Diner Morning News: Tom Cable's First Full Year

National Football Post

QUOTE: “The dilemma of the critic has always been that if he knows enough to speak with authority, he knows too much to speak with detachment.” -- Raymond Chandler

Today, we end our breakdown of first-year coaches with an intimate look at Tom Cable of the Raiders. Calm down, Raiders fans, I’m going to be straightforward, but there’s an 800-pound gorilla in the room that must be dealt with.

Unless you’ve lived in Siberia for the past 30 years (without Internet service), there is no denying the owner of the Raiders when it comes to dealing with the coach of the Raiders. Fans can give their undying loyalty to the owner, but the commitment to excellence, the will to win, the greatness of the Raiders all come with his robust involvement.

BACKGROUND

Cable started his coaching career at the University of Idaho in 1986 and spent 20 years in college football before joining the Atlanta Falcons in 2006. He developed a reputation in college as a master of the zone blocking scheme taught by NFL coaches like Alex Gibbs of the Texans and Colts-assistants-2243.html" target="_blank">Howard Mudd of the Colts.

Cable was named head coach at Idaho in 2000 and went 11-35 in a four-year span. After spending just one year in Atlanta, where the team averaged 5.5 yards per carry (Michael Vick had over 1,000 yards rushing), Cable came to Oakland to install the zone scheme with newly hired offensive coordinator Greg Knapp, who had also been in Atlanta.

In just 20 games with the Raiders as the line coach, Cable received a battlefield promotion to interim coach in September, going 4-8. He was hired full time as the Raiders’ fifth head coach since the Super Bowl year in 2002.

LES STECKEL EFFECT

The year was 1993, and I was sitting at a table at the owners’ meetings in Palm Springs talking to a high-profile agent about one of the players on the Cleveland Browns. The subject of the Raiders came up, and I professed my curiosity, admitting that I had studied the workings of their personnel methods.

I asked the agent what it was like to work at the Raiders and he replied, “Do you see this legal pad here? The amount of work and the decision to buy this legal pad is the same format that is followed when it comes to signing a player. One man and one man alone makes all the calls—on everything.”

With that story as a backdrop, Cable is faced with dealing with a strong owner who wants to know everything that is going on with his football team. Cable will be able to coach the offense in the spirit and vision he wants, but the defense will be strongly monitored by the owner.

One thing about former head coaches of the Raiders—they have all been offensive coaches. Did you ever wonder why? The answer is because the owner loves to run the defense in his own spirit and vision.

The talk about the Raiders wanting to be a vertical passing team is true, but the insistence by the owner on making it happen is less than most might feel. This lack of involvement is good for Cable because he wants to put in a west coast offense that features the zone scheme.

With Ted Tollner and Paul Hackett, two assistant coaches with deep roots in the west coast offense, the Raiders will be a pure west coast team. Now the question is, can quarterback JaMarcus Russell run this kind of system effectively?

THEY DIDN’T TELL ME THIS WOULD HAPPEN

Russell is a talent, but I’m not sure he’s right for the west coast scheme. What’s funny is that Jeff Garcia, the backup quarterback, is. Can two players be fundamentally more different? Garcia has been well-schooled in west coast principles and concepts. He knows the offense well and can execute the game plan.

He may not throw the deep ball very well or hang in the pocket for very long (he tends to jump around when the first option is gone), but the system can flow through his talents—and with this Raiders team, effective play at quarterback might be better than spectacular play.

Garcia gives Cable an option that will allow him to make a move if Russell doesn’t meet expectations.

This doesn’t mean the job will be Garcia’s when the season opens, but it does mean that Cable can make a move if he and his coaches can present a compelling argument.

Russell coming to camp heavy again may not be a big deal for him, but it does send a message to the team that perhaps he doesn’t care, doesn’t value the importance of being in shape or doesn’t want to do what is asked of him.

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO ON GAME DAY?

Working at the Raiders, game management is a course that’s taught every day. It’s an obsession with the owner, and there has to be attention to detail in this area. This year, with Tollner calling plays, Cable can step back and allow him to manage the game in the right fashion.

He will need to gauge if his defense has improved from a year ago, when they struggled to handle the run, ranking 31st in the NFL in this area.

Cable’s strength is coaching the offensive line, and that’s where the Raiders will need the most help if they’re going to break their trend of double-digit losses in each of the past six years. The Raiders must improve their pass protection, which might help them find the passing game they so badly need.

They can run the ball, but can they run it when it matters most? They finished tenth in the NFL in rushing, which is strange for a team with 11 losses; normally a team that’s behind in games has more yards passing. In order to find the passing game, the Raiders must protect as they did the last two games of the year against the Texans and the Bucs.

In those two games, Russell was 32 of 46 for 484 yards and four touchdowns, with only one interception. For all the talk of the run game, the key for the Raiders will be finding a passing game as they did in those two games.

I KNOW WHEN TO PUNT...I THINK

Sometimes having a great kicker can be a burden more than an asset. Sebastian Janikowski has a great leg. He has power and range, but he also makes the play-caller feel he can make kicks from all over the field—which is a wrong assumption.

Janikowski is often placed in a no-win situation because he attempts more long-range kicks than anyone, with seven outside of 50 yards. He made only three. He also was only 2 of 4 from 40-49 yards out, so the long-range asset that Janikowski brings is more perception than reality.

Cable must be realistic in his demands of Janikowski and not always place the team in bad field-position situations. His play calling can’t always be, we can just get three here because we have a bionic leg for a kicker.

The Raiders were plus-one in turnovers-takeaways, but when you factor in all the missed kicks, they were a minus-five. A missed long-range kick is like a turnover, so Cable must not always assume Janikowski can make those kicks. He must move the ball inside the 40, where Janikowski is automatic.

I WISH WE HAD DONE...

My sense of the draft was that the Raiders only had one option based on their protocols for the kind of players they would pick. However, left tackle is still a void, despite their belief that Khalif Barnes can handle the job.

Jacksonville saw enough of Barnes to want to draft a left tackle this year. Barnes, who was signed as a free agent, is athletic as Kwame Harris was last year, but both suffer when they have to deal with power.

Harris was soft, but he was the kind of lineman that Cable wanted. Barnes is this year’s Harris, and I think they’re going to wish they had considered Eugene Monroe in the draft to secure the position instead of drafting a wide receiver.

JaMarcus Russell

I’M GOING TO REMEMBER THIS ONE...

The Raiders’ road back to the playoffs will be on display the first three weeks of the season. They open on national television against the Chargers. Normally, national TV has been good to the Raiders, but they’ve lost 10 prime-time games in a row by a combined score of 268-101.

Then, after the opener, the Raiders face the Chiefs and Broncos. It’s critical that Russell get off to a good start or they’ll be making a move to Garcia to save the season.

THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT NEXT YEAR

This is a make-or-break year for Russell. He needs to take a step forward and demonstrate that he can handle the starting job and win games. If not, the Raiders will have to face reality as their team is close to coming out of the doldrums. The other area that will be clearer in 2010 will be at running back.

Who’s the best back on the team? My money is on Michael Bush, who has the ability to play all three downs. The Raiders have talent in the backfield, but both Justin Fargas and Darren McFadden are similar in that they’re zone runners who have not shown the talent to make plays in the passing game.

In 2010, the Raiders will have one back who will get the bulk of the carries.

The National Football Post is a unique and premier on-line source of quality and credible news, information and insight about all sides of football featuring professionals with experience in all facets of the NFL.