Raiders Clanking Along the Road

The Raiders are like a vintage automobile. They have been rebuilt, fine-tuned and pampered.

But once the key goes into the ignition, things happen that no mechanic seems able to explain. The Raiders have demonstrated a maddening tendency to break down on crucial drives, to sputter and stall and freeze up and threaten to die altogether.

Sunday was a case in point.

Here they were in peak form on offense--quarterback Jeff Hostetler spreading the ball around to eight receivers, connecting on three touchdown passes and giving the ball to tailback Harvey Williams often enough to keep the defenses off Hostetler’s back.

But then the sputtering began. Time and again, the Raiders stopped themselves with a damaging penalty. There were 11 in all, nine on offense.

It certainly wasn’t an isolated afternoon. Over the last couple of seasons, the Raiders have seen more flags than an honor guard. Last season, they committed 148 penalties, one short of the league record. This season, with 109 already charged and five more games to play, they seem to be on a record run.

The most aggravating aspect of it for Coach Art Shell, a Hall of Fame offensive lineman, had to be that so many of those penalties were on offense.

Hostetler was called for intentional grounding, receiver Tim Brown for illegal motion, fullback Tom Rathman and center Don Mosebar for holding, offensive tackle Gerald Perry twice for holding and once for a false start and fellow tackle Greg Skrepenak once for a false start and once for lining up in the backfield.

So what’s the answer?

“I don’t have an answer, beyond what we’ve been trying to do--talking and threatening,” Shell said.

Shell, who has been lecturing about penalties all season, is finally backing up his threats, having begun fining anyone who gets a personal foul.

The holding calls are another matter. Perry, who returned to the lineup for the first time in a month Sunday after recovering from a broken ankle, says holding can sometimes be the lesser of two evils.

“If a guy is about to beat me, I’m going to grab him,” Perry said. “It’s just that simple. If he gets loose, he might break my quarterback’s neck. If I grab him, we can line up and try it again. You figure it out.”

OK, but with crucial games in the next two weeks against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the San Diego Chargers, Shell is going to have to figure something out if he hopes to maintain any offensive consistency.

The situation is as aggravating on defense. The Raiders have been shutting down opposing offenses. In their last seven games, they have allowed as many as 20 points only once, and the Miami Dolphins had to go into overtime to get that many.

The Raiders have been especially immovable against the run. Sunday, they held the New Orleans Saints to 16 yards rushing. The week before, the Rams got only 22 yards rushing, including 13 by leading ball carrier Jerome Bettis.

So what’s not to like?

Nothing if games lasted only 50 or 55 minutes. But despite a strong defensive line, a vastly improved linebacking corps and an effective, sometimes explosive, secondary; despite people like Terry McDaniel, Chester McGlockton, Anthony Smith, Jerry Ball, Nolan Harrison, Albert Lewis and Winston Moss, this Raider defense seems to freeze up at the most inopportune times.

The Raiders were unable to stop the San Diego Chargers from marching for the winning field goal in the closing minute; were unable to stop the Dolphins from marching for the winning field goal in overtime and were unable to stop even the hapless Houston Oilers from marching in the final minute for what would have been a game-tying field goal, had Al Del Greco’s kick not hit the crossbar and bounced back.

And again on Sunday, after playing brilliantly for 54 minutes against the Saints, the Raiders nearly blew a 24-7 lead, allowing two quick touchdowns with their prevent defense.

“You don’t want to give up the big play, the big strike right now,” said Shell of Sunday’s near collapse. “If they are going to drive, they are going to be time-consuming drives.”

Prevent or regular defense, Moss wasn’t happy with what he saw.

“You can’t let it happen,” he said. “Whatever we did good, we’ll continue to be proud of. But what we didn’t do good, we’ve got to go back and straighten out. I don’t know if we’re getting relaxed or what.”

There’s no chance to relax now. Not with the stretch drive ahead.