The Raiders will NEVER reach their full potential while Al Davis controls the team. He won't let his coaches do their job, and he insists on doing things that don't work. Here's evidence of that:

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Yet more proof that Al Davis’ meddling ruins the team on the field…

Shane Lechler says players upset with Cable dismissal

The ouster of Oakland Raiders coach Tom Cable is an unpopular move in the locker room.

Whether it's punter Shane Lechler or offensive lineman Robert Gallery, players are expressing disapproval with owner Al Davis getting rid of Cable.

"It was obviously a huge surprise with the progress we made from last year to this year, but I guess the owner made a decision for his reasons," Gallery told the Oakland Tribune. "Our locker room is definitely behind Coach Cable.

"This is going to hit 99 percent of the locker room really hard because people respected how he dealt with us and where we were headed. It's definitely a step back from what we've done going forward the last year or two."

Lechler went a step further.

He said Cable's departure could lead key free agents to not want to come back to Oakland.

"I've already had a couple of players call me and say, 'What's going on? We thought he was going to be back,' " Lechler said. "What it does is it's going to influence a lot of guys' decision on free agency. You're going to lose Michael Bush now, for sure. You're going to lose a bunch of guys that are great football players, and just because of this move."

Full article: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=nfp-20110105_shane_lechler_says_players_upset_with_cable_dismissal

I guess this could be seen coming from a mile away. Al Davis is an idiot. Cable had the Raiders going in the right direction and had wide support from his players, but that was not enough for Al.  Maybe Al wants to go back to “the old way” of doing things again. If so, the Raiders will stink once again, and this time the entire Raider Nation needs to turn against him.

Raiders don’t pick up Cable’s option

ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP)—The Oakland Raiders informed coach Tom Cable on Tuesday that they will not bring him back as coach next season even though he led them to their best record in eight years this season.

The Raiders announced their decision not to exercise a two-year, $5 million option on Cable’s contract for 2011 and ’12, two days after wrapping up an 8-8 season that gave Oakland its first non-losing record since winning the 2002 AFC championship.

Cable had wide support from his players, who credited him with helping make the team a contender in the AFC West this season after a run of seven straight years of at least 11 losses.

But that was not enough to persuade owner Al Davis to bring him back for a third full season.

The move comes the same day the Raiders granted the San Francisco 49ers permission to interview offensive coordinator Hue Jackson for their vacant head coaching job.

The Raiders made big strides to improve under Cable but fell short of making the postseason for an eighth straight season. Oakland became the first team since the 1970 merger to win all of its division games and not make the playoffs.

Full article: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-raiders-cable

Guess again. Fortunately for Raider fans, Jason Campbell has played well enough to start at QB, at least for now. But what happens if he goes in a slump again? Will Al veto a change back to Gradkowski? Notice also that Al likes Campbell because of his ability to throw deep in the outdated vertical passing game. Also, how long will it be before Al insists that there be no more trick plays on offense, and no more blitzing on defense? Better hope he doesn't, because the Raiders will stink again. When Al meddles, the Raiders stink. If they do poorly after the bye week, you will know why. Let’s hope Cable continues to run things his way, in defiance of Al. It’s worked up to this point, and if the Raiders continue to win, it will be very hard for Al to fire Cable.

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Al Davis calls shot at Oakland Raiders quarterback, insisting Jason Campbell start

By Steve Corkran, Oakland Tribune

Raiders managing general partner Al Davis has expressed to coach Tom Cable his desire for Jason Campbell to remain the starting quarterback for the foreseeable future, according to sources inside and outside the organization.

"Mr. Davis likes what Jason has done the past month and doesn't see the need to change when things are going well," a person familiar with the situation said. "He thinks Jason is a classic fit for the Raiders style of play."

One source said Campbell's accuracy on deep throws endears him to Davis.

Nine days ago, Cable said Bruce Gradkowski was the "clear-cut" starter and there was "no issue" regarding the situation.

Now Cable is saying he is inclined to stick with Campbell indefinitely, even if Gradkowski recovers from a right shoulder sprain in time for Oakland's next game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Nov. 21.

