Time to get JUICED with a little Cable Q&A
Cable at owner’s meetings
By Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 at 1:14 pm in
Oakland Raiders.
Q: Your impressions on JaMarcus Russell at this point?
Cable: If he can accept the responsibility of being an NFL quarterback, I think that’s working more, working harder, working longer than everybody else, accepting the
responsibility that his teammates look to him as the face of the organization, that he has to go above and beyond almost on a daily basis, I think that comes with that position, whether that’s right or wrong, that’s what it is, if he can accept that and become that, he’ll be fine. He’ll be great, I think. Has he done that? I think during the last six weeks he started to, during the season. I think thus far in the offseason he’s been around more than ever. He was never around like this on his own, just watching tape, studying, so that’s a step in the right direction. I think he has to embrace that, though, for him to be what he should be.
Q: You have that conversation with him?
Cable: We did. We started meeting on Wednesdays during the season and sometimes we’d talk a little football, sometimes we’d talk about things other than football. Just
getting him to, if you will, get by being that rookie with all that fortune and everything kind fo thrown at him, you know, and get through that and get passed that, if you will, to the next step, which is being a starting quarterback in the National Football League. And that’s a responsibility, I think, that’s greater than any young quarterback recognizes. And there’s only been a few that have probably handled it well, like Peyton Manning, like the kid last year in Atlanta. Flacco, you’d probably have to put in that category. If you look at the numbers, many of them have that same kind of path, Year 2, Year 3, boom, here it comes. But I think all of them had one thing in common - they really embraced what it is to be the leader and be that guy, if you will.
Q: What kind of person is he? Does he want to be good?
Cable: Oh yeah. He’s very driven. I think he’s a very passionate guy. He’s certainly very motivated to not be a failure, to not be the kid from Mobile that couldn’t get it
done, all the hoopla, all the this and that. He doesn’t want to be that. He wants to be the guy. And he’s very driven.
Q: What does he need to work on to be better at the game itself?
Cable: His footwork. Everybody thinks that’s his fundamental issue but he’s so big and when you’re big like that everybody expects you to move quick like a Montana or somebody that’s of smaller stature. He’s not like that; I think there’s some development there fundamentally that has to change. He’s got a huge, huge arm. That’s well documented. But that doesn’t always get it where it’s got to be. You’ve got to have good feet. And then his brain. You’ve got to keep training that brain and get that brain to a point where it makes its decisions on time.”
Q: What have you decided to do with Javon Walker?
Cable: Oh, he’s still there.
Q: He’ll be on the team?
Cable: Yeah.
Q: What about his health?
Cable: Well, I mean that’s the issue - we want to get him healthy. After last summer and he came into camp and he had some leg issues, we probably had two or three weeks most of Javon being healthy and he played pretty well in those weeks. But then he got hurt and the season was over. So I think it’s imperative that Javon do what he needs to do to really get healthy so that he can have the kind of year that, I know, he wants and we need him to have.
Q: Have your doctors told you his is a fixable thing and he can be a fulltime receiver?
Cable: What’s wrong with him?
Q: He’s had knee issues in the past.
Cable: This is the ankle. This had nothing to do with the knee. But the ankle, actually, was such a severe sprain it had to be pinned. But he’s through that. In fact, he’s back training. But I think the knee - you scared me - the knee is fine. I thought maybe you had something I didn’t know about.”
Q: You’ve been so bullish saying the Raiders will win again, you almost sound like your boss. Why so optimistic?
Cable: I’ve said this a couple of times already. The first six weeks I was the interim (coach), we were awful. Everything that could be wrong or could go wrong, all of that did. I look back and I just think, how in the world did we ever even go out and get ready to play games? When obviously we didn’t very well. The last six weeks, though, just the attitude, the reasons why you’re playing the game, how you address game day, how you address every week in preparation on Wednesdays and Thursdays and Fridays, all of that changed 180 degrees. And so becoming good and winning isn’t something you just wake up one day and like flip the switch and, Oh good, we’re good now. It’s a process you go through and I think we’ve really made some strides in that process. Love the attitude, love where they’re at. Love the core of this team. They go after it everyday at work. That’s the thing you want. That’s why I feel the way I do; that’s why I say the things I do, because I do know what the core is. I do know what we’ve added and what we need to do in the draft. So I’m pretty confident and have great belief in those men that we’re pretty close.”
