s no balance, I have a problem.”