There have been numerous times over the past month when Cable was steadfast about Gradkowski being the unquestioned starter.

At one point, he said, "We know who our quarterback is."

Cable and offensive coordinator Hue Jackson removed Campbell at halftime of Oakland's second game this season in favor of Gradkowski, who rallied the Raiders to a 16-14 win over the St. Louis Rams.

Full article at: http://www.insidebayarea.com/raiders/ci_16569270?source=rss

Two beat downs administered in two weeks. The offense is moving and scoring. The defense is fired up and swarming opposing quarterbacks. The players are geeked and into the game. The Raiders have won back-to-back games for the first time since 2008. The Raiders have also broken even at 4-4 at the halfway mark for the first time since 2002.

All of this is happening because the Raiders are deviating from the game plans that Al Davis prefers, and has occasionally mandated in the past. The results, not surprisingly, have been astounding.

Sure, I still see some of the same old plays on offense. But, I am also seeing more complex and "trick" plays being worked in as well. The results have been great. The offense is at least less predicable than it has been over the last seven years, and it is moving and scoring points.

On defense, the Raiders are blitzing the Hell out of opposing quarterbacks, with great success. The last two weeks the opposing quarterbacks spent a lot of time being hurried, knocked down, or sacked.  They aren't operating in their confort zone like they used to do when facing the old man-to-man defensive preferences of Al Davis. Al Davis, of course, hates blitzes, so he must be beside himself right now.

The Raiders appear to be on the right track now. If they continue to play smart football, and not Al Davis football, the results should be positive. They are even in the running for a playoff spot. That brings up the coming game against the Squaws in Oakland. If the Raiders want to have a shot at the playoffs, they have to win this Sunday. Doing so would get them within a half game of the Squaws, and make them 3-0 in division games. It would be a great start to the second half of the season as well.

For the first time in seven years, Raider football is fun to watch - at least at this point it is.  All I ask as a fan is that they try to get the best players and run the team on the field in a smart manner that will give them a chance to compete. That will always get good results in the long run.

Go Raiders, and please, give us all a gift this Sunday and beat the tar out of the Squaws.

First off, I will say it up front…there is new hope in Raider land. There really is. I’ll explain why.

I really expected to hear this week that Jason Campbell would be the starting quarterback on Sunday against the Cardinals. I figured that once again Al Davis would put his foot down and insist that his choice for starting quarterback be reinstated. Apparently, for once, such was not the case.

In fact, the most shocking sentence in the article that I read today said this: “Cable said owner Al Davis was not involved in the decision.”

Wow!  If that is really true, talk about bucking the system and going renegade…that’s what Tom Cable is doing now. And I think I know what is going on.

Coach Cable probably knows he we be fired at the end of the year if the Raiders have another losing season.  He probably figures he has nothing to lose by doing things his way. If it doesn’t work out, he will be shown the door, just as he would have if the Raiders had continued doing things Al’s way.

But he does have something to gain, though. If the Raiders show a noticeable improvement with Gradkowski as quarterback and the defense doing a little blitzing here and there, it’s going to be awful hard for Al Davis to fire Tom Cable for insubordination. Cable could place himself in an untouchable position if the Raiders end up winning some games this year. The Raider Nation would come unglued if Cable was fired after the team showed signs of new life and started winning some games. If Al thinks there are a lot of empty seats at the Coliseum during home games now, wait until he sees what happens if he fires a coach who has the Raiders moving in the right direction.

So for now, at least for the near future, there is hope for the Raiders. I don’t expect the impossible from them right now, but I do expect them to win some games, and compete hard in the games they might happen to lose. I just want them to give me a reason to watch the games again on Sunday. For now, that would be enough.

A great article below. One of the last lines indicates that we will know by this Sunday who is really running the team on the field right now – Coach Cable or Al Davis. If you see Campbell start at quarterback, and see the blitzes disappear on defense, you will know that Al vetoed what Cable did and told him to go back to “the old way” of doing things, which translates into more losing.  If Cable is allowed to do his own thing, however, then there is real hope that the Raiders might win some games this year.

