Nothing Goes Right for Raiders : Pro football: Marinovich is benched and Dickerson is held to 28 yards as McMahon leads Eagles, 31-10.

PHILADELPHIA — Randall Cunningham or Jim McMahon?

Marcus Allen or Eric Dickerson?

Todd Marinovich or Jay Schroeder?

What difference does it make?

None.

Not to the Raiders.

Not Sunday in Philadelphia, where it all became academic when the Raiders dropped passes, threw interceptions, were guilty of an easily avoidable, game-turning penalty and generally self-destructed in losing to the Eagles, 31-10.

Add to that a superlative effort by McMahon and Philadelphia’s usual brand of suffocating defense and it isn’t hard to see how the Raiders lost their second in a row to drop to 3-6.

So much for a week of controversial stories.

This was a tale of two cities. In Philadelphia, Coach Rich Kotite’s decision to start McMahon at quarterback in place of the slumping Cunningham merited a top-of-the-front-page headline in the Inquirer on Election Day.

In L.A., Coach Art Shell’s decision to make Dickerson his No. 1 ballcarrier and relegate Allen to third on the depth chart elicited an uncharacteristic, angry, public response from Allen.

McMahon proved all Kotite’s doubters wrong by showing surprising mobility, pinpoint passing and a commanding presence, completing 12 of 24 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown.

For at least one brisk, 47-degree afternoon, before a Veterans Stadium crowd of 65,388, McMahon looked like the wild and crazy guy who led the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl title seven years ago.

Since then, the 33-year-old McMahon has been written off more than once as he went first to the San Diego Chargers and then the Eagles.

“He’s been dead five times,” said Raider defensive lineman Howie Long after spending a futile afternoon trying to shut McMahon down. “I’ve been to three wakes for him. Jim finds weaknesses. He’s a good football player.”

The week’s other big controversy ended on an ironic note. Shell had said that Allen, the leading rusher in Raider history, would still be used on third-down and short-yardage situations and as a blocker on passing downs.

With the Raiders behind early and the Philadelphia defense shutting down the run, there were plenty of passing downs.

As a result, Allen got almost as much work as Dickerson.

And neither got anything worth bragging about. Dickerson finished with nine carries for 28 yards, Allen with six carries for 23 yards.

Nick Bell, meanwhile, had 21 yards in only three carries.

Afterward, Allen tried to downplay his controversial week.

“It’s not the first time. This has been going on a long time,” he said, referring to his problems with the club, problems stemming from a longstanding feud with owner Al Davis. “An athlete should be free of distractions when he goes on the field. I’ve had this for six years.

“But this is not about me. It’s about the team. Let’s talk about that.”

There was another potential controversy to talk about Sunday when Shell inserted Schroeder, the veteran, at quarterback in place of Marinovich after Marinovich had thrown three interceptions by the time the game was slightly more than 20 minutes old.

There were extenuating circumstances on the first two.

On the game’s opening series, Marinovich threw a pass to Willie Gault that sailed out of the receiver’s hands into the waiting arms of cornerback Eric Allen.

The second interception came after Philadelphia’s Clyde Simmons tipped a pass intended for fullback Steve Smith in the left flat. That enabled safety Wes Hopkins to outjump Smith for the misguided ball.

But on the third interception, there was no one else to blame.

Trying to hit Tim Brown on a long pass, Marinovich simply overthrew his receiver, allowing the Eagles’ John Booty to come down with the ball.

When it was again time for the Raider offense to take the field, Marinovich learned he wasn’t along.

“I was disappointed,” the Raiders’ second-year man said. “It was kind of a shock. It (getting pulled) has happened before at SC, but that was SC.

“I don’t let interceptions bother me. Great players come back. I felt I could.”

By making the move, Shell was hoping the Raiders could come back.

They already trailed by 10-0 by that point on a 24-yard field goal by Roger Ruzek and a one-yard run by Herschel Walker.

The Walker touchdown came at the end of a 31-yard, 10-play drive that included the game’s emotional turning point.

The Raiders had the Eagles down to fourth and one at the Raider 22-yard line. But Heath Sherman, who finished with a game-high 81 yards rushing on nine carries, picked up four of those yards to keep the drive alive.

It seemed to stall again at the Raider 20, where Philadelphia faced fourth and 12.

Enter kicker Ruzek and holder Jeff Feagles for an apparent field-goal attempt.

Not!

Instead, Feagles spun around on a planned fake and fired a pass intended for lineman Brian Baldinger. The ball bounced off Baldinger’s hands.

The Raiders started celebrating. Until they saw the flag.

Lineman Aundray Bruce had been whistled for knocking Feagles off his feet after he had already released the errant pass.

That gave the Eagles another chance, and Walker made the most of it.

Bruce didn’t want to talk about the play afterward, but teammate Ronnie Lott didn’t hesitate.

“That was the turning point,” he said. “Those are the types of things you can’t do if you want to win in the National Football League. Those are stupid mistakes. Plays like that have come out of nowhere all year. Those kinds of plays are what has hurt this team.”

Philadelphia never looked back. McMahon’s 42-yard touchdown pass to Fred Barnett after a 22-yard field goal by the Raiders’ Jeff Jaeger gave the Eagles a 17-3 halftime lead. During the second half, Sherman scored on a 30-yard run and Walker added his second touchdown run, going in from two yards out.

Schroeder, who finished with 11 completions on 27 attempts for 127 yards, closed the scoring with a six-yard touchdown pass to Brown.

“Sometimes after a game,” Brown said, “you just want to wring people’s necks, but nobody goes out and tries to drop passes or tries to jump offsides on purpose.”

Sunday, that was of small consolation.