Tom Cable and the Raiders: Tightrope Time?

Sometimes you gotta wonder if this guy is paid enough.

On one side you have the job as a coach. He has to look at the roster, figure out the opposing team, find weaknesses, bounce ideas off the coaches, talk to the media and then play babysitter to millionaires.

All that, before Sunday.

Then comes the other side...Al Davis.

With this side, he has to constantly listen to an owner who wants to be involved in all aspects of the game, never mind the fact the media has painted him as being in various forms of dementia, out of touch with reality, and that the game has passed him by.

Now as the JaMarcus Russell experiment seems to be falling apart again, questions are being asked, who is calling the shots in Oakland...and are they the right shots?

To one degree, it is understandable why Tom Cable doesn't yank Russell off the field, drop him in the locker room, and be done with it. It's called job security. Russell is still Al's prize catch and as long as Al is alive, Russell is going to be given every chance to start. Cable, to this extent has to try every possible method to make Russell succeed.

Difficult? Yes. Annoying? Yes.

It could also be said that if Cable leaves, Russell would probably find himself in an interesting tug-of-war. The new coach coming in would either be forced to work with Russell, or if no-one steps forward Russell would finally be discarded, as an expensive, underperforming player.

Is there a way both sides can win at this experiment?

There are two ways things could work, but both would take some big steps forward.

For one, Russell doesn't have to become Peyton Manning. He simply has to have better games. Throw a touchdown a week would be a good step forward, two or three and the boo-birds would have nowhere to roost. The Defense, able to rest between drives could lock down games and the running game could become useful again.

The second way this could turn out good, is Al Davis has a stroke or other condition that renders him unable to interfere...strike that, help the team in it's daily actions. Should this happen, the coach would be able to call his own plays, handle management details and if Russell is playing like he did against Denver...bench him after the first half.

Lastly...it could easily get worse.

Could you imagine John Herrera as the GM?