ANALYSIS : Real Discipline Still Is Missing From Raiders

The Raiders finally got the message. It took two years of self-destructive behavior at a near-record pace, months of whistle-blowing, weeks of self-examination, days of practice, hours of lectures and threats and 30 minutes of horrendous football.

But they finally got the message. At least for one crucial half.

After committing nine penalties in the first quarter of Monday night’s game against the San Diego Chargers and 14 in the first half, the Raiders trudged into their locker room to listen to Coach Art Shell.

They knew what they were going to hear. They have heard it for two years.

“They were playing their tails off. They were,” said Shell of his players. “We just couldn’t afford the penalties. Those were the things that were hurting us more than anything else. Against a good football team, you just can’t do those things.”

In the second half, a half in which the Raiders broke a 14-14 tie to pull out a 24-17 victory that kept them in the race for a playoff berth, the Raiders cleaned up their act and committed only three penalties.

“It’s still entirely too many,” Shell said. “We’ve just got to keep addressing them.”

Last season, the Raiders were guilty of 148 penalties, one short of the league record held by the Houston Oilers.

Monday night’s total of 17 tied a club record set against Houston in 1963 and equaled in 1987 in another matchup with the Chargers. The single-game league record is 22, set by the Brooklyn Tigers in 1944 and tied that same season half a century ago by the Chicago Bears.

The Raiders’ Monday night performance increased their season penalty total to 128 with three games remaining, leaving them 21 shy of the league mark they so narrowly missed a year ago.

Shell has lectured his team all year about its lack of discipline and has levied fines for personal fouls.

As the coach, he must take responsibility for any lack of control, any mental lapses by his players.

But he must also guard against inhibiting their aggressiveness, against causing them to become too conservative in the interest of reducing mental mistakes.

But that’s not the primary problem. It’s not as if the Raiders are mainly guilty of roughing the passer, late hits and personal fouls delivered to respond to cheap shots by the opposition, real or imagined. It’s not as if they are trying to deliver a message.

The only message they are sending is that they are an undisciplined team. Of Monday’s 17 penalties, eight were committed by the defense, six by the offense and three by special teams.

Holding and pass interference can sometimes be explained away as preferable to allowing your quarterback to get hurt or your team to give up a sure six points.

But there can be no explanation for delay of game calls (two Monday night), false starts by the offense (two), offside by the defense (four), or the blatant hit on San Diego punt returner Darrien Gordon by Dan Land before Gordon caught the ball.

One sequence in particular shows the futility of the Raiders’ way.

The Chargers had just given up the first score of the night, a dramatic 76-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jeff Hostetler to Alexander Wright on the Raiders’ first play from scrimmage.

The Chargers got the ball back and:

--Quarterback Stan Humphries threw a pass for no gain, but Chester McGlockton was offside. Five yards for San Diego.

--Natrone Means was held for no gain, but Jerry Ball was offside. Five yards for San Diego.

--Humphries threw incomplete, but Ball was again offside. Five yards for San Diego.

--Two plays later, Means was thrown for a yard loss, but Nolan Harrison was called for unnecessary roughness. Sixteen yards for San Diego.

With all the help, the Chargers were able to successfully complete the drive with a 29-yard touchdown pass from Humphries to Shawn Jefferson.

For the Raiders, there has to be a better way.