We are losers again

Two days after his team wrapped up its most successful season since 2002 - and by far the most gratifying for fans - Al Davis decided to fire coach Tom Cable. Couldn't stand the faint whiff of success? Angry that the Team of the Decades couldn't extend its NFL record 11-loss streak into this decade? Miffed that he never put out a press release about how great Jacoby Ford will be? Still irked that he slept through the first day of the draft this year?

More plausible, but still crazy, was that he couldn't risk the chance that the 49ers would one-up him by stealing his prized Hue Jackson. And of course "a source" even says that Cable's post-game comment, "We're not losers anymore" apparently did not go over well with Al Davis. The implication being that this somehow contributed to the decision.

Perhaps Hue Jackson will get the job and everything will go swimmingly next year. History doesn't favor that outcome, but we can hope. In the meantime, the first positive vibes in many years are gone. Here's some player reaction, courtesy of Jerry:

Shane Lechler: After stating that Gallery and Bush will be gone in free agency, "It's going to be a huge setback...It's hard to understand why the decision was made...we finally felt like we were headed in the right way, and the owner goes and pulls the (plug)."

Robert Gallery: "I think this is going to hit 99 percent of the locker room really hard because people respected how he dealt with us and where we were headed. It's definitely a step back from what we've done going forward the last year or two."

And the fans lose again.

Pathetic

In every way.

This why suck, Part 789

Jerry Mac, writing about why the Raiders didn't draft Larry Fitzgerald:

At the time, the Raiders felt pretty good about their receiving corps of Jerry Porter, Ronald Curry and Doug Gabriel. The following year, they would bring in Randy Moss.

Since that 2005 season, Fitzgerald has more receptions than any receivcer in the NFL (475) for 6,413 yards and 52 touchdowns. The Raiders recieving leaders during that span _ Jerry Porter, Ronald Curry (in 2006 and 2007), Johnnie Lee Higgins and Louis Murphy, combined for 249 receptions, 3,273 yards and 18 touchdowns.

But while Fitzgerald was available and brought in for a visit, it was purely for show. They never considered drafting him because he didn’t have a fast enough time in the 40-yard dash. Davis’ favorite receiver, I’ve been told by was Roy Williams out of Texas. (emphasis added)

Yes, this Roy Williams. I will now mix a qualuude-and-drano cocktail.

Ouch

From Jerry McDonald's latest post:

How is it possible the Raiders could be overconfident? In a way they’re no different from much of the fan base which thought they had a winner and now are willing to sell their beloved team for a nickel after a bad opener.

Speaking for the CLOAK, I'm not sure we thought we had a "winner," so much as we were encouraged that the problems we've been experiencing over the last 7 years--Commitment to press-bashing, no pass rush, bum offensive line play, bad tackling in the run defense--were at least being dealt with in a manner befitting a professional organization. Sunday's game was a debacle, no different from any of the many debacles we've experienced over that time period.

Jerry's readers are dedicated, though, and this line is like a shout-out to the most loyal readers, the ones who police the site for "haters."

Problems

The year is new, but the problems are the same.


Run defense - it held up for a while but then started to give up the huge chunks of yardage. Given that the Raiders have changed all the players, is this proof that the scheme is fundamentally not equipped to stop the run?

Pass rush - we thought this would be a new-found strength, but after one early sack by Wimbley, our "natural pressure" is not getting to the QB.

Passing game - nonexistent. Completely nonexistent.

Offensive line - terrible. Our Tackles do not belong in the NFL.

Penalties - definitely on pace to lead the league again.

With all the changes, year after year, there is only one common denominator for all of this. As Dave texted me, "I'm not watching anymore. I have better things to do."

Debacle

Wow. This franchise is a laughingstock and we haven't even made it to half. If I were to say I'm shocked then I would be admitting my naivete.

Kristy is busy cancelling our plans to attend the away game in Denver.

Why we suck, Part 314

So Jon Gruden has a party at Rickey's Raiderland, and Al gets "infuriated" because some current Raiders employees showed up to say "hello" to their former co-worker (boss?).

