Broncos to Shanahan: "You're Fired."

Ding Dong, the devil is dead.

So does this put another name into the Raider hat? I'll stop laughing just long enough to wonder whether this means Schottenheimer will come back to KC after all, just to keep the Raider hater quotient up in the AFC West.

It's about time with Shanahan, honestly. His non-Elway record is not good - one playoff win since Bucky retired. And Shanny just mentioned the other day that Slowik would be retained as defensive coordinator after a terrible defensive campaign. Guess not.

More firing news: Martz out.

Here We Go Again

As we always say about this time of year, now the real Raiders season begins.

Mort is reporting that the Raiders are pursuing talks with Kevin Gilbride, but that Cable has a "solid chance of retaining the post." I've never been much of a Gilbride fan, and still high from yesterday's stirring victory I am leaning in Cable's direction. Why?

1. The O-line, relatively thin on talent, looks pretty good, particularly in the run game. If the Raiders move away from Cable my guess is it will be away from zone blocking, as well. That will be another start from scratch and might derail what has become a very positive transformation by Robert Gallery. If, as they say, it all starts up front, we'll be off to a slow start in 2009.
2. JaMarcus is developing. I never would have guessed Cable could be the guy to guide JaMarcus towards his potential, but the results of the past several weeks seem to indicate that he is.
3. The team's attitude. Just a few weeks ago, Cable looked like a lame duck, and the Raiders looked like they had mailed it in. Yet somehow, Cable kept the players disciplined, got them to believe, built up underperformers into contributors (JLH, Super Mario, Schilens, Chris Johnson), kept them fighting, called smart games, and rattled off two impressive season-ending wins.

As evidenced by the link at the beginning of this post, I've been wrong before in reading what Al Davis might want to do. But this year I'm thinking we keep Cable as leader, bring in a new defensive staff who can scheme against the run, and find an offensive coordinator who can get the most out of JaMarcus.

Per Glazer: Cable Sticks Around

In once capacity or another.

As Dan says, how does that make any sense other than he's the head Coach?

Happily Wrong

I'm very happy to be sitting here 0-for-3 with my humbug picks. Not a bad day. And I really don't care all that much who wins this AFC West showdown tonight.

Dennis O'Donnell is a Little Bitch

Well, okay. Mike Singletary is announced as the new, permanent head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.

But that doesn't mean you have to cut away from Johnnie Lee Higgins doing the Rerun dance.

Johnnie Lee is saying, "I can't show you too much, cuz I might be on 'Dancing with the Stars Next Week."

But that doesn't mean O'Donnell has to give the "wrap it up" sign to his producers or whatever.

Go Dolphins

The Patriots are the 2nd team to win 11 games and miss the playoffs, ever.

Couldn't happen to a better team.

Kawakami the Kurmudgeon

He's not as impressed with the victory.