Raiders Feel Like Homecoming Kings : Pro football: Sellout Oakland crowd gives them a lift in 17-7 victory over Chargers.

OAKLAND —  It’s a long way from opening day to the Super Bowl. But for the Raiders, it doesn’t seem as far from Oakland as it did from Los Angeles.

Inspired by a loud, boisterous, sellout crowd, driven by a new, multifaceted offense and energized by a deep, determined defense, the Raiders on Sunday began their new life in their old home, the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, by defeating the defending AFC champion San Diego Chargers, 17-7, before 50,323.

Raider after Raider kept coming back to the crowd when asked about key factors in the victory.

Even after time had run out in the game, it didn’t put a dent in the celebrating.

After pressuring beleaguered San Diego quarterback Stan Humphries one last time on the final play, Raider defensive lineman Anthony Smith stood in the middle of the field and danced with the encouragement of his new hometown fans.

“It’s just like college out there,” Smith said. “I haven’t felt like that in a long time. I wish I could have danced in the halftime show too.”

Part of Smith’s euphoria was because of an expanded substitution pattern that kept fresh bodies on the defense all afternoon.

“Everybody danced,” he said. “Nobody has ice bags on. Everybody is happy.”

The story was much the same on offense. A team that was much maligned a year ago for boiling its offensive options down to two--receiver Tim Brown and running back Harvey Williams--showed many different looks and offered many options, with nine Raiders catching at least one pass and three Raiders carrying the ball.

Get used to it, quarterback Jeff Hostetler said.

“We’re using everybody,” he said, “because we’ve got a lot of talented people.”

So do the Chargers, but their talented people made crucial mistakes Sunday, committing three turnovers and getting whistled for several damaging penalties. San Diego lost the ball twice on fumbles and once on an interception, the Raiders converting those mistakes into all three of their scores.

“You just can’t give away points,” Charger Coach Bobby Ross said. “That’s the whole story of the ballgame.”

For a while, it looked as if neither side was going to score.

It was the Raiders who broke a scoreless tie in the second quarter, doing so in a fashion that was rarely if ever seen in recent years.

Naturally, it began with a turnover, safety Eddie Anderson picking off a Humphries pass and coming down with the ball at the Raider one-yard line.

No problem.

Hostetler kicked the new-look offense into gear and drove 99 yards in 14 plays.

Still, some habits die hard.

At the Charger five-yard line and faced with a third and two, Hostetler rolled right and looked where he always looked in the old days, in the direction of Brown, hitting him in the right corner of the end zone.

Humphries, who completed 23 of 47 for 305 yards, answered with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Shawn Jefferson, leaving the score tied, 7-7, at the half.

The Chargers opened the third quarter with another damaging mistake, Natrone Means fumbling on the first play from scrimmage.

Jerry Ball recovered and the Raiders cashed the turnover in for three points.

The hard way.

Rookie kicker Cole Ford, a former USC Trojan filling in for injured Jeff Jaeger, was not only asked to kick a 46-yard field goal, but to do so off the dirt part of the field, the infield when the stadium is used for baseball.

Ford blasted the ball through the uprights to put the Raiders back in front.

“I’ve practiced in the dirt a lot,” he said, explaining that dirt surfaces are prevalent in Tucson, where he went to high school.

While Ford may get only his 15 minutes of fame with the Raiders while waiting for Jaeger’s return, another new face figures to be around much longer.

After a fumbled punt by the Chargers’ Andre Coleman, first-round draft choice Napoleon Kaufman closed out the scoring with an impressive 16-yard burst off left tackle, dragging cornerback Dwayne Harper with him for the last five yards into the end zone.

Kaufman played his collegiate ball at Washington, where big crowds are normal, but even he was impressed with Sunday’s group.

“Up there, there are 70,000 people,” he said, “but they come in a suit and tie. They are not crazy like these people.”

* ST. LOUIS RAMS WIN TOO

Defensive lineman Sean Gilbert and wide receiver Isaac Bruce have big games in a 17-14 victory over Packers at Green Bay’s Lambeau Field. C8