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CHARLIERIEDEL—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Kansas City Chiefs nose tackle Jaye Howard (96) sacks Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) during the second half Sunday in Kansas City, Mo. ByJoshDubow TheAssociatedPress ALAMEDA Thesignsofprogressfor the Oakland Raiders were stark. More than doubling the win to- tal from three to seven; a touchdown more a game scored on offense be- hind a vastly upgraded passing at- tack; a defense that improved might- ily throughout the season. The end result in coach Jack Del Rio's first season was the same: a 13th straight season without the playoffs. But with rare continuity at quarter- back with Derek Carr back for a third season, and at coach with Del Rio, as well as at several other key spots, the Raiders believe they will be ready to end that drought next season. "I think we're very close," Del Rio said. "You get a chance to earn that. The teams that are in — there are 12 teams that are playing this weekend — they all earned their way in. It's our goal to make sure that we're one of those teams next year." After years of being saddled with numerous lopsided losses, the Raid- ers were competitive all season out- side of an opening loss to Cincinnati. In the final 15 games, the Raiders either led or had the ball with a def- icit of seven points or fewer in the fourth quarter of every contest. But they were unable to close out enough of those tight games, which led to an- other early offseason. "We definitely feel like we should be playing, but we didn't earn it," Carr said. "There are some teams in the playoffs that we played against. There are teams that we saw the mis- takes they had and they barely beat us and things like that. We see where we're headed. Obviously we didn't earn it, we're not there yet, but we see where we're headed." Here are some other things to watch this offseason for the Raiders: MOVING TIME The biggest question surrounding the Raiders is where they will play next season. The team is looking to move to the Los Angeles area after spending the last 21 years in Oakland. An answer could come as soon as next week when NFL own- ers meet in Houston. If the Raiders are not allowed to go south they will likely remain in Oakland on another short-term lease and have their long- term future remain in limbo. REPLACING WOODSON Oakland will NFL Raidersshowprogressmade In2015,Oaklandmore than doubles win total, but falls short of playoffs Saturday: Kansas City Chiefs at Houston Texans, 12:35p.m., TV on ESPN. TUNEIN By Dave Skretta The Associated Press KANSAS CITY, MO. Nobody will ever confuse Spencer Ware or Charcandrick West for Jamaal Charles. Ware is a former sixth-round pick who didn't play a game last season, and landed with the Kan- sas City Chiefs almost as an after- thought. West was an undrafted free agent out of tiny Abilene Christian who had carried the ball a handful of times before Charles was lost to a season-end- ing knee injury. It turns out the two of them to- gether have been just as produc- tive. Forming a quintessential thun- der-and-lightning combination, Ware and West have combined with the scrambling of quar- terback Alex Smith to make the Chiefs one of the most produc- tive running teams in the entire NFL. They're averaging nearly 130 yards per game, fourth-best in the league, even without the franchise's career rushing leader taking handoffs. NFL Chiefs still churning out yards on ground MAVERICKS 117, KINGS 116 (2OT) Up next: Los Angeles Lakers at Sacramento Kings, 7:30p.m. Thursday, TV on TNT. THESCORE By Schuyler Dixon The Associated Press DALLAS Deron Williams hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer in the second overtime, and the Dallas Mavericks beat Sacramento 117- 116 Tuesday night for their 22nd consecutive home victory over the Kings. Williams took an inbounds pass from Devin Harris with 2.3 seconds left, pump faked to get Rudy Gay to fly by him in the left corner and the ball went in after the buzzer sounded. Dirk Nowitzki hit an earlier 3 as the Mavericks scored the last eight points after falling behind 116-109 with 1:20 left in the sec- ond overtime. DeMarcus Cousins scored 35 for his third straight 30-point game for the Kings, including a buzzer-beating layup for a 98-all tie at the end of regulation. Former Dallas guard Rajon Rondo was out with back spasms in his first visit since an acrimo- NBA Mavericks win in 2 overtimes against Kings By Ronald Blum The Associated Press NEW YORK Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and other tainted stars of the Steroids Era appear likely to get a boost in Hall of Fame balloting, but not enough to en- ter Cooperstown this year. Ken Griffey Jr. seems as- sured of election on the first try Wednesday, possibly with a re- cord vote of close to 100 per- cent. Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines also were strong candidates to gain the 75 per- cent needed for baseball's high- est honor. Following the elimination of about 100 retired baseball writ- ers from the electorate, Bonds and Clemens were on track for a 5-10 percentage point increase. After drawing about 37 percent of the ballots last year, they were in the 48 percent range this year according to www.bbhoftracker. com , which tabulated public votes adding to more than one- third of the total. Last July, the Hall's board of directors cut eligible voters from approximately 575 to roughly 475 by purging writers who had not been covering the game for more than a decade. Previously, the electorate included people who had been active members of the Baseball Writers' Associ- ation of America for 10 consec- utive years at any point. "We have a somewhat dif- ferent electorate," John Thorn, Major League Baseball's official historian, said Tuesday. "I think possibly the current electorate was not content to keep kick- ing the PED crowd down into a hole and leaving the Hall of Fame with a crater in its plaque room." Marc Maturo, a reporter cov- ering New York baseball for Gannett in the 1970s and '80s, was among those who lost vot- ing rights. He said he would have voted for Bonds, Clemens, Griffey and Raines. "The whole process I think was done too quickly, wasn't given enough thought," he said. Now a writer for the weekly Rockland County Times, Ma- turo pointed out players who re- ceived one or two votes in recent years, such as Armando Benitez, Aaron Boone, Bret Boone, Darin Erstad, Kenny Rogers, J.T. Snow and B.J. Surhoff. "They call these courtesy votes or friendship votes," he said, "That should eliminate you. They're not Hall of Famers by anyone's imagination. But people vote for them. To me, that's wrong." A 13-time All-Star who is sixth with 630 homers, Griffey was a lock to be inducted at Cooperstown on July 24. The former Cincinnati and Seattle star appeared on all 166 ballots counted by bbhoftracker and could challenge the record of 98.84 percent set by Tom Seaver when he was picked by 425 of 430 voters in 1992. Piazza was at about 87 per- cent in his fourth appearance af- ter falling short by 28 votes last year, when Randy Johnson, Pe- dro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio became the first quartet elected by the BBWAA in one year since 1955. Bagwell was third at 80 per- cent in his sixth appearance, fol- lowed by Raines at 78 percent in his ninth. Last year, the actual percentage was about 5 percent BASEBALL HALL OF FAME BONDS, CLEMENS TO LIKELY GET BOOST Elimination of about 100 retired writers from electorate might help some in voting CHRIS CARLSON — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Former San Francisco Giants player Barry Bonds and other tainted stars of the Steroids Era appear likely to get a boost in Hall of Fame balloting. ELAINE THOMPSON — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE The Seattle Mariners' Ken Griffey Jr. smiles from beneath a pile of teammates who mobbed him a er he scored the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning of a game against the New York Yankees in Seattle. Griffey is all but certain to be announced as a Baseball Hall of Fame inductee next week. RAIDERS PAGE 2 BASEBALL PAGE 2 CHIEFS PAGE 2 KINGS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, January 6, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1