Raiders Let One Get Away in Denver

It’s there. It really is.

Listen.

But you have to listen hard.

Th-thum, thu-thump.

Honest, there is a pulse, no, not faint from hypothermia induced by Mile High Stadium doing its Green Bay imitation on a frigid Monday night.

It’s still there because the Los Angeles, uh, Oakland, Raiders still have a shot at a playoff berth.

What, you’ve never heard of a wild card?

Thump . . . thum . . . thu.

Yes, it’s fading, badly, because the Oakland Raiders are doing their Los Angeles Raider imitation.

You remember the Los Angeles Raiders.

Long on promise in September. Short on delivery when the snow flies in Denver.

When the Broncos’ Olandis Gary ran through Charles Mincy’s tackle for a 24-yard touchdown 2:40 into overtime for a 27-21 victory, Oakland’s pulse reacted like a patient on life-support during a power outage.

As the beat faded, the math got harder. Calculus is easier than figuring how the Raiders can earn a playoff berth.

“We have to dig down deep inside ourselves and keep everything together,” quarterback Rich Gannon said.

“We have to . . . take care of our conference games.”

And the arithmetic goes on.

But one set of numbers is as clear as your 6-year-old’s arithmetic: 0-2.

Oakland is 0-2 against Denver, which is 2-7 everyone else. The Broncos are spoilers again.

You’d think they would have forgotten how.

In days of yore, the Broncos were spoilers about this time of year. Then they became spoiled, with two Super Bowl championships in a row, but they have not forgotten the bad old days.

They are spoilers again, spurred by the 70,012 on hand who were warmed by occasional memories of blowing up Raider missions when they ran into Denver once the snow started flying.

Only 5,858 had the common sense to eschew frostbite and stay home by their television sets.

Some of the rest showed they have better arms than anybody the Broncos have hired as a quarterback since you know who.

They pelted the Raiders with snowballs as they left the field.

Oakland’s Lincoln Kennedy was hit and waded into the stands, then hopped a chain-link fence and returned to the field. Kennedy reported the incident to a Denver police officer.

“If they can justify their actions after today, they need to take a real close look at themselves,” Tim Brown said of the snowball throwers.

”. . . It was dangerous, and it was classless.”

“They were an embarrassment to the city of Denver,” said cornerback Darrien Gordon, a former Bronco, now a Raider.

It’s probably because there’s something that gets the juices going here when you mention the Raiders.

Otherwise, talk is of next year and, let’s see now, who is available in the draft?

And wait till we get Terrell Davis back. And who are these guys still calling themselves defending Super Bowl champions, anyway?

Well, they are the guys led by Brian Griese doing his John Elway act with the ball on the Denver 29, 1:17 to play, down, 21-18.

Griese to Ed McCaffrey for 24 yards, most of them after a missed Raider tackle.

A penalty. A couple of short passes. A couple of incomplete passes. A 53-yard Jason Elam field goal with seven seconds to play to force overtime.

“I wasn’t sure about that one,” Bronco Coach Mike Shanahan said. “We were right on the borderline. Kicking into the wind. And Jason came through.”

It was fourth and 10 from the 35. What was the choice?

Chris Miller led the Broncos to their first 18 points, 15 of them in an underachieving first half, most of which they spent in Oakland territory.

And then, Shanahan said, something was wrong with Miller.

“[Assistant coach] Gary [Kubiak] was talking to Chris on the headset and said he wasn’t making sense,” Shanahan said.

“He got hit and was dazed and I don’t know when the hit occurred. We knew something was wrong with him and that’s why we made the change.”

Griese, who has gone from injury, to ineffectiveness and back to injury this season, became healthy enough to play with 7:08 left in regulation.

Not that it mattered much.

* Pass incomplete.

* Six-yard completion to Rod Smith.

* A bad snap off Griese’s frozen fingers for loss of 20.

* Punt of 40 yards. Return of 25 to the Denver 25.

That’s when the Raider pulse grew stronger.

Gannon had played like, well, the Gannon of Kansas City, Washington and Minnesota days for a half.

He completed five of his first six passes, then started missing receivers like they were invisible.

And then, he became the quarterback who has started all season.

The quarterback who commanded a four-year, $16-million contract.

Gannon threw a touchdown pass to fullback Jon Ritchie with 4:44 to play in the first half and one to Rickey Dudley on the second play of the second half.

Then Gannon nursed the Raiders to Michael Husted field goals of 33 and 44 yards, the last giving them a 21-18 lead with 1:17 to play.

The pulse quickened. The beat got stronger.

And then Elam countered from 53.

And Gary scored in overtime.

Thum . . . thu . . . th . . .

Three games out with six to play.

Somebody quick, call the Oakland paramedics.

Tell them to call their L.A. counterparts for a patient history.

NFL REWIND:

WEEK 11

The 49ers are heading for an exciting postseason, but it won’t take place on the playing field. Page 8