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.