Q: Was there a time when you thought, we’re not that far away, maybe the
Tampa game or the Houston game?
Cable: Actually, there were three times - one of them was the Kansas City loss at Oakland. We needed one drive, either side of the ball, to win back-to-back games. We beat Denver the week before. Win that one, and as you look back on it, makes you 4-2 in the last six weeks. That was one. Two was the Houston game. They had a chance to come back and we didn’t let them. And then Tampa was like closure. We got behind by 10 and for the first time since I’d been with the Raiders, when you looked around the sidelines, it was all right, we’re OK. Defense, get us the ball, offense, go get us a score, we’ll get it right back for you. You started to hear those things rather than, Ah, man, here we go again. We get down by 10, it didn’t matter. We came back and won. All three of those things had a part in getting it where it’s at.
Q: The Tampa game especially, since they were playing for the playoffs
and you were playing for pride?
Cable: Sure. And we addressed it that way. I told them, the fact is, you’re going into an environment where you’re going to get to feel and get a sense of what it is to be around something that matters, for the first time in a long time. They’re playing for the playoffs so you’re going to get to feel that and we talked about that because we think (we can be there) next year and we need to understand how to handle that when you get there. I thought we did so in the right way. We used it to our future, if you will.
Q: Seems like JaMarcus liked having the game on his shoulders at the end?
Cable: Sure. I know that about him. I know he likes that part but what I think we’ve got to get to (is) he’s got to accept the responsibility, as I mentioned. He’s got to be prepared for those moments. It’s one thing to throw it out there and think you’re all that and, Hey, bring it on, it’s two minutes and 28 seconds to go and we need a field goal, watch this. That’s great bravado. But he’s got to be prepared to do those things. He’s got to be prepared to be great in those moments. And that’s what I’m talking about.
Q: How do you change the mentality of the team, the losingest franchise since 2003?
Cable: If you just walk in and make the assumption that it’s all right, Hey, listen up, fellas, I’m the next head coach in line and let’s do this and let’s do that, forget it. No. First, let’s understand why the hell that happened, so we won’t go there again. I think that in order to change this, we better get real about why it’s going on and stop putting band-aids on it and let’s cut to the core and see what the real issue is. And then from there you know where you can go. But to put lip service to it and continually push it over in the corner, the monster keeps growing. So, deal with it.
Q: What is the monster?
Cable: Selfishness. It’s all about me and (not) the real fundamental concept of success of team sports. But I’m excited because I don’t feel like that about this football team anymore.
Q: Important and symbolic that Nnamdi Asomugha re-signed?
Cable: I think so. I really do. I think that makes a statement from the club and it makes a statement from the player that this is where he wants to be and, obviously, it’s the right marriage and definitely a step in the right direction.
Q: You feel like you did anything personally to change the culture of the team?
Cable: Well, I just think that it’s your job as the head coach to give them some plan, give them some vision. To me, that was it. The first six weeks, I mentioned, were very difficult, and we just kept talking about it. We weren’t going to back away from it. I told them we weren’t going to let this go until we solve this…to me, you’ve got to understand it, you’ve got to break it, stop pushing it into the corner like it’s going to go away.
Q: Any key moments or guys on the team when you felt it changing?
Cable: I know the core of the team. I know the Morrisons and the Howards and the Gerard Warrens and the Nnamdi Asomughas, the Hiram Eugenes, the Chris Johnsons, the Cooper Carlisles, the Justin Fargas, the Darren McFaddens, the Zach Millers, the Robert Gallerys. I can name a lot. You can see why I like this football team. There’s good reason why - there’s good character, there’s good people, there’s good talent, there’s good football players.
Q: Has it all settled in now that you are the head coach and not just interim?
Cable: Absolutely. And everything we do now is with that in mind, that we’re going to move forward under our plan and the staff, we all know what the plan is, and we’ll work everyday get us there. The sooner we get where we’re competitive, the minute we walk out of the locker room, every time, that’s when we’ll become a playoff team. That’s what you have to do in this league. It’s too good, everybody’s very good. Everybody has good teachers, good coaches good friends, on and on and on. But it’s that mentality when you walk out of the locker room and when that happens, that’s when we’ll be there.”
