PRO FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : RAIDERS : Penalty Leaves Lingering Anger

The word of the day, prominently displayed on a message board at the Raiders’ training headquarters in El Segundo, was lingering .

That was what tight end Ethan Horton was penalized for Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks.

Coach Art Shell was enraged at the call, which he said he had never seen made in his 26 NFL seasons as a player and coach.

According to Shell, he had pulled Horton out of the game, but realized he had neglected to give instructions to another member of the offensive unit. So Shell yelled at Horton, telling him to run back into the huddle, relay the instructions and then get off the field.

Not so, insisted Seattle Coach Tom Flores.

“They had been using cluster huddles all through the game,� Flores said. “They finally got called for lingering because it was not fair. They’re ready to play and we don’t know whether they have three wide receivers or two wide receivers in the game. I complained about it earlier, and they finally got called on it.�

Said Shell: “That was unbelievable. We weren’t doing anything malicious. . . . I don’t understand it. That just came from out of nowhere. We weren’t trying to deceive anybody. We don’t do things like that. If we were trying to deceive by sending 12 or 13 people out there on a constant basis, then I could see it.�

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When Seahawk linebacker Rod Stephens tackled Nick Bell in the Raider end zone Sunday, it was Seattle’s fourth safety of the season, tying an NFL record set by the Cleveland Bulldogs in 1927 and tied by the Detroit Lions in 1962.