The Next John Madden?

When John Madden was hired as the head of the Oakland Raiders immediately the analysts and various media outlets routinely stated Madden was Al’s puppet. Upon his hiring he stated something to the effect that Al Davis is going to teach him everything he needs to know about being a coach and that’ll he motivate the players. Sounds kind of familiar to something I heard a few months ago…

When John Madden retired he admitted he struggled from ulcers from working with Al and the stress of being an NFL head coach, but that Al was the best owner he could have asked for. Madden loved Al and had Al introduce him into the Hall of Fame.

John Madden wasn’t the usual football coach either. As evidence of just watching him talk on TV you can understand why a lot of the media stated Madden was a puppet with no experience. The thing about Madden is that he worked very well with Al Davis, was able to motivate the players, and things worked for him considering he has the best 10 year coaching record ever.

I’m not saying Tom Cable is the next John Madden, but there are definite similarities. Tom Cable stated basically verbatim what John Madden said in ’69 that Al is going to teach him everything he needs to know. Cable is obviously a motivator. He’s the only coach since Jon Gruden who’s been able to motivate the players at the end of the season when there’s nothing to play for except pride.

Since he became coach other rookies who weren’t playing well under Lane Kiffin’s media thrashings are doing much better. Mario Henderson heard weekly how he couldn’t cut it and Johnnie Lee Higgins heard constantly about how he was too stupid to learn the playbook. Chaz Schilens wouldn’t have been given the same opportunity with Kiffin choosing to stay with Curry instead of the rookie.

He’s going to will this team into doing things we haven’t seen in years. Unlike Gruden’s teams, this team is young and will only get better as they stay together. Gruden left because disaster written all over the wall with a high priced old vet team that was built to win now at all costs, poor drafting, with a lot of dead money on the books.

Al Davis has given Tom Cable a lot of talent based on the last 3 years of drafting and FA pickups. Cable is responsible for keeping everyone on the same page and working towards the same goal. It took several weeks once he started to get the team to believe this last season, but it was obvious the last six weeks when they started believing in what he was selling. For the first time in years it was nice to see a team who played hard in the 4th quarter against TB and didn't quit, something any Raiders team would've over the past 6 years with Callahan, Norv, Shell, and Kiffin leading them. 

Cable obviously has something with the players that the media and the fans don't see or understand. Players are now on board and believe there’s something positive about this team and there’s direction and vision, something which hasn’t been seen in years. Cable has the same opportunity as Madden to lead a franchise filled with a lot of talent and mold it into a TEAM.

Remember, Madden was considered a "green" "puppet" type head coach but succeeded well under Al. Is Cable the next "green" "puppet" type head coach to succeed under Al because he works well with him?