If not for Jon Kitna’s proclivity to throw critical interceptions, Oakland could be 0-3 and already in oblivion instead of just headed toward it.

Yes, NFL teams get old fast. There’s nobody older than the Raiders, who got blown out Monday night in Denver, have five starters over 37, and whose age is clearly showing. How slow did Bill Romanowski look trying to chase down Jake Plummer?

“I think teams have caught up to us. I would freely admit that,” says coach Bill Callahan, whose team is averaging just 237 yards of offense a game, down from 390 a year ago, when that offense carried the Raiders to the AFC title.

“We’re going to have to go back, we’re going to have to retool this thing.”

With all the old guys, the player they miss most is 25-year-old receiver Jerry Porter, the deep threat who makes the elderly Jerry Rice and Tim Brown more dangerous. Porter has missed the last two games with a hernia and will be out a while longer.

That creates several problems for the Raiders, whose only win this season was 23-20 over the winless Bengals. That win probably wouldn’t have come had Kitna not thrown one of his characteristic late-game interceptions when Cincinnati had a chance to take the lead.

Last season, Rich Gannon won the MVP award because someone was always open. Rice, who turned 40 during the season, had 92 receptions, his highest total since 1996.

But Tampa Bay used a nickel alignment against the Raiders in the Super Bowl, bumping Rice and Brown at the line, making Gannon hesitate in his three- and five-step drops. and swarming him when he paused.

None of the three teams the Raiders have played this season has a front seven like Tampa Bay’s, although Denver’s linebackers — notably the ultra-quick Ian Gold — made the Raiders look like they were standing in place.

Oakland quarterback Rich Gannon is sacked by Denver defensive end Bertrand Berry during their game last week. With Monday night's loss in Denver, the Raiders fell to 1-2, and problems abound for the defending AFC champions.

In truth, they are.

They should be honored and respected for getting to the Super Bowl last season, even though the culture of football doesn’t allow that, except in hindsight. Buffalo, for example, finally got credit for going to four straight Super Bowls when Marv Levy deservedly was elected to the Hall of Fame two years ago.

But trying to get back with an aging cast isn’t working, and the young players aren’t ready yet in Oakland. Center Barret Robbins, still being treated for bipolar disease, will start today after his replacement, Matt Stinchcomb, really a tackle, was overwhelmed by the Denver defense Monday night.

With Porter out, the third wide receiver is Ronald Curry, a great athlete without a position. He was a mediocre quarterback and point guard at North Carolina after being a fabulous high school athlete in Virginia.

The Raiders have tried him all over and now are trying to make him a “Slash.” That turned into a disaster Monday night when Gannon threw to Curry behind the line of scrimmage and Curry tried to throw to Charlie Garner across the field.

The pass went awry, Garner fell on it, and the Raiders lost 12 yards.

Curry is Exhibit A. Exhibit B is Justin Fargas, who went to Michigan as a running back, transferred to Southern Cal when the Wolverines tried to make him a defensive back and was only a part-time starter at USC last season.

The third-round pick is the eventual successor to Garner (at 31, ancient for a running back). But he still is a bit green.

Finally, there are the quarterback questions.

Gannon will be 38 in December, and Marques Tuiasosopo is his backup, but not necessarily his successor — he hasn’t played enough to show anything. There are recurring rumors the Raiders might try to obtain Drew Henson’s rights from Houston, which drafted him last April. Henson is Al Davis’ kind of “vertical” QB.

At some point this season, the Raiders may have to decide if Curry, Fargas and Tuiasosopo are part of the future to go with Porter, Charles Woodson, Phillip Buchanon and other youngsters such as Teyo Johnson. He is still trying to learn to play tight end after being a wide receiver at Stanford.

Meanwhile, the veterans seem to be teaching youngsters on other teams as well as their own.

Monday night, 38-year-old Rod Woodson, playing with a bad knee, sprinted toward the Broncos’ Ashley Lelie, already celebrating as he trotted toward the end zone at the end of a 44-yard pass play. Woodson hit him as he crossed the goal line, and Lelie nearly lost the ball.

“I hope he learned a lesson,” Denver coach Mike Shanahan said of Lelie, who is in his second NFL season. “A guy like Rod Woodson isn’t going to give up on a play like that. It’s good that Ashley is learning those things.”