As Jerry says, "Good to know that as the Raiders move forward to recapture their greatness, they’re focused on the right things."

Charlie Frye Whoa

I mean, like WOW.

More details and speculation from Bronco Bill.

This is getting very, very interesting.

Welcome Back, Randy, JaMarcus

This was going to be a strictly Randy Hanson post, with the theme song to "Welcome Back, Kotter."



I thought it would be appropriate because it's a cool song from a cool show, and because Al is from Brooklyn.

Anyway, Jerry Mac does a breakdown/speculation of why in the name of anything Randy Hanson could possibly be back working for the Raiders, concluding, rather pithily and quite brutally, "You want a successful business model, check with Fortune 500." To make the implication explicit, The Raiders do not have a successful business model as Al Davis has currently constructed it.

But while I was out picking my daughter up from school, JaMarcus addressed the media, so we give him a nice welcome back, kinda sorta. He promises that when he gets back on the field, we'll see a "Totally different JaMarcus." But he hasn't lost any weight or changed his work ethic. So there. And he's keeping his money.

Kawakami has a transcript. God doesn't make mistakes, and time will tell, and it's not the end of the world.

Finally, since we opened with Brooklyn, we can close with Brooklyn, too. Lowell Cohn talks to Ira Miller, who invents the verb "to Raider." Getting Raidered sounds an awful lot like getting debacled. Ira likes Gradkowski, at least in relation to JaMarcus. This exchange stood out to me, after Miller says that "Getting the No. 1 draft choice off the field certainly helped them:

Cohn: Which No. 1 draft choice?

Miller: Both of them - the quarterback and Heyward-Bey. I don't think Heyward-Bey has any chance. He's one of Al's fantasies -- he runs fast.

That's kind of the impression I get about DHB, too. I got into a discussion via twitter yesterday with the author of Raiders Blog, who is still optimistic that DHB will pan out once he learns to catch the ball, because he's a good kid, works hard, etc. And I agree that sure, he's a good kid, etc, and I feel bad about suggesting he jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. That was a joke in poor taste. But the point is, DHB is not a football player. He's a track star. We may as well have drafted Usain Bolt. And anyone who suggests the Randy Hanson issue is overblown, or is not a big deal, or not a red flag indicator that something is deeply, deeply diseased and rotten within the structure of the Raiders organization is deep, deep denial. They're like the wives who stayed with Tom Cable after he beat them.

Because at the very least, we should be able to enjoy the sweet taste of a rare victory for longer than two days before reminding everyone in the stupidest way possible of the dysfunction that is the team we love.

The Perfect Example

I could really use some sleep, but this has to be said. That Randy Hanson is back at work in Alameda is the perfect illustration of why our hope for long term success for the Raiders is akin to our hope that we'll win the lottery. It is reason #1.

Bringing back Hanson is possibly the most extreme thing Al Davis could have thought of to do in order to undermine Cable as coach. Just think about it. Hanson tried to put Cable in jail. In JAIL.

Oh, I'm sure Al has some "logical" reason. Maybe it keeps Hanson from dragging Cable and the Raiders to civil trial. Certainly there are better ways than this to avoid such a fate.

No, Raiders fans can't even enjoy one week of post-improbable-victory bliss during which we could have lied to ourselves that maybe, just maybe there is something to that locker room message. Al has bludgeoned us with another debacle. Now he could really get us all back for that billboard by going ahead and naming Hanson GM.

Can JaMarcus pull a Vince Young?

You know, getting benched, and then coming back a season later and taking your team on a five-game winning streak with sensational last minute finishes? That's the subject of a Bill Williamson post.

Well, I think part of the question is answered in Paul Gutierrez's blog item yesterday.

Cable was asked what he has seen in Russell since his demotion.

"I don't really see any change whatsoever," Cable said. "He's working, doing what he's asked to do. He's preparing like normal. So I wouldn't say there was any change or anything I've noticed."

