Oakland Raiders On the Cusp of Breaking Away from Mediocrity

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The Raiders can’t let head coach Tom Cable ruin their season, as doing so would eliminate their chance of establishing the winning foundation that they need to make the playoffs in 2010.

That may sound funny to the Keystone Light-drinking fraternity bum whose sole

knowledge of the Raiders consists of JaMarcus Russell interceptions and fumbles seen on ESPN, but the team is that close to finally overcoming their six-year period of being stuck in the Bermuda Triangle of mediocrity.  

They have a running back tandem that can play with practically anybody, a decent offensive line, a scary secondary and a defensive line that can only get better with more time to mesh.

After all, Oakland would be 4-4 and thinking about a wild card berth right now if they had just made a few more big plays in their two games against San Diego.

Yes, they could also be 0-8 thanks to Russell.

But he was efficient when given a limited number of opportunities against the Chargers in their most-recent game two weeks ago, and should only get better with trustworthy receiver Chaz Schilens and explosive running back Darren McFadden likely to play this week against Kansas City.

Schilens hasn’t played a single game so far this year due to a broken foot, while McFadden hasn’t left the sideline since week four against Houston with a knee injury that resulted in surgery.

And that is the biggest reason why the Raiders can’t let Cable’s issues distract them.

Right after getting the Randy Hansen situation temporarily off his back, Cable was once again the center of attention for all the wrong reasons last week with allegations surfacing that he has both physically and verbally abused his significant others in the past.

Cable may end up being suspended by the time this paper comes out, though I doubt that Al Davis will fire him.

And while Cable (who admitted to slapping his ex-wife last week) deserves any punishment he gets, the sad thing is that the team will have to spend a considerable amount of dealing with questions related to it from the media, and thus it could potentially distract them from focusing on playing football.  

But Nnamdi Asomugha must keep the silver and black focused (which I expect him to do), as the squad should now be able to put their best product on the field barring a setback to Schilens or McFadden.

Russell’s 48.3 quarterback rating (which is the second worst clip in the league) and depressing two touchdowns mixed with nine interceptions as of Nov. 1 is horrendous, but it is not like he has been playing with Randy Moss and Brandon Marshall on the outside either.

His two starting receivers have been rookies Darrius Heyward-Bey and Louis Murphy, who are talented, yet in way over their heads at this point in their careers.

But that should change this week when Schilens steps back onto the field, which will give Russell another pass-catching threat that he is comfortable with in addition to tight end Zach Miller.

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