By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.comOAKLAND -- The coach said he is to blame. "To me, this is on Tom Cable,'' explained Tom Cable. No less is it on Al Davis, the man who hired Cable. Al Davis, who repeatedly has proclaimed, "I am the Oakland Raiders.'' So maybe Al Davis is to blame.
The Raiders are a team with convoluted priorities. They can't stop the run, but management put much of its effort in stopping a former player turned critic from attending practice.
They can't get the ball into the end zone, but in the post-game locker room they can get into the face of a journalist asking a legit question.
The Raiders are 1-2 after three games. It's going to get worse. They play at Houston, but then they play the New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets and San Diego Chargers. It's going to get worse, but after the last week, in a way, it couldn't get much worse.
The 23-3 loss on Sunday to Denver, in Oakland, almost was incidental. A game, a defeat. It happens.
What also happened was a Raiders assistant reportedly told the police in Napa, where the team holds camp, that Cable punched him and broke his jaw on Aug. 5.
What also happened was CBS analyst Rich Gannon, the last person to play quarterback for a Raider team with a winning record, was banned from the team facility for knocking the current quarterback, JaMarcus Russell.
What also happened was Lowell Cohn, a columnist from the
Santa Rosa Press Democrat, asked Richard Seymour, the guy the Raiders obtained in a trade from New England, whether he was assessed a personal foul for pulling the hair of the Broncos' Ryan Clady. Seymour grew belligerent, and a Raider official then started arguing with Cohn.
What also happened was the Raiders were some 18,000 seats short of a sellout, so there was no local television of the game in which the Broncos gained 372 yards to Oakland's 127.
Paranoia runs deep. Stole that line from Buffalo Springfield, a rock group that was together briefly in the late 1960s. That was a time when the Raiders used to be successful, a time when Davis didn't worry about what was written or said, just about his team performing.
Al is the creator of the phrase "Just win, baby,'' which in effect proclaims, who cares what the rest of the world thinks, just get more points than the other team. These days, however, the Raiders management, if not the athletes, care about the wrong things.
Russell, the quarterback, is in his third season. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 NFL draft. He's big, strong and throws interceptions. But he was Davis' selection, so he'll remain as a starter, maybe improving, maybe not.
Presumably Cable will remain as head coach. He's also Davis' selection, installed last season when Lane Kiffin was uninstalled.
Cable is either a cockeyed optimist or delusional. "We're just around the corner from where we want to be,'' was his comment. "It's right there in front of us.''
Right there behind him is the training camp incident. According to NFL.com, defensive assistant Randy Hanson told police he was struck by Cable, and the result was the broken jaw. Hanson's attorney, John McGuinn, called it "a classic case of felony assault.''
The Raiders are a classic case of incompetence. They haven't had a winning year since 2002, when they went to the Super Bowl and Gannon was their leader. But now he's persona non grata because Rich said the team "should just blow up the building and start over.''
Gannon finally was allowed on the property, after CBS whined to the NFL, and he definitely was at the Oakland Coliseum to watch the Raiders get pummeled by the Broncos. Probably had to choke back a few giggles.
But the Raiders are no laughing matter. Since '02, six plus seasons, they've had five coaches and 25 wins, no more than five in any of the six full seasons. When Russell threw his two interceptions in the first quarter against Denver, the fans, the faithful, started booing and never stopped.
"I have to have faith in the guy,'' said Cable of Russell. "His growth has been extreme regarding his work effort. He's just not consistent. He's part of the 10 percent of the team that has to bring his level up to the 90 percent which is performing.''
Then the coach pointed out, "Everything can be fixed, and if not it has to be changed.''
With the Raiders, little's been fixed, if anything, and nothing ever changes.
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