Not too much of an endorsement, right? Well, what about this, then - have you seen him doing things in his benching that he wasn't necessarily doing before?

"No, I see him staying the course and working," Cable said. "Preparing, the reps he gets, going in and working hard at them, preparing himself in the classroom, all those things that he has to do."

Just shoot me.

Monte Poole's mystery buyers

Monte Poole has a great column up about the Message to Al Billboard that went up yesterday on 880.

What interests me is that there are people--Raiders fans!--who have a lot of money who would love to buy the Raiders. Local people, maybe?

More intriguingly, one multimillionaire sports figure who does not wish to be identified has several times over the past 18 months expressed an unwavering curiosity. A longtime fan of the team, he is displeased about its decline and, moreover, says he is in contact with one or more billionaires with a DEFINITE interest.

Oh my god. It's too much to even hope for right now. It makes me sick. But as the former player quoted by Poole earlier says

"I hate to say it, because the old man is a legend," the former player said. "But I think we're going to be like this as long as he's around to run things. And I really don't see him giving that up."

I don't, either, which puts us fans in an awkward position of watching our beloved team suck so much ass, and at times wishing ill on a legend. But the possibilities, especially if the Steve Young/Brent Jones team got control, are amazing. Maybe they do share a stadium in Santa Clara with the 49ers. Maybe they get a real GM who evaluates football players, instead of plain athletes. There's a difference, and it's obvious to anyone who sees the way Michael Crabtree runs routes and catches the ball on Sundays versus the way DHB sprints down the field and does jack shit on Sundays.

Or maybe they don't share a stadium with the Niners. Maybe they get a new one in Oakland, that they could call it Davis field. They could keep all of the slogans and traditions and the Raiders could still be the TEAM OF DECADES with PRIDE AND POISE and a COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE Al could still come out for press conferences and take credit for identifying great co-ownership and front-office talent. Or he could just put on his CLOAK OF IMMORTALITY and ride off into the sunset.

But they would have to guarantee that Herrera is never placed in front of a microphone again. That's the only deal breaker.

A fan can hope.

Another day, another debacle

So the Raiders lost to the Chiefs, 16-10, and nobody noticed because it wasn't televised.

But JaMarcus got benched, and Gradkowski came in and sucked pretty bad. What's interesting is that there are two views on the benching, almost diametrically opposed.

First, Lowell Cohn says JaMarcus is done. He sucks, and should be jettisoned as soon as possible, that the Raiders need to find a way to cut their losses. He blames JaMarcus for not taking any responsibility.

Bill Williamson kills the Raiders for yanking JaMarcus with the game on the line. He says Russell seemed to be making strides, and was victimized by DHB's hands and Robert Gallery's tripping penalty (I happened to see this play on the RedZone Channel).

Anyway, this has to be the nadir. Losing to the shit-ass Kansas City Chiefs, in Oakland. In front of maybe, what 30,000 people?

But then, we thought Art Shell/Tom Walsh was the nadir.

Raiders get weird again, the sequel

Late yesterday and this morning brought some columnists out regarding the latest Raider drama. That's about all the Raiders are good for, it seems--drama--because they certainly aren't a football team in the sense that their an organization that cares about winning games or developing a program. In fact, on Monday Night Countdown's weekly, "C'mon, Man!" segment, Tom Jackson was able to quip, "We should rename this segment 'The Raiders' because they show up every week," and then played the clip of Louis Murphy and Johnnie Lee Higgins running into each other, Keystone Cops-style.

So first up, Cam Inman talks to Lance Kiffin, who gives Tom Cable a nice character reference:

"Any head coach deserves a certain amount of time to get things going and install what he wants to install. Tom has not had enough time," Kiffin said by phone Monday from his office as the University of Tennessee's coach. "I would think he definitely should have another season after this, at least."

Really? Even after more assault allegations surfaced against Cable on Sunday, via ESPN's report pertaining to claims of two ex-wives and an ex-girlfriend?