Oakland Raiders coach Tom Cable buys time with gutsy switch at quarterback

With the Raiders going nowhere, their fans growing restless and his job status growing wobblier by the minute, Tom Cable on Sunday made the gutsiest call of his 23-year coaching career.

He yanked Jason Campbell, who was acquired by demanding owner/general manager Al Davis, immediately inserted as the starting quarterback and designated as the team's new leader.

Moreover, Cable pulled Campbell at halftime of his home debut.

It was a bold exhibition of manly stones, an exceedingly popular move with the Oakland Coliseum crowd and, undoubtedly, a desperate plea to the job-security gods.

But it worked. Bruce Gradkowski replaced Campbell and energized the team, sparking the Raiders to a 16-14 win over St. Louis before 48,396 victory-starved fans, validating Cable's gamble as a stroke of genius.

"We made the switch at halftime at quarterback basically to give the team a lift," Cable said, adding the decision resulted from a discussion among the coaches. "(We) felt like we needed to change up a little bit."

What was altered, instantly, is the prepared script of  the 2010 season. Campbell was brought in to scrub a way all traces of the regrettable JaMarcus Russell era. Through a solid work ethic and mature outlook, he had gained respect among his teammates. He recently was compared by Davis to two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Jim Plunkett.

Campbell had come so far, only to find himself fighting for a job -- a predicament mirroring that faced by his head coach.

Being the coach, however, gives Cable considerably more latitude with which to operate.

Cable entered the game with a 9-20 record as head coach in Oakland. He has been embroiled in a few controversies. He's the first coach in Raiders history to return after back-to-back losing seasons, going 4-8 as interim coach in 2008, then 5-11 last year. With the Raiders coming off an atrocious performance last Sunday in Tennessee (a 38-13 loss to the Titans), multiple NFL sources reported and logical deduction led to the conclusion that Cable's job could be at stake.

He surely coached as if he'd been put on notice and had decided any dismissal would come only after he had emptied his strategic arsenal. Cable, perhaps the most resilient Raiders coach ever, was going to do it his way.

Suddenly, the Raiders were shuttling offensive linemen, notably Mario Henderson and rookie Jared Veldheer alternating at left tackle. Suddenly, passes were finding young wideouts Louis Murphy and Davis favorite Darrius Heyward-Bey -- they combined for 12 catches, the most ever for the second-year tandem. Suddenly, blitz packages were flying toward Rams rookie quarterback Sam Bradford.

Boldest of all, though, was Cable's decision --heartily endorsed by a crowd calling for Gradkowski as early as the second quarter -- to wait no longer than halftime of the second game of the season to replace the new quarterback delivered by his boss.

"Today was about winning the game, what (it would take) to do that," Cable said. "That was the right choice, obviously, and it worked out. Bruce came in and gave us a lift."

Informed by offensive coordinator Hue Jackson that he would start the second half, Gradkowski sprinted onto the field like a frisky puppy racing toward a Frisbee. The crowd roared as he completed his first three passes, each completion followed by a "Bruuuuce" from the audience.

Gradkowski's final statistics, while superior to those of Campbell, were unspectacular: 11 of 22 passing for 162 yards, one interception and a 4-yard touchdown to Murphy that put the Raiders ahead in
the third quarter.

The results, however, are inarguable. A Raiders win is such an irregular occurrence it's pointless to quibble about all the maneuvers that were made to beat possibly the league's worst team, with its quarterback making his NFL road debut.

"My job is to win games," Cable said, "and do whatever it takes to do that."

Here, though, is where the going gets juicy. Campbell was brought here to start. Gradkowski, the People's Choice, came off the bench and won. And Cable made no announcement about his starting quarterback next week at Arizona.

"Did I earn the start?" Gradkowski said, repeating a question. "I hope so. I want to be the starter. In my mind, I am the starter."

If Campbell did enough to lose the job in the first half, wouldn't it stand to reason that Gradkowski did enough to keep the job, at least for now, in the second half?

