The Associated Press

SAN DIEGO - Far too often this season, the Silver and Black have been accented with yellow. The Oakland Raiders racked up an alarming number of penalties en route to the Super Bowl, right through their flag-filled AFC title game. Some Raiders believe it's a product of their outlaw image among officials. Others admit it's partly due to boneheaded, hot-tempered play.

The players agree they've got to cut down - but they also don't plan to change the aggressive play that got them this far.

"If you're playing with the intensity and the passion that the Oakland Raiders play with, there are just going to be penalties," defensive tackle Sam Adams said. "You can't avoid it. I know we play harder than a lot of teams, but since we're the Raiders, we get called for things that other teams get away with."

The Raiders committed 129 penalties in the regular season - third in the NFL behind Minnesota and Houston. Those penalties added up to 1,094 yards - the second-highest total in the league.

The playoffs have been no different. After committing eight penalties for 70 yards in the first postseason game against the Jets, Oakland was whistled for 14 penalties - several of them blatant - for 127 yards in the AFC title game against Tennessee.

"We've been talking about the penalties all season, but it's still a big problem," Oakland coach Bill Callahan said. "We've addressed it, and we've readdressed it. That's not the kind of team we are, but we've been lucky to succeed in spite of it. That's not the way to bet on having success."

The Raiders' 14 penalties against Tennessee encompassed nine different infractions, including three pass-interference calls, three false starts, two unnecessary-roughness penalties, two delays of game and single instances of roughing the passer, illegal contact, illegal shift and holding.

The worst was Terrance Shaw's roughing-the-passer penalty when Oakland stopped Tennessee on third down late in the third quarter. With the drive rescued by the Raiders' carelessness, Steve McNair scrambled 13 yards for a score on the next play to pull the Titans within three points.

The Raiders' belief in an NFL conspiracy against them is rooted in decades of their outlaw franchise's history. From the early days in Oakland to the years in Los Angeles, from John Matuszak to Lyle Alzado, the Raiders always had players who walked on the edge of the rules.

It's a reputation that has followed the club ever since, although most of the current Raiders share little with their wild forebears. Except for linebacker Bill Romanowski, none of the Raiders' stars has a reputation for questionable play.

"But it's still the Raiders, and that's still what people say about the Raiders," said former Oakland great Willie Brown, a Hall of Fame defensive back with two Super Bowl rings. "It's a reputation, and that's what people say about us. This team doesn't have guys who are dirty, but the perception is always there."

Even for classy, talented veterans like Jerry Rice who weren't Raiders for life.

"When I first came to Oakland, Tim Brown told me, 'Jerry, the calls you've been getting as a Niner, you're not going to get as a Raider,"' Rice said. "I found that out the first time I got a dirty hit on me and there was no call. One of our guys got called for doing the same thing. There's a different standard."

Reputation aside, the Raiders' reckless play also has plenty to do with the flags. The AFC championship game featured many of the penalties that would ruin a lesser team's season.

Eric Barton got an unnecessary roughness penalty with a helmet-to-helmet hit that allowed Tennessee to escape a third-and-long in the second quarter. Moments later, Romanowski and Regan Upshaw committed unwise fouls during a touchdown drive that allowed the Titans to take a brief lead.

One nasty hit didn't even result in a penalty: Napoleon Harris delivered a helmet-first hit on McNair while trying to stop the quarterback from crossing the goal line on his TD run.

"Part of that is because we still don't get the respect that other great teams get from the officials," Adams said. "It's ridiculous sometimes. We have to work harder for what we get."

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