The Oakland Raiders envisioned a winner-takes-all game against
the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. Instead, they were forced to
settle for a shot at some ancillary goals: finishing 8-8 overall
and 6-0 in the AFC West. Those goals were attained by virtue of a
31-10 victory over the AFC West champion Chiefs at Arrowhead
Stadium in the Raiders’ regular-season finale.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.
The Oakland Raiders envisioned a winner-takes-all game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. Instead, they were forced to settle for a shot at some ancillary goals: finishing 8-8 overall and 6-0 in the AFC West.
Those goals were attained by virtue of a 31-10 victory over the AFC West champion Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in the Raiders’ regular-season finale.
“I hope (everyone) will write this: We’re not losers anymore,” Raiders coach Tom Cable said minutes after his team’s convincing victory. “We’re not. We’re 8-8. That’s not what we wanted. We wanted to be a playoff team, but we came here to get the eighth win, which means we went 6-0 in the division. Most important, we’re done with that losing.”
The Raiders won as many games as they lost this season for the first time since 2002, when they went 11-5 and won the AFC West for the third straight season.
Sunday’s game was reminiscent of the regular-season finale in 1999, when the Raiders came here with then-coach Jon Gruden’s job on the line. The Raiders won that day to get to 8-8, and they used that as a springboard to win 33 games the next three seasons.
It’s too early to tell whether the Raiders saved Cable’s job. That’s up to managing general partner Al Davis.
An ESPN report Sunday morning said that Cable is “unlikely to return” in 2011, though no source was cited. It bears noting that the same reporter, Adam Schefter, reported at the end of last season that Cable would be fired.
Cable is slated to meet with Davis in the coming days to discuss whether Cable will be back for a fourth season as coach—he replaced the fired Lane Kiffin four games into the 2008 season. The Raiders hold a one-year option on Cable for 2011.
Cable and the Raiders gave Davis plenty of reason to feel confident about the team’s direction.
The quarterback situation no longer is a lingering question mark, as it was the past two seasons with JaMarcus Russell. The offense more than doubled its point total from last season. And the Raiders showed that they can dominate their division.
“I don’t even think that that’s an issue,” Pro Bowl cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said of Cable’s job being in jeopardy. “I don’t even know that that’s a question right now.”
Asomugha said he and his teammates are behind Cable and expect him back next season.
Of course, Davis has plenty of other things to take into account. Such as, the Raiders going 0-6 in AFC games outside the division and 2-2 against the weak NFC West, the Raiders being the most-penalized team in the league, and Cable’s handling of the quarterback situation.
The Raiders are the first team since the merger in 1970 to go undefeated in divisional play and not make the playoffs.
Quarterback Jason Campbell was the one player who failed to endorse Cable without equivocation.
“This is a business decision,” said Campbell, who was benched by Cable in the second game. “You never get caught up in all of it. I’ve been through a lot before. I’m just glad we finished the season off strong, and we’ll see what happens.”
Numerous other players said it’s imperative that Davis bring back Cable so that the Raiders can build off this season and not endure another coaching change.
“We definitely need Cable back,” free safety Michael Huff said. “He’s the man for this job. That’s who I want to play for. I want to come back and play for Cabes.
“So, we definitely need him back and to bring the core players back. We can build around what we have. We don’t need to bring in any big(-name) players or anything like that. We just bring back the people that we have here, and we’re going to be big next year.”
Cable spoke like a man who intends to be back next season. He said he told his players afterward to get ready for next year because it’s going to be “good.”
“We had our opportunity and we let it get away from us, so we have no one to blame but ourselves,” Cable said.
Just the same, he added, he is proud of “how we rally and how we played through the whole year, changing this thing to the point where now we can say we can move forward and we can put (our name) in a hat to compete for a championship.
— Story by Steve Corkran, Contra Costa Times
