Jug of Gatorade Might Be in Order for Raiders, Shell

The Los Angeles Jaegers kicked the horseshoes off the Broncos, 23-13, Sunday at the Coliseum on a day when their kicker outscored Denver all by himself. After watching his old college classmate from Washington deliver a Raider-record fifth field goal, 310-pound lineman Kevin Gogan couldn’t squeeze past the 190-pounder in a crowded hallway without uttering the ultimate in praise for any kicker, “That Jeff Jaeger is a player!”

Two victories in six days. Just that fast, the Raiders have transformed from unhappy players into happy players.

Denver is dead and San Diego is dying. Kansas City hasn’t beaten anybody since before Thanksgiving. No team in their division except the Raiders has won two games in a row. OK, I’ll say it if they won’t: The Raiders are going to run the table, win the division and open the playoffs at home.

That’s the news, good night and see you in January.

All right, so I might not be right. I say I am. Denver, dead. San Diego, dying. Call in Coach Kevorkian. And better keep an eye on Kansas City tonight. Those Chiefs have been looking kind of sickly themselves.

The Raiders might be pouring a cold pail of Gatorade over Art Shell’s head before this thing is over. Something has visibly changed. Something is definitely different. “From what I can see,” rookie linebacker Rob Fredrickson said, “it’s a totally different team from the first half of the season.”

They aren’t winning by three touchdowns, but so what? They aren’t losing.

“Hey, what do you want us to do?” receiver Tim Brown asked. “Sit here and be upset because we didn’t score 40 points?”

Harvey Williams, who scored their only touchdown, freely admits that the offense isn’t exactly moving the ball at will. He probably knows that the Raiders have reached 30 points only twice all season.

But so?

“The last three or four games have been pretty ugly,” Williams said. “But when we do put together a perfect game, it’ll be something to see.

“Maybe we’re saving it for Kansas City.”

Kansas City will be the last game of the season, come Christmas Eve. By then, the Raiders will know what’s what. They go to the Seattle Kingdome next week to try to keep the ceiling from crashing on them, then return home to try to wrap up Joe Montana with a big ribbon.

The defense. That’s why the Raiders are still in this race. No opponent has scored more than 21 points against the Raiders since Sept. 25.

Let me repeat that. Since September.

Try as they might, the Denver Broncos couldn’t bang the ball into the end zone until it was too late. Life without John Elway is not a pretty sight in the state of Colorado. Hugh Millen couldn’t push a football over a goal line with a first down at the one-yard line.

Hey, Hugh:

Four quarterback sneaks, pal. You’re 6 feet 5, for Pete’s sake.

Never have the Raiders dug in harder. Aundray Bruce, Albert Lewis, Nolan Harrison, Jerry Ball, everybody but Gunther Cunningham, John Fox, Jim Haslett and Ray Hamilton was out there waiting for that bucking Bronco on that goal line, and they couldn’t be out there because they’re coaches. The ballcarrier went down and the Raider spirits went up.

“Cause and effect,” Ball put it perfectly. “Make a play like that, brings them down, lifts you up.”

Elway plays, he probably calls a quarterback draw and jogs across the goal line, untouched.

Even linebacker Greg Biekert of the Raiders had to concede, “We did pretty well against Elway last time, but let’s be honest: With him not playing, it’s a different ballgame.”

Everything looks different now to the (playoff-bound?) Raiders.

First came several weeks of hell. Week after week, the Raiders struggled. They got slaughtered by San Francisco, 44-14, by Seattle, 38-9, by Pittsburgh, 21-3. They were only three points better than the Rams, 20-17, only three better than Houston, 17-14. Dissension. Recrimination. A team on the verge of a breakdown.

And then this--six days, two victories. That’s how fast it can happen.

That’s why, to quote Patrick Bates of the Raider secondary, “We’ve still got a shot at thetitle.”

The Raiders? Yeah, the Raiders.