Image by Getty Images via @daylife This morning the head coach for the Oakland Raiders, Tom Cable, was let go. Al Davis had decided not to pick up the 2 year, 5 million dollar option on Cables contract. As head coach of the Raiders cable went 17-27 with no trips to the post season. At first site these numbers do appear to be enough of a reason to fire Cable but I will show you why this could be one of the worst decisions Al Davis has made in a long time.Tom cable took over the head coaching job for the Raiders after Lane Kiffen had been fired for not playing Jamarcus Russell. The team was terrible and if cable wanted to keep his job he was going to have to play the young, out of shape, and flat out bad QB that Al wanted. As a starter during the 2008- 2009 seasons, Russell had 16 TD’s and 19 interceptions. He fumbles 21 times and lost 13 of those fumbles. His best rating during that span was 77.1 which is nothing to brag about. Including his 1 TD run in 2008, Russell was responsible for 32 turnovers to 17 TD’s in 27 games. So, Cable’s hands were kind of tied for a good part of his first full season as head coach.
In that first full season Cable was able to win only 5 games. 11 losses in a season is pretty bad but if we break down the season a little further we can see that in this case it isn’t terrible. Of the 5 wins that the Raiders had that season, 3 of them were against playoff teams. Also, 5 of the 11 losses were by only one score. This means that the Raiders were in or winning 10 out of the 16 games that they played that year. This is encouraging as long as loosing the close games doesn’t continue to be a problem in future seasons.
In the second full season of Cables head coaching stint he was able to get a professional and talented QB in Jason Campbell. Campbell didn’t pick up the offense as quickly as the Raiders would have liked and due to this the team got off to a rocky start and Campbell was benched for a short while. Things would improve and the Raiders finished this season at 8-8. Once again this is not a season to brag about until we dig a little deeper. There were 4 games that the Raiders lost by one score. So this means that they were in or won 12 of the 16 games that they played this season. 6 of the 8 wins the team had came against the AFC West, the Raiders division. That’s right; they swept their division and didn’t make the playoffs. Not only did they sweep the division but they flat out dominated it 215 points for to 107 points against. They doubled up the division in points.
In 2 full seasons Tom Cable went 13-19 and never made the playoffs. So, why keep him around and pick up the 5 million dollar option in his contract? The answer is simple; the Raiders franchise is no longer a joke. Cable broke down the team last off season and made every single player focus on the basics because he saw that the whole team couldn’t play the right way. He focused on fundamentals and physicality. In his first season as the head coach the team made a point to let others know that they were going to get hit. The Raiders were no joke on defense but the turnovers on offense were killing them. This season was much of the same except they didn’t turn the ball over as much and managed to win 3 more games than last season. The team was competitive and for the first time in a long time didn’t appear to be a living soap opera.
It takes time to turn an organization like the Raiders around and Cable was definitely on the right track. He had the team getting better and winning games, especially in the division. Given the stability of 2 more years under the same guy it could only lead to bigger and better things. Now Al Davis has to start over with new coaches, a new system, and more than likely a lot of new players since the ones he has now are not at all happy about the owner’s decision. Several players have expressed concern about the decision and made comments about many of the free agents probably looking for another place to play next year.
Mr. Davis, get out of your own way and let someone else make the football decisions. You are screwing up your team more than anything else. Thanks to you, and you alone, the team will take more steps backwards instead of finally taking a few steps forward. Look forward to more losing seasons with no good coaching prospects willing to work for you. Who could possibly want a job where even if you do well you get fired?
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