Raiders Losing Grasp on Season : Pro football: Nothing goes right as they drop fourth in row, 29-10, to Steelers after key call.

Al Davis’ promised land turned to muck Sunday afternoon, awash in more bumbling, bellyaching and brain cramps.

By the time his Oakland Raiders left Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum after a 29-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, huge drops of water trickled from the one good eye of the Raider painted at midfield.

Maybe a postgame drizzle was the cause. But maybe not.

Life here is so lousy after four consecutive losses, Davis probably feels like sticking two swords through his own head.

After watching his team get outscored, 104-60, in the last month--forcing them to win theirfinal two games against Denver and Seattle to ensure a playoff spot--Davis must wonder what has happened to his offseason plans.

--His standout receivers are dropping passes: Daryl Hobbs and Tim Brown dropped consecutive balls in the end zone Sunday.

--His hand-picked running back, Harvey Williams, has gained 33 yards in two games, with no touchdowns during that time.

--His players keep committing more bone-headed penalties than your average hockey goon. Check out these two new ones from Sunday: a holding call on the opening kickoff and a 12-men-on-the-field infraction on a routine third down.

--His home field is a dying, slippery mess: The most important of quarterback Billy Joe Hobert’s four intercepted passes Sunday occurred after he had skidded at midfield and lost sight of the defense.

--His new coach is confounded: “I don’t have a heck of a lot to say,” said Mike White, who then rambled on about his disappointment for 20 minutes.

--And yes, for once, Davis is truly being rooked by the officials. Sunday’s game turned on one of the worst calls of the year, with quick-whistling referee Larry Nermers nullifying a Raider touchdown that would have given them a 14-10 lead late in the first half.

“Nothing has been the same with the referees since I’ve been here,” said Raider defensive lineman Pat Swilling, who joined the team this season after nine years elsewhere. “It seems like the refs always see something different in Oakland. I don’t know if they have a problem with somebody here or whatever.”

The call occurred moments after Raiders Anthony Smith and Aundray Bruce converged on Steeler quarterback Neil O’Donnell from either end during a risky pass play. O’Donnell threw, Smith tipped, and Bruce caught . . . all at the Steeler one-yard line. Bruce stepped into the end zone and, with 6:52 remaining in the first half, the Raiders trailed, 10-7.

Five plays later, O’Donnell was hounded again, this time grabbed around the legs by Swilling. He spun and tried to throw it out of bounds . . . but threw it directly to Smith.

Sixty-nine yards later, Smith was crossing the end line for a Raider touchdown. But upfield, Nermers was waving his arms and ruling O’Donnell was in the grasp of Swilling and therefore sacked.

“I had him around the waist, but he was still standing and still able to throw the ball,” Swilling said. “How can that be a sack?”

Said Nermers: “I thought he was in the grasp and being held up, and I didn’t want him to get hurt because of the rushers coming in.”

That potential 14-10 lead became a 13-7 deficit two plays later when Johnson kicked a field goal for the relieved visitors.

Less than three minutes after that, Hobert slipped and threw the ball directly to Steeler linebacker Greg Lloyd, who brought it inside Raider territory. It took O’Donnell four plays against careless Raider defenders, including a surprise 23-yard crossing pass to Kordell Stewart, to score again.

On this same field last week, Kansas City kicker Lin Elliott slipped on three consecutive field goal attempts. A huge, chopped-up brown streak runs between the 20-yard lines, much like mud skids on blue jeans.

“The field was bad, but it is always the same for both teams,” Hobert said quietly.

Unlike the quarterback. While O’Donnell (230 yards, two touchdowns) showed he may finally be capable of leading this playoff-bound team to the Super Bowl, Hobert did little but whet his teammates’ appetite for Jeff Hostetler’s promised return next week from a shoulder injury hat has sidelined him for most of the losing streak.

How bad was third-stringer Hobert in his first career start? After being intercepted for the fourth time with two minutes left in the game, he trotted to the sideline and addressed White.

“I said, ‘Mike, when are you going to bench me. . . . This nightmare has got to end pretty damn quick,” said Hobert, whose four interceptions were accompanied by 162 yards worth of passes and no touchdowns.

Against the league’s top-ranked defense, nothing worked.

If Williams wants to be known as a great running back, or at least ever gain 1,000 yards, he needs to carry the team during times when the other weapons are missing. If Hobbs wants to be considered in the same breath as Brown, he needs to catch the catchable ones.

Even guard Steve Wisniewski’s usually dirty tactics didn’t work Sunday. He shoved linebacker Jerry Olsavsky, and the Steeler just shrugged.

“I said, ‘Hey, you can’t beat us between the whistles, so we don’t care what you do afterward,’ ” Olsavsky said.

Poor Al Davis. His team can’t even make anybody mad anymore.