Q: You’ve talked about Russell needing to accept responsibilities. Was he ever like that?
Cable: In college, it’s easy. At this level, I think there’s so much on that position, so much you ask him to do. That’s why they’re so critical to your success. You really look at it and it’s him wanting to be as good as he can be and understanding what it takes to do that. I think that’s normal.
Q: Thoughts on opening the season on the Monday Night Football doubleheader?
Cable: It’s great. It’s great because we need to get into a competitive deal right away, see where we’re at, where we can go. It’s exciting because they’re a division opponent. There are a lot of positives.”
Q: What are your areas of need in the draft?
Cable: I’m not going to tell you.
Q: So you’ll let us figure that out for ourselves?
Cable: Well, I mean, you know, there’s no reason for me to go into that right now because it’s far too important and, you know, we have a great plan, I believe, so, yeah, let it play out. Let it work.”
Q: Your thought on possibly going to a 17-or-18-game schedule?
Cable: I really have not thought about that. That’s down the road for me. too much before that, really.
Q: Your thoughts on your offensive line?
Cable: Obviously now if you look at it I think it is improved, maybe substantially Adding Khalif Barnes gives us significant competition at tackle We have Samson Satele there to compete with John Wade, probably makes us overall better at the center position.. . . . two good guards, good players, veteran guys. I think that’s an area where we have certainly improved.
Q: Where is Robert Gallery in his career?
Cable: I think he is where he should have been a couple of years ago, really. In 07 he really improved, but when you rebuild the brain really, with the confidence
and all that goes in playing the game, you have to break him all the way down, and he went through that process. In doing that, his penalties came up because he was focused on certain things. Then, this last year he seemed to put that behind him and was probably one of the least
penalized guys in football, then all of a sudden you start seeing him become more dominant,
particularly the second half he was a very good football player. So I would expect now he should be where he should have been two years ago for a guy taken that high with that pick. He can really become a guy who can get to the Pro Bowl, a guy who can lead the team as an offensive lineman. I think he has a chance to do that now. It was all psychological. You take a young guy and you stick him at left tackle in the NFL. Some guys can do it and some guys aren’t ready to do it. If you have enough failure you fry the brain and you think `Oh, my God I don’t know if I can do this.’ And then you get moved to the right, back to left, then over there, and the next thing you know the problem is not the player physically, the problem is the player mentally. So the key is to just sort of start over with him. Fortunately, he was into that. He was able to just re-start it.
Q: What’s it like working for Al Davis?
Cable: Awesome. Just awesome. I know all the stories, I’ve heard them. But I’ve been in there two years now, as an assistant and the interim head coach and head coach. The guy is amazing. He’s very set in his way. He is probably most responsible for the NFL being where it is. And he’s proud of that. I think that people take that confidence and that
belief in what he has that he has been able to accomplish and like to argue what that is. But to me it’s just been his wisdom and a partnership. What he told me when he hired me is We can only do it if we do it together…..I need for you to do this, this and this. What do you need from me? People say here’s this guy who dresses the same all the time and he is arrogant and this and that. That’s the perception, but that’s not who he really is. He’s a guy who loves his football team, is passionate about it. He’s a guy who has an unbelievable amount of knowledge. He’s a guy who if you allow . . . can teach you more than you ever thought possible.
Q: He likes X’s and O’s, but has the game passed him by?
Cable: There’s parts of the game that have changed, but I don’t think the game has past Al Davis by. First of all, his team is always built on one thing, speed. I think that if you really understand the history of football you understand how he has effected every one of these teams. Now everybody tries to do the same things he used to do. What has changed about the game is it is hard to go back seven steps and wait for Branch and Biletnikoff. You better get that ball out of your hand because the goon coming off the corner is a different good than he was 20-30 years ago, and that’s a fact. The athlete is so well trained now. It’s not that they are any better really, it’s just the training that these guys put in. Back then these guys went to their off season job. Now their off season job is to get faster and stronger.
Q: He is getting older…He was always a strong presence. Is he still a presence?
Cable: To me, when I need to talk about something or I need advice, he’s always there. So I don’t know that he is any less a presence now than ever before.
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