BustedKnuckles
Footballguy
ALAMEDA _ It’s only three weeks into the season, and Tom Cable has authored a rebuilding job worthy of ``Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.’’
You won’t find a more crumbling, dilapidated foundation than the one Cable inherited when hired by Lane Kiffin as offensive line coach of the Raiders.
And now?
Not to turn up the pressure, but Kiffin used Cable’s name and the term ``MVP’’ in the same sentence Monday.
Cable, meanwhile, is shielding his ears, continuing to probe for flaws, recoiling at the thought of excess praise.
``Don’t make us sound too good,’’ Cable said following practice Wednesday. ``Your record at the end of the day reflects who you really are. You can either run it or you can’t. We talk about that. We’ve got to keep doing our thing and keep getting better.’’
Cable will keep on his hardhat and supervise. He won’t rest until the ``Extreme Makeover’’ is complete, with Raiders fans standing in the street with their jaws hanging open at the ultimate fixer-upper.
Any major remodel includes a few unexpected problems, and the Raiders are sure to have their share. Miami defensive end Jason Taylor will attempt to expose a flaw or two Sunday when the Raiders visit the Dolphins.
Cable believes his zone-blocking linemen are still playing too high and not consistent enough. He
thinks they need to start better and not be so anxious.
Looking in from the outside through three games, the Raiders line has been better than anyone believed possible.
Cable, 42, would consider it wildly premature, but the Raiders may have themselves a line coach in the mold of a Bobb McKittrick or Alex Gibbs.
McKittrick, under Bill Walsh with the 49ers, and Gibbs, with Mike Shanahan in Denver, made careers out of taking players considered not big enough or powerful enough and molding them into active, intelligent units that played together.
Cable was hired by Jim Mora to succeed Gibbs as line coach in Atlanta, with Gibbs staying on as a consultant.
``He had followed Alex’s teachings for awhile, followed him around, watched him, gone to clinics with him,’’ Mora said from Seattle, where he is an assistant coach for the Seahawks. ``He has the ability to see the big picture. Offensive line guys are often `in the box.’ He’s an `outside-the-box’ thinker.’’
McKittrick’s schemes were rooted in man-to-man, unlike the zone approach favored by Gibbs and Cable. But all three men believe in beating opponents to the punch and have no ethical problem with cut blocking.
Under Cable, the Raiders have added two new starters on the right (guard Cooper Carlisle, tackle Cornell Green) and reshuffled the left, moving Barry Sims from guard to tackle and Robert Gallery from tackle to guard.
Center Jeremy Newberry seized the job at starting center, with Jake Grove re-assuming the spot when Newberry pulled a hamstring.
The results through three games have been stunning. Oakland is third in rushing at 159.9 yards per game after finishing 32nd in 2005 and 29th in 2006. LaMont Jordan is the NFL’s second-leading rusher with 350 yards.
The chuck-and-duck passing game and its 72 sacks has been replaced by one which is on pace to give up 27.
Stanford offensive line coach Chris Dalman played for the 49ers under McKittrick and was an offensive line assistant in Atlanta last season when Cable was the line coach and Gibbs was a consultant.
He is passing along lessons learned from all three men.
``Three totally different personalities,’’ Dalman said. ``Alex Gibbs was always on the attack. Bobb McKittrick would stand to the side emotionless, arms folded, and maybe not say anything until you watched film. Tom Cable is the perfect coach for today -- a guy who is not afraid to jump you one moment and throw his arm around you the next.’’
Cable can explode in the face of a player with the rough language of a marine drill sergeant and then approach the same guy in the locker room and ask about his family.
``Turn over every stone,’’ Cable said. ``You don’t care where they got picked. You don’t care who wanted them, who didn’t want them. They’re yours, and I love ‘em. You just teach them every day, grind on ‘em every day and see what happens on Sunday.’’
Cable is like Gibbs and McKittrick in another respect. When dealing with his linemen, he doesn’t have a diplomatic bone in his body.
``As different as Gibbs and McKittrick were, they were exactly the same in that if you asked them something, they would give you an honest answer -- and not necessarily one you’d want to hear,’’ Dalman said.
A meticulous and detailed teacher, Cable insists on contingencies for every possibility to eliminate the kind of confusion that resulted from the Raiders three-pronged line coaching fiasco run by Art Shell and assisted by Irv Eatman and Jackie Slater.
`` It’s the whole package, the way he works, the way he treats us, the way he communicates. It’s all effective,’’ Sims said. ``It’s not just the scheme. The scheme has been part of it, but it’s about him being a fun guy to be around, yet you still have to work around him.’’
Cable never dwelled on what happened in 2006, but admitted he was curious about what kind of toll it took on those who went through it.
``You wondered what it would be like with their work ethic, those kinds of things,’’ Cable said. ``But they have really taken to it, taken to each other. They’re really trying to look after each other and play hard for each other.
``Hopefully, that’s who we’re becoming, little by little.’’
Until the makeover is complete.