"If any of that was accurate, that would surprise me," Kiffin added. "In my year-and-a-half with Tom, I never saw anything like that. I thought he was a first-class coach and a great person."

I'm sure Al will take this under advisement.

Next up is Tim Kawakami, who writes,

Now the team is 2-6 and there are the new serious charges. Al is known to be very protective of women. He wants his franchise to be first-class. He must be horrified by the association to violence against women.

I give him major credit for that.

So Al has a problem. He wants “cause” to fire Cable, so he has to wait, but he also is embarrassed that Cable’s behavior continues to shed bad light on a franchise that is not exactly permanently bathed in light, anyway.

Al has a lot of problems. A shitty football team is the biggest problem.

Scott Ostler gets in on the act, calling the Raiders a "Creepshow" that is hitting its all-time low, although every time I think that, they hit a new low. Anyway,

What's really bizarre in Monday's two news releases is the juxtaposition of warnings.

In one statement, the Raiders say they're evaluating the matter, and alert us that they have fired employees in the past for inappropriate conduct. In the other statement, they call into question the validity of ESPN's report.

So the Raiders might wind up firing their coach over charges they suggest might be nothing but phony-baloney smears in ESPN's attacks on the Raiders.

Creepy.

Finally, in this perusal of local columnist reactions, we get Lowell Cohn. His piece really should be read in its entirety, but here's a taste:

Several benefits would accrue from firing Cable ASAP. We wouldn’t have to see his sad face anymore or hear him swear the Raiders will be a great team in a week or so: “I have great faith in where we’re going and what we can do as a football team.”

That storyline is so over with. And we wouldn’t have to ask whom Cable slapped, or if he actually did slap anyone, or if he really punches people, or if he has a problem controlling his rage or if he has rage to begin with.

Anyway, have a nice day. Any minute now, Al may show up with his overhead projector and announce that Randy Hanson is the interim head coach. That would be awesome.

Meanwhile, in Bizaro Raiders Universe

Raiders name Sean Payton head coach.

Somehow, this got debacled, and we ended up with two years of Norv, followed by Art, Lance, and now OJ Cable.

I will now punch myself in the face.

Raiders get weird again

Not they ever STOPPED being weird, of course. But here's the statement they've released regarding the allegations that Tom Cable is a wife-beater:

Over the last few days, we learned of the allegations made against Coach Cable and we are, of course, aware of of his response thereto. In conjunction with the League office, we will undertake a serious evaluation of this matter.

We wish to be clear that we do not in any way condone or accept actions such as those alleged.

There have been occasions on which we have dismissed Raider employees for having engaged in inappropriate conduct. For reasons of privacy, we kept the basis for those dismissals confidential. We endured public opprobrium for the dismissals, all the while knowing our basis for them was appropriate.

See, weird. And paranoid. "Public opprobrium" for dismissing people for "inappropriate conduct." That could be anyone. The threat to undertake a serious evaluation can't be good news for Tom Cable, not with a 2-6 record. But hey, it is the Raiders. Who knows what will happen.

Of course, this being the Raiders, they took a shot at ESPN, in a separate statement:

ESPN’s role in this matter must be carefully examined. ESPN routinely disseminates falsehoods about the Raiders. During the last year, ESPN (working with someone who was in this organization) engaged in a calculated effort to distort the truth about the Raiders, utilizing lies and innuendo.

Obviously they mean Lance. And, again pretty fucking obviously, Tom Cable is not engaged in a calculated effort--with ESPN--to tarnish the Raiders. Unless he's going out and beating on women just to make the Raiders look even worse than they do already, and not because he may or may not have a serious anger management problem. Anyway, stay tuned.

And so it begins

Monte Poole and Lowell Cohn call for Al Davis to fire Tom Cable, as in immediately. Because it's the bye week, that makes sense to me.

