Grumpy Raiders Fall Flat on Their Face : Pro football: Their 21-3 loss to Pittsburgh leaves Brown questioning the play-calling and playoff hopes in doubt.

The Raider locker room was not a pretty sight after Sunday’s crushing 21-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Quarterback Jeff Hostetler had trouble seeing straight. Receiver Tim Brown had trouble seeing why he wasn’t a bigger part of the game plan.

And all of the Raiders had trouble seeing themselves in the playoffs unless they can win their remaining four games.

All of the frustration and anger of this 6-6 season bubbled over again when Brown questioned the play-calling after catching only three passes on a day when the Pittsburgh offense ran all over the Raiders and the Steeler defense dominated the trenches and knocked Hostetler out of the game late in the first half with blurred vision and a splitting headache.

The Raider quarterback returned for part of the second half, but could do little against a relentless Steeler pass rush that recorded five sacks to add to its league-leading total of 40 to start the game.

The Steelers, who blitzed constantly and effectively all afternoon, also recovered two fumbles, one of those by Brown, who was matched up much of the afternoon against Pittsburgh cornerback Rod Woodson, the youngest member of the NFL’s 75th anniversary all-star team.

“It just blows my mind,” said Brown of the Raider game plan. “Any time you go up against a great player, hopefully the player going up against him will rise to the occasion. I’ve been making the plays all year. It sort of disappointed me that (the Raiders lost) without giving me the opportunity to make the plays.

“I’ve been here a long time. The only way for me to get going is to get me the ball early. I come off, I beg, do whatever, but, for some reason, they had a different game plan. I’m sure they were afraid of him (Woodson). I hope everyone is disappointed. I’m disappointed I fumbled the ball. I’m disappointed I didn’t get to make the plays. I’m sure the guy who called the plays, I’m sure Tom Walsh is not happy with his performance.

“We lose a game, we can’t be happy. If we win the game and I only caught two passes, so be it.”

Brown said he told Woodson after the game, “I guess they (the Raider coaches) were afraid of you. I wasn’t. But I guess the people calling the plays were.”

Asked if he was specifically questioning the play-calling, Brown replied, “I am. I don’t care what everybody else thinks.”

This isn’t the first time the play-calling has been an issue. When Hostetler and Coach Art Shell had their infamous blow-up on the sideline in Miami earlier this season, it was over Hostetler’s decision to change two plays called by Walsh.

But in reality, Sunday’s game appeared to have little to do with the play-calling and everything to do with execution.

It figured to be a tough, defensive struggle. The Steelers came into the game leading the AFC in total defense. The Raiders came in leading the conference in run defense and had allowed a total of only 38 yards rushing in the last two games.

The Steelers were going with Mike Tomczak, their backup quarterback, because of injuries to starter Neil O’Donnell. And starting running back Barry Foster was making only his second start since recovering from a knee injury.

Tomczak, who passed for a career-high 343 yards last week, didn’t get anywhere near that total Sunday. But he completed the passes he needed to complete and had the time to do so because of the effectiveness of the Pittsburgh running game.

Tomczak completed only 12 of 27 for 131 yards, his longest completion going for 27 yards. But he also threw two touchdown passes, the 27-yarder carried into the end zone by Yancey Thigpen in the first quarter to give the Steelers (9-3) a lead they would not relinquish. After Jeff Jaeger’s 32-yard field goal made it a 7-3 game at the half, Tomczak connected with Eric Green on a 15-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.

But Tomczak’s efforts might have gone for naught had it not been for the running game. The Steelers rushed for only 24 yards in the first half, but they blew past the Raiders following intermission, going for 151 yards to give Pittsburgh a total of 175 rushing yards, the most the Raiders have surrendered all season.

Pittsburgh did a nice job of spreading it out. Foster rushed for 82 yards, Bam Morris had 50, including the three-yard, fourth-quarter scoring run that iced the victory, and John L. Williams added 40 more yards.

The crowd of 58,327, largest of the season at the Coliseum for the Raiders, had little opportunity to cheer.

Never ahead in the game, the Raiders seemed helpless in the face of the blitzing Steelers, who got two sacks from Kevin Greene and one each from Chad Brown, Jason Gildon and Greg Lloyd.

It didn’t help that Don Mosebar, the Raider center and the anchor of the offensive line, had to leave in the third quarter when he found he couldn’t play because of a twisted left ankle, an injury he had suffered a week earlier and attempted to play through.

The Raiders were able to rush for only 57 yards, led by Harvey Williams’ 42.

They did themselves in at several crucial points.

--Trailing, 7-3, late in the first half, Hostetler, his vision already blurred, threw a pass to Williams on a fourth-and-seven at the Pittsburgh 35-yard line, but Williams was stopped at the line of scrimmage.

--On the opening drive of the third quarter, backup quarterback Vince Evans completed a pass to Brown, only to have Brown fumble.

--With Pittsburgh still leading, 7-3, in the fourth quarter, Evans fumbled and the Steelers went on to score.

It was that kind of a day for the Raiders, a frustrating day.

And nobody was more frustrated than Brown.