Raiders Head Back to Basics and Win : Pro football: Los Angeles simply keeps running the ball until Denver comes up a loser, 16-13. Roger Craig settles in nicely with 99 yards.

The message was as subtle as the gash over Roger Craig’s right eye. The Raiders, taunted in two consecutive games against trick offenses, would prove to the world there was life beyond the run-and-shoot, even if it meant taking a body count afterward.

So, they stripped a game to its core, stacked an extra offensive linemen on the right side, all but shouted out upcoming run plays and pounded out a 16-13 victory over the Denver Broncos before 48,569 at the Coliseum.

“When the league switches to the run-and-shoot, I’m gone,” Raider defensive end Howie Long said.

“I’m checking out. Retirement. Immediately. I can’t tell you what a nightmare it is.”

Sunday, the Raiders turned the nightmare on someone else, although the game certainly wasn’t decided on style points. Afterward, the teams counted stitches. Raider tailback Craig, who was supposed to be eased into this fulltime position, led the way with four stitches and a career-high 27 carries for 99 yards.

Craig ran into crowds. Craig ran into linebackers. Once, Craig ran into an opposing elbow, which opened up a cut over his right eye. “I saw blood squirting out everywhere,” he said later of the cut.

Unlike wipeouts of recent past, the Raiders dictated the terms this time. An offense, no matter how explosive, can’t score if it doesn’t have the ball, right?

So, the Raiders refused to give up possession.

In the second quarter, trailing, 6-0, they employed an extra linemen on the right side, Reggie McElroy, pitched the ball to Craig nine times in one series, used up 6:48 on the clock, and settled for a 29-yard Jeff Jaeger field goal.

“It was just a lot of big folks up front, pushing and shoving,” quarterback Jay Schroeder said.

The Raiders stuck with the game plan. Trailing, 6-3, at the half, they opened the third quarter with a 90-yard, 12-play drive that lasted 9:13. The drive ended with a 16-yard scoring pass to Willie Gault, putting the Raiders ahead, 10-6.

“That drive in the third quarter was a great drive by them,” Denver Coach Dan Reeves said. “They just kind of took control of the ballgame from then on.”

Schroeder agreed.

“Any time you can keep the ball for 90 yards, it’s a back-breaker,” he said. “Your defense is over on the sidelines for 10 minutes, resting up.”

On their next possession, the Raiders drove 74 yards in 12 plays, using up 6:57. They used the pass only as changeup. On this series, a 47-yard pass from Schroeder to Gault kept the drive moving. The Raiders sputtered near the end zone and settled for a 23-yard Jaeger field goal in the fourth quarter.

Jaeger added another field goal in the fourth to make the score 16-6.

Denver, which scored 45 points in its opener last week, was held to only three possessions in the second half.

It was an offensive lineman’s delight.

“Any time you can use the clock and keep Elway off the field, you’ve done your job,” Raiders’ right tackle Steve Wright said. “We just drove it down their throats.”

The offense kept the Raiders’ defense fresh, which comes in handy when you are chasing down Elway.

The Raider defense sacked Elway five times and held the Broncos to 33 yards rushing.

“They harassed Elway the whole game,” Raider Coach Art Shell said. “We had great coverage most of the time. The defense was just fantastic.”

When was the last time Shell could say that?

Still, the Broncos almost made a game of it in the final minutes. Denver took its last possession with 2:48 left and faced fourth and 25 at its own 31 after consecutive sacks by Anthony Smith and Winston Moss. But Elway kept hopes alive with a 32-yard completion to Steve Sewell for a first down.

The Raiders had the Broncos fourth and 10 at the Raider 37 when Elway pulled out another miracle, hitting Mark Jackson for 34 yards to the Raider three. There, Elway found Sewell on a three-yard scoring pass to cut the lead to three with 25 seconds left.

David Treadwell offered up an interesting onsides kick, but the ball deflected off a Raider and out of bounds, ending the Broncos’ chance to tie the game with a last-second field goal.

The Raiders had survived. Their reputations are restored for now.

Schroeder, who heard more boos from the Coliseum crowd in the first half, had a strong second half and finished having completed 12 of 19 passes for 168 yards and a touchdown.

“Last week, everyone was wondering how we were going to bounce back from those two thumpings,” he said, referring to the blowouts at Buffalo and Houston.

“I think we answered that question. We played our style of football.”

Raider Notes

Denver quarterback John Elway completed 15 of 29 passes for 240 yards, surpassing the 25,000-yard passing mark in his career. . . . Denver tailback Gaston Green, who gained 116 yards in the opener, was held to 25 yards in 11 carries.

Napoleon McCallum was supposed to give Roger Craig some relief at tailback, but it turned out Craig didn’t need much help. “He’s a workhorse,” said McCallum, who carried five times for 11 yards. “He’s just beginning. Roger has got a big heart.” Craig had never carried more than 22 times in a game before Sunday, when he carried 27 times. . . . Raider free safety Eddie Anderson, who didn’t practice last week because of a groin pull, played the entire game. . . . Right guard Max Montoya, who sat out the opener with a groin pull, also played. Montoya said afterward that he did not aggravate the injury. . . . The Raiders won the time of possession game, 35:28 to 24:32.

Linebacker Winston Moss, acquired from Tampa Bay in the off-season, led the Raiders with five tackles and two quarterback sacks.