Chiefs Extend Mastery in Overtime; Shell Has a Ball in Beating Raiders

The game ball, the grass-stained, sweaty one that passed from Raiders to Chiefs dramatically and decisively only seconds earlier, rested in the giant hands of Art Shell.

In 27 years as player, assistant coach and head coach with the Raiders there were too many game balls to count, but this one had wiped the grin off Al Davis’ face and had sent the team owner to the locker room looking for his new coach and an explanation of what had gone wrong in the Raiders’ 23-17 overtime loss to the Chiefs on Sunday.

“I will cherish it as one of my best mementos,” said Shell, the Chief offensive line coach who was fired as coach of the Raiders after last year’s season-ending 19-9 loss to Kansas City. “I’m a Chieftain now, my loyalty is with the Chiefs, and I want to help this team win a championship.”

Imagine that: Art Shell and Marcus Allen standing side-by-side in possible championship pose, and Davis, meanwhile, trying to figure out a way to beat the Chiefs and his former employees.

For the 11th time in 12 meetings and the seventh-consecutive game here, the Chiefs (3-0) knocked off the Raiders (2-1). Cornerback James Hasty’s 64-yard interception return for a touchdown 4:27 into overtime set off a wild celebration among the 78,696--eighth-largest crowd--in Arrowhead Stadium.

“I wanted to win this game in the worst way,” said Allen, who is 5-0 against his former team after becoming only the fifth back in NFL history to top the 15,000-yard mark. “Obviously, I’ve been through this before, but I think everyone here knew how much it meant to Art.”

The defeat also packed an emotional wallop on the Raiders, now 11-7 in overtime games. Wide receiver Daryl Hobbs yelled at reporters to leave the Raider locker room. Defensive end Anthony Smith sat in full gear long after the game with his head bowed in a towel. Several players packed, declining comment.

“We should have won that game,” wide receiver Tim Brown said. “And the Chiefs probably know we should have won that game.”

The Raiders blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead, but instead of pointing to their own miscues, they blamed their ultimate undoing on umpire Jeff Rice. Brown said Rice stepped in his way and blocked his path, which allowed Hasty to step in front of Jeff Hostetler’s pass for Brown. Hasty’s return was the third-longest play to win an overtime game in NFL history.

“Eleven-on-11 we win that game,” Brown said. “Eleven-on-12 it’s unfair. I don’t know how a 40-something-year-old man thinks he can outrun me. All he has to do is step up, as he did all day, but no, he decides to get in front of me. It’s just ridiculous.”

Referee Gary Lane, speaking on Rice’s behalf to a pool reporter, said, “The umpire was in his normal position. He read pass and started toward the line of scrimmage. The wide receiver hit him and knocked him down.”

Hasty, who escaped sideline tackles by Hostetler and running back Napoleon Kaufman after his 26th career interception, said Brown might have altered his pass route because of the defensive alignment.

“We were in a defense designed not to allow them to run a crossing route,” said Hasty, who signed as a free agent from the Jets in the off-season. “The receiver ran the route a little shallow, and we kind of had a 12th man there to help.”

When the Chiefs knocked the Raiders out of the playoffs last year, former New York Giant defensive back Mark Collins, who had signed with Kansas City as a free agent before the season, intercepted a Hostetler pass and returned it 78 yards for a touchdown.

While a pair of former New Yorkers have hurt the Raiders in their past two meetings with the Chiefs, it is really Allen who continues to bedevil his former team.

Allen, who ran for 132 yards in last season’s finale, rallied the Chiefs, gaining 63 of his combined 90 rushing and receiving yards after halftime.

“It seemed like we were a little listless early on,” Allen said. “But the guys continued to fight as they did last week, and we know there are a lot of people out there who don’t think much of us. I don’t understand that, but it certainly works to motivate us.”

The Raiders had a statistical advantage on the Chiefs, but continued to play as they did a year ago, absorbing 11 penalties, two interceptions and a lost fumble.

“Turnovers and penalties, which had not plagued us this year, contributed to our own demise,” said Raider Coach Mike White. “We did some self-destructing and yet we still hung in there.”

The Raiders had control. They took a 17-7 lead with the help of two Harvey Williams’ one-yard touchdown runs and a 33-yard Cole Ford field goal. They also had the Chiefs looking like a team sorely missing Joe Montana.

Steve Bono, Montana’s replacement, had only 39 yards passing after three quarters of play before compiling 125 yards down the stretch. Bono completed nine of 10 passes in the fourth quarter, including a 19-yard touchdown to Willie Davis.

“It’s unexplainable, but we have that feeling now that somebody is going to step forward and make the big play,” said Bono, now 3-2 as a starting quarterback with the Chiefs.

For a few moments it appeared as if defensive tackle Dan Saleaumua would be this week’s designated hero after intercepting a tipped Hostetler pass at the Raiders’ 22-yard line.

The Chiefs advanced to the Raiders’ two-yard line with less than two minutes remaining in the game, then gave Allen a chance to score his 100th rushing touchdown. Raider defensive tackle Jerry Ball, however, tagged Allen for a two-yard loss, setting up a Lin Elliott field-goal try from 24 yards.

“I don’t know if I could have lived with myself if the Raiders had come back to win,” said Elliott, after his kick flopped wide left. “Hasty saved the day, and he’s my best friend now.”

A week ago the Chiefs used a 23-yard Elliott field goal in overtime to defeat the Giants.

“I think people got their money’s worth the past two weeks,” said Chief Coach Marty Schottenheimer. “Anybody who doesn’t think he got his money’s worth ought to come see me. I’ll be in my office.”