Oakland Raiders: The New Math?

If you believe in addition by subtraction, then today was your day for a million.

Oakland watched three coaches move to other clubs. Rob Ryan left for Cleveland, Greg Knapp went to Seattle, and Tom Rathman went to San Francisco. For most of the Nation, seeing Rob Ryan leave was a step in the right direction, considering the team's lackluster ability in stopping the run.

It also seems designed to happen, when Ryan was responsible for late-game collapses in places like Buffalo, San Diego, Kansas City, and the debacles in Baltimore and New Orleans.

Greg Knapp, who had his good times and bad, was almost a gimmie at this stage, as a former coach was taking over in Seattle, the odds were good he was out the door. It probably also didn't help when he was stripped of the playcalling job on the sidelines halfway through the season.

Tom Rathman, to his credit, tried to work hard with our running game, instilling lessons I hope will be well-absorbed. Hanging onto the ball, protecting it, and trying to stay focused was a difficult task, but with our young backs, the impression will linger.

For all of this, we also learned that Davis did finally talk things over with Tom Cable. To his credit, he did help his cause in the win over Tampa Bay, and with the coaches above moving on, Cable might be able to find guys that he can both work with and get good results from.

Part of the mindset makes me wonder if Al keeps Cable as the Head Coach, could Kevin Gilbride still come over and take control of our offense? He has done wonders with the running game in New York, and I can imagine he'd love the opportunity to do the same with Darren McFadden.

As for finding someone on the defensive side of the ball, it was mentioned and I agree, we need to find a GM to help re-organize the team's structure, players, and coaches to the best of their ability. If anything, then Al Davis can spend his time getting healthy...Or at least buy us some time to win again.

Creative times are here again...It'll be an interesting month, that's for sure.