Raiders Cure One Illness, but Patient’s Dying

How do you throw for 424 yards and lose ?

How do you complete passes good for 71, 58, 55 and 38 yards, and get only two touchdowns?

How do you manage to put together the greatest aerial show in the history of the Raiders, a team known for its passing, and still come up short?

These were the questions the Raiders were mulling Monday after losing to the San Diego Chargers on Sunday at the Coliseum, 30-23.

It doesn’t require a genius to find the answer. It can be summed up in two words: No running .

Seven games into the season, the Raiders do not have a running game. It’s that simple.

How different that is from a year ago. Then, they were loaded at running back with Marcus Allen, Eric Dickerson and Nick Bell all waiting to carry the ball. The problem was the passing game. Neither Jay Schroeder nor Todd Marinovich was able to sustain a consistent passing attack.

So the Raiders went out and signed free agent Jeff Hostetler, raising a few eyebrows. A ball-control, short-pass quarterback for the Raiders’ long-passing offense?

They proved the doubters wrong, successfully integrating Hostetler into their system, as Sunday’s 424-yard performance proved.

And they loaded up at wide receiver, adding James Jett and Rocket Ismail to starters Tim Brown and Alexander Wright.

But as the passing game came together, the running game fell apart.

The Raiders traded Eric Dickerson, let Allen go and handed the ball to Bell, who was beginning his third year.

But Bell never got out of the starting gate. A pulled hamstring in the Raiders’ exhibition-season finale, followed by an ankle sprain, has limited Bell to 20 carries this season.

That has left the ball-carrying to Greg Robinson, an eighth-round draft choice averaging 2.9 yards a carry; Ty Montgomery, a converted receiver, and Randy Jordan, a rookie free agent.

Two crucial plays in Sunday’s game highlight the problem:

--On second and goal at the Charger three-yard line with the score tied in the third quarter, the Raiders should have stayed on the ground.

But without a reliable rusher, they went to the air.

The result was an interception returned 102 yards by San Diego defensive back Donald Frank for the touchdown that put the Chargers in command.

--Trying to get back into the game in the fourth quarter, the Raiders had first and goal at the San Diego five after a 58-yard pass completion from Hostetler to Robinson.

But with Robinson needing a breather, the Raiders had to call on Jordan, who never had carried the ball in the NFL.

The result? Two carries for two yards. The Raiders wound up settling for a field goal, not enough in that situation.

Knowing the Raiders aren’t going to run much, defenses can come after Hostetler, while stacking up their defensive backs.

Getting rid of Dickerson, who has since retired, proved a wise move. The obvious mistake was losing Allen, who left because of his feud with owner Al Davis.

Nobody is better than Allen at finding a way into the end zone. But they don’t have Allen. And right now, unless Bell finally heals up, they don’t have much else, either.