Bettis Gets Battered According to Plan : Interconference: Ram running back, center of Raider strategy, is held to 13 yards on 10 carries.

As far as the Raider defense was concerned, Jerome Bettis’ final rushing statistics told the whole story of their 20-17 victory over the Rams on Sunday.

Bettis: 10 carries for 13 yards, including only two carries for two yards in the second half.

At 5 feet 11, 250 pounds, Bettis started the game as the NFL’s premier power back with 814 yards rushing and three touchdowns in nine games.

The Raiders’ defensive game plan against the Rams was simple: Stop Bettis and they stop the Rams.

“Before the game, I told (defensive tackle) Chester McGlockton to go out there and get a couple of sacks,” Raider Coach Art Shell said. “But he said, ‘Forget about sacks. We have to go out there and stop that big back today.’ ”

The Raiders set the tone early against Bettis on the Rams’ first possession. On first down, Bettis was stopped by linebacker Winston Moss for a one-yard gain over left guard. Three plays later, Bettis lost five yards when he was tackled in the backfield by McGlockton.

Things did not get any better for Bettis on the Rams’ next possession; he carried on first and second downs for a combined three yards. When the first quarter ended, Bettis had four carries for minus-one yard.

“We wanted to get after him early and that’s what we did,” Moss said. “Once we stopped (Bettis), that forced them into a lot of third-down passing situations.”

One Raider who was happy to see the game plan succeed was defensive end Alberto White.

White, who was placed on the active roster last week after spending the first half of the season on the practice squad, is the Raiders’ pass-rush specialist. With Bettis and the Ram running game slowed, White played more downs than he expected in the first half and responded with a key sack.

“I knew we were doing the job up front because I was getting used a lot in passing situations,” White said. “It felt good to finally have the opportunity to get in there and make some plays.”

By the second quarter, it was clear that the Raiders were determined primarily to stop Bettis--a strategy that appeared shaky once Ram quarterback Chris Chandler started finding open receivers in the Raider secondary.

Chandler gave the Raiders fits as he completed 10 of his first 11 passes for 171 yards, including a 22-yard touchdown pass to Flipper Anderson late in the first quarter.

“Our problem was that were not getting enough pressure on the quarterback on their play-action plays,” said defensive tackle Jerry Ball. “He had too much time to look for people.”

That was until the Raiders’ defensive front took matters into its own hands midway through the second quarter. On second and seven from the Raider 15, Chandler suffered an ankle injury when he was sacked high by Nolan Harrison and low by McGlockton.

“When we started throwing the football, those big guys up the middle got a lot of push inside,” Chandler said. “We just had a hard time getting them out of the middle.”

With Bettis bottled up and a red-hot Chandler out of the game, the Raiders were able to cover up for their own injury-riddled secondary, which opened the game without starters Albert Lewis and Derrick Hoskins before losing Lionel Washington, who suffered a knee injury in the second half.

At one point during the second half, the Raiders were an injury away from using first-year safety Cary Brabham, who was activated Saturday after being waived twice the last two seasons.

“The way guys were going down for us, I thought that I might have to sneak on a uniform and limp out there,” said Lewis, who was deactivated because of a knee injury he suffered last week against the Kansas City Chiefs.

When the Rams rallied in the fourth quarter to cut the Raiders’ lead to 17-10, it was only fitting that Raider cornerback Terry McDaniel made the key interception to set up Jeff Jaeger’s game-clinching 47-yard field goal.

“We forced them away from what they do best,” Ball said. “Getting (Ram Coach) Chuck (Knox) to start throwing the ball was good for us.”