He's become an embarrassment. Money quote from Poole:

This isn't about expecting perfection from an authority figure. One of the greatest baseball managers of all time, Billy Martin, was ill-tempered and would swing on someone for breathing wrong. We know of Bob Knight's temper and that Bobby Cox once spent a night in jail after hitting his wife, though the charges were later dropped.

But as a coach, Cable does not belong in that discussion. Not that coaching well justifies violence. This is about wins and losses and image — about how a multimillion-dollar business would like to manage its brand. Cable is going where no Raiders coach has gone before. He is bringing shame upon the shield.

Shame upon the shield.

Allegedly, this is the number one offense in Raider land.

I don't have any illusions that this will improve anything. But a stand has to be taken. Sure, as this PFT post points out, there's plenty of "reasonable doubt." That works great as a constitutional guarantee. But it doesn't guarantee somebody a job, especially if these kinds of allegations and distractions keep coming up. What will we hear next? That he spent the night before the game stealing children's Halloween candy?

Cable's got to go. Al needs to go.

UPDATE: Missed this one by Kawakami. He brings up Al's intolerance for violence again women, and then writes of Cable:

OK, maybe he’s just an innocent bystander, assailed by an active conspiracy to bring him down. Maybe he’s truly the gentlest man in the world, and can’t understand where all these charges are coming from.

UNLIKELY. He has a history. The history is coming up.

Al has a history, too, and it’s firing coaches who displease him and running off those who embarrass him. Right now, Cable is doing both. Allegedly in one aspect and not-at-all allegedly in the other.

Seriously? I mean, really? Oh, COME ON!

This is great. I mean, really. Stay classy, Raiders. What happened to Dollar up for Tracey?



Right as Jerry Mac speculates that despite the decrepitude on the field, Cable probably won't get fired.

This is Al Davis' fault.

Click?

Light blogging this week because of the general atrociousness of the Raiders, but there was an interesting item in Jerry Mac's blog on Thursday.

It's worth a read. I've gone from being the world's biggest JaMarcus Russell apologist not named Al Davis to absolutely refusing to defend him any longer, as he's been so awful.

And now, in the middle of another season filled with debacles, Charlie Frye shows up at the office on Wednesday morning at 6:30 and was surprised to see JaMarcus there. It's the earliest he's ever seen him, and as Jerry points out, the logical inference is that it's because only now is JaMarcus taking his role as franchise quarterback seriously. Okay, fine. Says Frye:

“I just think it clicks differently for different guys,” Frye said. “Some guys it happens really fast for them and some guys it takes a little bit longer. I think it took me to be able to go out there in Seattle and just sit back away from it and see how this thing really works.

“Some guys learn better through playing, through experience, other guys through film work. I know one thing, when the light switch does come on, you notice it really quickly. It’s just different for everybody.”

And I can understand this. JaMarcus seems like one of those guys for whom things have always been easy on the football field. He was bigger, stronger, and more talented than just about everyone he's ever played with or against. Then you're drafted #1, given a ton of money, and he thinks to himself, "This is easy, just like everything else in my football life so far." Only it's not easy, so he freaks out a little bit, and doesn't know what to do.

So he gets pulled. And then for the next three days he gets absolutely killed, and he deserves it. Anyway, maybe it's too little, too late. But I'm rooting for him, and the Raiders, to turn things around.

Even if I'm not optimistic that they'll do it.

Depth Finder

Wow. That was all Tom Flores could say about JaMarcus today. And that's an appropriate reaction to this game recap by Jerry McDonald.

It's worth a read. Among the "high" lights:

• Most rushing yards by an opponent (316) since 2001. That predates Rob Ryan.
• First sub-40,000 announced attendance (39,354) since the return to Oakland and lowest paid attendance since 1968. Yeah. The SIXTIES.
• DHB is now behind Crabtree, 5-4. His reaction to finally having more catches than names? "It’s good to catch the ball. I had two catches today. That was a positive thing during the game."

And of course Jerry reminds us that the Jets' O-line coach is Bill Callahan, who knows better than anyone how dumb this team can be and absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage when the Jets had the ball.

Hopeless.