Battling Organizational Culture

After an exhilarating, improbable, impressive win over a good Bengals team on Sunday, most teams would take momentum into their next start. But it's well documented that the Raiders always do a major face plant when coming off a win. Shane Lechler blames players, saying, "Guys become real cool."

It's quite remarkable to me that there are so many significant players who have absolutely no idea how to handle themselves as professionals. It is to be expected given the lack of discipline that flows from the utter lack of organizational structure the Raiders have. But for the life of me I can't figure out who those guys are.

So my hope this week is that the short week distracts the Raider players from their typical post-win routine of going out, getting drunk, showing up late for practice, skipping their studies - whatever it is they do.

Another organizational quirk that always baffles me a bit is the inability to stop the run. This year's focus on fundamentals didn't fix it, but per David White's post, John Marshall seems to know exactly what the problem is. And it sounds like guys are just missing assignments and failing to learn, which points right back at the discipline problem mentioned above.

With Seymour, Ellis, and Branch, DE and SS seem less likely culprits this year. Is it a problem with the LBs and DTs? Something to watch now that we actually get to see a game on TV, I guess.

The good news is the Raiders showed promise on Sunday and a second win in a row would be a revelation.

Cable Takes a Stand

A non-practicing fan though I may be, I found it impossible to stay away from the radio in the second half. It's games like these that always blow my mind. Just when you are absolutely sure they will never win again, they beat a winning team. This leads to what longtime CLOAK reader Dave labels a false sense of hope, and the cycle of disappointment begins anew.

But this was a win, and despite what many will say about the Eagles overlooking the Raiders, the cross-country flight, Reid's game plan, or McNabb's poor play, the Raider defense played a huge part in delivering this win. How did they do it? By defying reason #2 why the Raiders always lose. They mixed up their scheme. They blitzed like crazy. They dropped into Cover-2. And it worked.

Per Winston Justice: “They were doing some stunts. They caught us by surprise. They did a lot of things that we weren’t really expecting.”

Per McNabb: “This week the defensive coordinator came up with a scheme we haven’t seen. They’re known for playing man coverage. They dropped back in a lot of zone, more zone than we’ve seen in the early games. That allowed them to sit back in a zone and just wait for a guy to catch the ball and make the tackle. They came up with more of a blitz package today. They were able to get pressure.”

After the game, Greg Papa asked Tom Cable why they had shown such a different look this week. Cable said he made the decision and sounded defiant in his comments, which went something like this: "We weren't going to sit back in man-single free safety and just take it."

This, I believe, is Cable taking a stand against the vanilla defense dictated by Al Davis. Cable knows that with defensive performances like they've had in Houston and New York, he wouldn't be employed for long. He might not even make it past tomorrow, depending on what the Napa DA has to say.

If there's any doubt that Al dictates defensive scheme, here is what Nnamdi had to say about John Marshall dialing up the blitzes today: "He said that he might get yelled at for it, but he’ll keep it going." Nnamdi added, "Maybe he’ll see that it actually works, and we’ll stick on it."

He might as well have been talking about Al.

Post Mini-Camp Round-up

It's gotten quiet the last couple of days, but here's some of what's been going on:

Lowell Cohn covered the JaMarcus/Goldmember relationship, and compared says JaMarcus is just like Joe Montana was at the same stage of his career...er...kinda...

David White has five questions for Thomas Howard. Jerry uses this as an opportunity to discuss new D.C. John Marshall, and rehashes the Lance Kiffin/Rob Ryan feud. Money quotes:

If Ryan wasn’t so busy trying to put together a defense in Cleveland, he could probably feel the force of the wheels from the Raiders team bus.

and

Doubtful you’ll hear any response from Ryan, who will no doubt throw his considerable weight into building up some of the Cleveland Browns as unblockable and unstoppable.

Jerry Mac and Phil Barber address Timmy's comments about Al and African-American Players from Notre Dame. Bonus points to Barber for his headline, "Al Davis Doesn't Care About Black People (From Notre Dame)." That cracked me up.

Florio says the Raiders are partying like it's 1999 with five QBs on the roster. Shit, was that really 10 years ago?

Aloha

Checking in from the beach in Maui while taking advantage of the Marriott's property-wide wi-fi. Approximately half of the CLOAK's readership is here enjoying a cup of coffee alongside me: Unk and Mikey. The whales are jumping, the sun is out.

And the Broncos have turned into a soap opera.

Despite Gwen Knapp's extremely backhanded compliments in that article, even SFGate has become a joy to read during this offseason thanks to David White's steady blogging. And on Monday he staked out the Raider facility to scoop a number of additional re-signings, including kick returner Justin Miller, a former Pro Bowler who returned two for TDs in about half a season last year.

With the Khalif Barnes signing, one would have to say this offseason has been a success. The Raiders played that one right, getting their guy at their price. And ESPN's article on the signing shows that Al can still talk a guy into playing for the Raiders.

There are plenty of holes yet to fill, but we have a draft coming and lots of time to plug in just a few more free agents. The big question is going to be the defense. How much of the problem against the run is personnel, and how much was scheme? Will Marshall change the scheme much or is it preordained by Al himself? Regardless, the Raiders should probably plug in a safety and pass rusher as free agency continues, then focus on drafting a WR and Tackle to play with JaMarcus for a long time to come.

But so far, so good. Kind of like my vacation.