Raiders

Keys to Ravens' victory 1. They forced five turnovers, intercepting four passes and recovering one fumble. They iced the victory with 3:41 left when LB Jamie Sharper intercepted Bobby Hoying at the Ravens' 2-yard line. 2. They shut down the Raiders' league-leading running game, and limited Oakland to 24 net rushing yards and an average carry of 1.4. 3. They made the big play on offense, getting a playoff-record 96-yard touchdown pass from QB Trent Dilfer to TE Shannon Sharpe in the second quarter for the early lead.

Time: 9 TV: Chs. 2, 7 Line: Patriots by 7 1/2 Skinny: The Raiders' upgraded offense gets the Patriots' revamped defense as an opening-night test. WR Randy Moss and RB LaMont Jordan (Maryland) give Oakland a double threat. The Patriots play without ILBs Tedy Bruschi and Ted Johnson for the first time, a circumstance Jordan may be able to exploit. They have plenty of cornerbacks this year, however. While Oakland can be expected to score, the Patriots should be able to score more after essentially saving their vets for the regular season.

Peter Angelos has offered to buy all or part of the Los Angeles Raiders, although the team's owner appears likely to wait and see what happens with Los Angeles' other NFL team before making a move.Angelos, the controlling partner of the Orioles, also is in negotiations with the Los Angeles Rams, trying to get them to move to Baltimore.The Rams are expected to decide before the end of the year whether to stay in Anaheim or move to St. Louis or Baltimore.Angelos has met several times with Raiders owner Al Davis, most recently a few weeks ago, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

ATLANTA -- Larry Felser, a veteran pro football writer for the Buffalo News, wrote in yesterday's editions that the Los Angeles Raiders will "probably" move to Baltimore.In the first paragraph of his notes column, he wrote, "The Baltimore Raiders. Roll that around on your tongue. It's probably going to happen."The headline of the column was "Football Raiders Fancy Move to Baltimore" with the subhead, "Weary of LA, Davis not afraid to challenge [Jack Kent] Cooke over territorial rights."Felser wrote that Georgia Frontiere, the owner of the Los Angeles Rams, was reluctant to take on Cooke, the Washington Redskins owner who wants to build a stadium in Laurel.

Atholton High School volleyball coach Jon Peterson sat in his science classroom Wednesday afternoon while his players brought the season to its official end.The atmosphere was upbeat. Peterson joked with his players while they returned uniforms and decided what type of team jacket to order. They seemed to have brushed aside their season's sour ending a day earlier, when rival Mount Hebron overpowered the Raiders in three games to advance to the Class 2A state title game (past the Howard County Sun deadline against North East, Cecil County)

LOS ANGELES -- The media called them embarrassing.A network commentator referred to them as the laughingstock of the league.The New York Giants labeled them ducks.The once-proud Los Angeles Raiders weren't only losing games. They were losing something even more precious -- their mystique.Respect had turned into ridicule. They were still being called the National Football League's bad boys, but for a different reason.Not yesterday.For at least one afternoon, they were the Raiders of old, terrorizing and dominating an opponent as they whipped the Buffalo Bills, 20-3, before a Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum crowd of 52,287.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- With near unanimity, NFL club owners voted yesterday to make significant financial sacrifices to keep the Raiders in Los Angeles and bridge the gap between the league's poorest and richest teams.It was all about money as two days of spring meetings concluded with a pair of resounding resolutions that might induce yawns in many fans, but matter a great deal to the league's future."We traded inventory for stability," said Miami Dolphins vice president/general manager Eddie Jones.

Ronnie Lott, left unprotected by the San Francisco 49ers despite being an All-Pro last season, has signed a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Raiders as a Plan B free agent.Lott said yesterday at a news conference that the contract is not guaranteed and that he'll move from free safety to strong safety with the Raiders.Drafted as a cornerback by the 49ers with the eighth overall selection in 1981, Lott switched to free safety in 1985."I've always been committed to winning," Lott said.

Jamal Lewis has averaged 102.2 yards rushing in two meetings with the Raiders, but he is still not fully recovered from a hip injury. He has produced 100 yards in just two of his past 17 games. The Raiders gave up 131 yards rushing in the season opener to San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson, who traditionally burns Oakland. But the Raiders only allowed running backs to crack 100 yards in three games last season. The speed of Oakland's defense could cause fits for the Ravens' plodding offensive line.

What a bizarre world the Oakland Raiders inhabit. While other NFL camps are abuzz with optimism and crackling with competition, Raiders coach Lane Kiffin sounds defeated already and says there are not enough people fighting for jobs in his camp. In a newspaper report, Kiffin complained that the Raiders organization (read: owner Al Davis) wasn't bringing in available bodies who could push the players on a team that was 4-12 a year ago. He flat-out called some of the guys he has "borderline," who will make the club simply because there is no one to replace them.