Cable's call on Sunday sets up a bit of intrigue. When he announces the starting QB, we'll have the latest indication of whether the coach or the GM (Davis) makes such decisions.

For now, Cable is king. He bought himself another week, maybe more.

By Monte Poole, Oakland Tribune columnist
Posted: 09/19/2010 09:45:28 PM PDT
Updated: 09/20/2010 05:02:10 AM PDT
Full article at: http://www.insidebayarea.com/raiders/ci_16120595?source=rss

I have made some dark predictions about the Raiders over the last seven years. And so far, they have all come true.

I saw something happen in today’s game against the Rams that actually showed a ray of hope for the immediate future.  And God, do I ever hope it may cause me to eat the words I typed last week that predicted yet another losing season.

The Raiders were clearly on their way to another crushing loss, when Coach Cable made a surprise move. He pulled Jason Campbell and put in Bruce Gradkowski. The results of the change were immediate, and astounding.  Gradkowski provided an up tempo offense that featured scrambling  and quick passes.  The offense moved the ball and scored some points. The running game also opened up, with Darren McFadden running for 145 yards. The team seemed energized, and except for some dumb penalties down the stretch, played hard the rest of the way. The result was a win. Granted, it was a close win against a bunch of bums, but it was a win instead of another frustrating loss.

The Raiders still have a long way to go before gaining back some measure of respect.  They need to continue to replicate the play calling and energy that saved the game today, and start winning games.

Also, pray that Al Davis doesn’t veto the changes Cable made today. All too often in the past, the Raiders would change to something that actually worked, only to have the change undone by an Angry Al Davis.

The regular season this year didn't even last two quarters. I quit watching the game halfway through the second quarter, as I had seen more than enough.

This season is over...done...finished.  Do you want to know why I am confident in making that prediction?

Because I have done the same thing the last seven years, and was right on the money each time. Oh, check that, I actually missed a little bit one season. The last season that Art Shell was coach, I thought they were going to finish at least around 5-11. They actually finished an even more awful 2-14.

I saw the same things yesterday that I have been seeing the last seven years. No offense. Predictable plays on offense. No quarterback protection. No decent quarterback production. Costly turnovers. And most telling, absolutely stupid penalties.

The Raiders keep making the same mistakes over and over again each year. It's the result of a trickledown effect that emanates from the Senile One, Al Davis. He still calls the shots on the field, like he always has. And like always, he gets the same awful results. Isn't that the purest definition of idiocy, to keep making the same mistakes over and over again?

Sure it is. Years ago, Coach Bill Callahan was ultimately sacked for saying to the media that the Raiders were the dumbest team in football. The man is looking more and more like a prophet with each passing year.  

I want to hear something from the people who actually go to the Raider games in Oakland...why do you keep going? Your continued presence at the games just helps to perpetuate what is happening on the field. If tickets keep selling, Al Davis won't see any real need to make any changes on the field.

Yes, I have noticed that there are empty seats at the stadium. Yes, I know that the games aren't selling out. That is, in my opinion, a step in the right direction. However, I still don't think that the seat vacancies and the blackouts have reached a level yet that will truly get the attention of Al Davis.  When Al shows up for a game and sees that the stadium is practically empty, then it may finally dawn on him that he needs to change his ways.

With all that said, why should I waste my time and my money to watch a team that refuses to make changes that would make it a competative team? Keep in mind this is not "fair weather fan" thinking. This isn't just about a team losing games. It's about an owner continuing to do the same things over and over that obviously don't work.  If it was obvious that Al Davis was doing everything he could to win, which included modernizing his offense and defense, then I would be there at the stadium with you watching the games, despite the losing record.  I refuse to go now because I don't want to support stupidity.

P.S. Please don't give me the old  "We have to keep showing support for our team!" garbage. That's enough to make me barf. The way this team is now, there is nothing the fans can do to help it. Even with the stadium packed, they still stink. Also, you can cut out all the ranting and raving about how I am not a true fan, either. I've been a Raider fan for 27 years, and have attended games in Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, and Seattle.  Just stick to the question...why do you go to the games? Why should I go to the games?