I think what the Raiders Oline is doing is awsome compared to the collapse of last season.
You won’t find a more crumbling, dilapidated foundation than the one Cable inherited when hired by Lane Kiffin as offensive line coach of the Raiders.
And now?
Not to turn up the pressure, but Kiffin used Cable’s name and the term ``MVP’’ in the same sentence Monday.
Cable, meanwhile, is shielding his ears, continuing to probe for flaws, recoiling at the thought of excess praise.
``Don’t make us sound too good,’’ Cable said following practice Wednesday. ``Your record at the end of the day reflects who you really are. You can either run it or you can’t. We talk about that. We’ve got to keep doing our thing and keep getting better.’’
Cable will keep on his hardhat and supervise. He won’t rest until the ``Extreme Makeover’’ is complete, with Raiders fans standing in the street with their jaws hanging open at the ultimate fixer-upper.
Any major remodel includes a few unexpected problems, and the Raiders are sure to have their share. Miami defensive end Jason Taylor will attempt to expose a flaw or two Sunday when the Raiders visit the Dolphins.
Cable believes his zone-blocking linemen are still playing too high and not consistent enough. He
thinks they need to start better and not be so anxious.
Looking in from the outside through three games, the Raiders line has been better than anyone believed possible.
Cable, 42, would consider it wildly premature, but the Raiders may have themselves a line coach in the mold of a Bobb McKittrick or Alex Gibbs.
McKittrick, under Bill Walsh with the 49ers, and Gibbs, with Mike Shanahan in Denver, made careers out of taking players considered not big enough or powerful enough and molding them into active, intelligent units that played together.
Cable was hired by Jim Mora to succeed Gibbs as line coach in Atlanta, with Gibbs staying on as a consultant.
``He had followed Alex’s teachings for awhile, followed him around, watched him, gone to clinics with him,’’ Mora said from Seattle, where he is an assistant coach for the Seahawks. ``He has the ability to see the big picture. Offensive line guys are often `in the box.’ He’s an `outside-the-box’ thinker.’’
McKittrick’s schemes were rooted in man-to-man, unlike the zone approach favored by Gibbs and Cable. But all three men believe in beating opponents to the punch and have no ethical problem with cut blocking.
Under Cable, the Raiders have added two new starters on the right (guard Cooper Carlisle, tackle Cornell Green) and reshuffled the left, moving Barry Sims from guard to tackle and Robert Gallery from tackle to guard.
Center Jeremy Newberry seized the job at starting center, with Jake Grove re-assuming the spot when Newberry pulled a hamstring.
The results through three games have been stunning. Oakland is third in rushing at 159.9 yards per game after finishing 32nd in 2005 and 29th in 2006. LaMont Jordan is the NFL’s second-leading rusher with 350 yards.
The chuck-and-duck passing game and its 72 sacks has been replaced by one which is on pace to give up 27.
Stanford offensive line coach Chris Dalman played for the 49ers under McKittrick and was an offensive line assistant in Atlanta last season when Cable was the line coach and Gibbs was a consultant.
He is passing along lessons learned from all three men.
``Three totally different personalities,’’ Dalman said. ``Alex Gibbs was always on the attack. Bobb McKittrick would stand to the side emotionless, arms folded, and maybe not say anything until you watched film. Tom Cable is the perfect coach for today -- a guy who is not afraid to jump you one moment and throw his arm around you the next.’’
Cable can explode in the face of a player with the rough language of a marine drill sergeant and then approach the same guy in the locker room and ask about his family.
``Turn over every stone,’’ Cable said. ``You don’t care where they got picked. You don’t care who wanted them, who didn’t want them. They’re yours, and I love ‘em. You just teach them every day, grind on ‘em every day and see what happens on Sunday.’’
Cable is like Gibbs and McKittrick in another respect. When dealing with his linemen, he doesn’t have a diplomatic bone in his body.
``As different as Gibbs and McKittrick were, they were exactly the same in that if you asked them something, they would give you an honest answer -- and not necessarily one you’d want to hear,’’ Dalman said.
A meticulous and detailed teacher, Cable insists on contingencies for every possibility to eliminate the kind of confusion that resulted from the Raiders three-pronged line coaching fiasco run by Art Shell and assisted by Irv Eatman and Jackie Slater.
`` It’s the whole package, the way he works, the way he treats us, the way he communicates. It’s all effective,’’ Sims said. ``It’s not just the scheme. The scheme has been part of it, but it’s about him being a fun guy to be around, yet you still have to work around him.’’
Cable never dwelled on what happened in 2006, but admitted he was curious about what kind of toll it took on those who went through it.
``You wondered what it would be like with their work ethic, those kinds of things,’’ Cable said. ``But they have really taken to it, taken to each other. They’re really trying to look after each other and play hard for each other.
``Hopefully, that’s who we’re becoming, little by little.’’
Until the makeover is complete.
I think what the Raiders Oline is doing is awsome compared to the collapse of last season.
