Seattle Seahawks Football Team

Curtis Conway admitted he was a bit nervous Sunday as he waited to find out when he would be picked in the NFL draft. The swift USC wide receiver and kick returner, who turned pro after his junior season, didn't have long to wait. The Chicago Bears used the seventh pick overall to select the versatile Trojan, who in only three seasons became the school's all-time leading kickoff returner. "Now I can go eat," he said with a laugh.

For the Raiders, now comes the stretch run. How well they do might depend on how well they run. Beginning with today's matchup against the Seattle Seahawks at the Coliseum, the Raiders have four games left to earn a playoff spot. It would be tough enough if they were at full strength. The Raiders are one of five teams with a record of 7-5 or better that are fighting for three wild-card spots. Two other clubs are a game behind at 6-6. That's assuming the Raiders do not win the division title.

Sleepless in Seattle. That was Tom Flores a year ago, suffering through a nightmare first season as coach of the Seattle Seahawks, tossing and turning from one quarterback to another. Talk about lowered expectations. Flores went from winning Super Bowls as coach of the Raiders to merely trying to win games in Seattle. He won only two of 16. In defensive lineman Cortez Kennedy, the Seahawks had the NFL's defensive player of the year, but the problem was the offense.

Seattle Seahawk cornerback Patrick Hunter was acquitted on all four assault and witness-intimidation counts he faced after a dispute with two women at a Bellevue, Wash., restaurant.

Forget your houses of pain, mirrors, wax or the one Ruth built. The house the Raiders are not welcome inside is this one, the Kingdome, where games are measured by decibels, not points. Once, the Raiders practiced all week with stereos blasting, hoping to achieve a sense of deafness, if not deftness. "If you could hear, it wouldn't be a problem," Raider Coach Art Shell said. "But when you start calling cadences, the tackles, they can't hear."