PRO FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : RAIDERS : Shell Finds Jenkins Fits the Mold

Coach Art Shell kept scratching his head. He liked what he saw, but he couldn’t understand why nobody else did. A Hall of Fame offensive lineman, Shell is understandably confident he can spot talent at that position. And he thought he had spotted it in Robert Jenkins, a 6-5, 295-pound former UCLA Bruin who had spent eight years with the Rams.

“I remember liking him coming out of college,” Shell said. “I always thought he was a good lineman.”

The Raiders signed Jenkins before training camp last summer and brought him to Oxnard.

“After about two days,” Shell said, “I (told myself), there’s something wrong. (Why is) this guy out in the streets? We happened upon him. Something has got to be wrong because he was that good in training camp as far as I was concerned. He showed a lot of quality with his feet. And the thing that surprised me was his strength, his ability to really strike somebody.”

Shell wasn’t ready to move Jenkins ahead of a proven veteran such as Gerald Perry, but when Perry suffered a broken bone above his right ankle a week ago, Shell didn’t hesitate to use Jenkins.

“It’s tough to find quality linemen,” Shell said. “Everybody’s looking for them. We needed one and he was there.”

Jenkins’ play helped limit the Falcons to two sacks and helped tailback Harvey Williams become the first Raider back in two years to rush for at least 100 yards, gaining 107.