The tale of the tape for the Oakland Raiders during the late ‘90’s and early 2000’s was to sign the high market free agent who still had a few years left in the tank. More recently, however, the Raiders have stepped away from the same old Raiders mentality and there appears to be a new theory in the front office. No longer is it bringing in a guy like Terrell Owens, Al Faneca, or John Henderson; rather now it is bring in a guy like Jacoby Ford, Jared Veldheer, or Lamarr Houston.
Head Coach Tom Cable is a different kind of presence in Alameda. One who Al Davis actually invites input from. One who Davis actually gets along with…what’s up with that? Before I start rambling, I will say some moves are straight up Al Davis’ picks, like 2009’s first round pick of the draft, or the two fourth round picks in 2010. Tom Cable actually told the media after the Darrius Heyward-Bey pick, that the team “Knew who we were taking about a month before the draft.”This leads me to another misleading theory; Cable dispelled any communication flaws that some people might have thought existed within the general management and the coaching staff when he made that statement.
Many players have outwardly expressed their affection for Coach Cable. Nnamdi Asomugha went so far as to say that team captains were ready to go into Mr. Davis’ office and lobby for their desire to keep Coach Cable as the head coach of the team at the end of the 2009 season. Cable was recently cited as being a “players coach” by team quarterback Bruce Gradkowski on The Razor and Mr.T Show on KNRB 680 AM.
Tom Cable has a certain player type that he likes, and it’s not necessarily the height, weight, or speed approach that Mr. Davis is so fond of. I’m sure Cable would say those three things are important, however it’s obvious that Cable and Davis have differing ideas of what talent actually is. Cable likes players who are versatile, perhaps they played other sports in college, or they were members of MENSA. Cable likes team captains, players who put their team above themselves and play with a tremendous amount of heart.
Mr. Davis tends to be an avid collector of raw talents, players who need to be coached up to reach their full potential. Mr. Davis likes physically gifted athletes who have the potential to be great…someday. The problem with the Davis hypothesis lately is that the Raiders’ coaches have been like a revolving door. It’s not necessarily that they were bad coaches without the ability to teach, it’s more that they haven’t had an opportunity to develop their system inside of the Raiders’ revolving egress.
Another thing worth noting is that during the pre-draft period of 2009 is that coach Cable said that he did not want to stir up the locker room with a big name free agent acquisition. This turned out to be a presumptive statement, after which Raider Nation could assume that no big names would be brought in through the free agency market. At that time, it was very much unlike the Mr. Davis of yesteryear who lives for big name free agents (Bill Romanowski, Ronnie Lott, Jerry Rice, Rod Woodson to name a few). Cable’s affect on Davis could be seen this early last season. That effect has even carried over into the current offseason where no big name free agents have been brought in and there doesn’t appear to be any of them coming either.
It doesn’t stop at the players either. Look at the coaches who were brought in this offseason; they have connections to coach Cable as well. Hue Jackson and Cable worked together on the staff at Cal-State Fullerton in 1990 and at the University of California in 1996. New defensive line coach, Mike Waufle, spent time at the University of California as the Bears Defensive Line Coach from 1992-1997 with Coach Cable, who oversaw the Bears offensive line from 1992-97.
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Under Cable, the team appears to work together as a unit as opposed to the pre-Cable period where nobody even wanted to work, let alone work together. That’s where Cable has been a master of the craft, just in turning the mentality of the entire team around. Now the coaches are going to be able to focus on the fundamentals and technique of the game with the stability of knowing the players will work hard to grasp and understand what is being taught. I have to believe that Tom cable was instrumental in this mental blockage victory. I think when the team started to realize the talent that existed even in the back-up players on this team; that is when they started to believe that they had potential. After that happened, they really started to believe in each other. Now is the time to bring it all together and put it on the field, not for themselves as individuals, but for their teammates and the city and fans of the Oakland Raiders.
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Thus far in his Oakland career, Tom Cable has got his swagger on, and the team looks to be in good shape heading into OTA’s and training camp. My guess after two seasons of offseason mechanics is that Al Davis trusts Tom Cable. They have good communication going on; Al is open to taking a backseat in this one and just letting Cable do his thing. Raider Nation, you have to love this way of doing business and say thanks Mr.Davis for letting the coach’s coach.
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