Saints may be perfect opponent for Cable’s Raider debut

By Anthony Carroll  |   Friday, October 10, 2008  |  Comments( 144 )

Oakland Raiders
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The New Orleans Saints aren’t, by any stretch of the imagination, an easy challenge for any NFL team. That applies more so than ever for the Oakland Raiders. In fact, substitute any team’s name in that sentence, and it still applies for the Oakland Raiders.

But when the Raiders travel to New Orleans this Sunday to meet the 2-3 Saints, new interim head coach Tom Cable won’t be marching into a specially dire situation.

In fact -- at least on paper -- the Raider offense matches up well against the Saints’ ‘D’.

And that’s exactly how Cable will be judged -- based on the offense’s effectiveness (and discipline).

Oakland didn’t do particularly anything well offensively to start the season under Lane Kiffin, except run the ball. And that was thanks in large part to Cable’s handling of the team’s offensive line. If second-year passer JaMarcus Russell can find any rhythm with his wide receivers for the first time this year, Cable will look like an instant improvement over Kiffin.

The 44-year-old ex-Atlanta Falcons assistant will be roaming the sidelines as a head coach for the first time in his NFL career after owner Al Davis opted to fire his 33-year-old predecessor during the team’s bye week. Greg Knapp, who was the offensive coordinator under Kiffin, will be taking over the duty of calling the plays.

Luckily, the two newcomers have plenty of positive matchups to look forward to heading into Oakland’s Week 6 road contest.

Statistically, the best part of New Orleans’ 24th-ranked stop unit is a running ‘D’ that still allows its opponents to average over 100 yards a game and ranks 16th in the NFL.

The Raiders should have no problem running through the Saints’ D-line, particularly coming off a bye week that allowed banged-up rookie back Darren McFadden to rest his right foot and veteran halfback Justin Fargas to recover from a groin injury. Both rushers, along with downhill ballcarrier Michael Bush, are ready to play Sunday, and Cable should certainly benefit from having all three options available.

“I think it’s really important because he (Fargas) is the consistent runner in our system," Cable told the San Francisco Chronicle Thursday. “He’s proven that obviously with the year he had last year. He was off to a good start until the injury. I think that gets their attention right away, which only adds to the passing game.”

Last week, New Orleans had a rare defensive showing, letting 2007 rookie of the year Adrian Peterson gain only 32 yards on the ground on 21 carries. Peterson certainly doesn’t look like the same halfback as last year, though; he’s been held to 80 yards or fewer in three consecutive games.

The only thing worse than the Saints’ lackluster rush ‘D’ is their 27th-ranked pass defense.

Russell will finally have an opportunity to showcase an arm that has been bragged about more times than tested in his short pro career. That’s because Cable is a firm believer in balance on the offensive side of the football.

“So for us, stop putting words to it, [we need to] go out and start throwing the ball around and have good balance. I don’t want to go out there and have drives where we threw it three times and we’re out or we ran it three times and we're out. I don't want that anymore. I want to see balance.”

Under Kiffin, Oakland was seen almost entirely as a rushing team and Russell was very limited in what he could do. The 23-year-old QB has averaged just 13½ completions and 167 yards per game through four contests. He’s also thrown just four passing touchdowns, along with one interception.

Luckily, the Saints’ secondary is very pass-friendly.

New Orleans lets in over 240 aerial yards each contest and has allowed a league-worst 19 completions over 20 yards. They also rank 30th in first downs allowed through the air and have a relatively modest four picks through five games.

“Never be afraid to make mistakes,” Cable told the Mercury News, “but make mistakes at 100 miles per hour, because you’ll grow from that quicker, you’ll learn from that quicker.”

As someone labeled an interim head coach for the time being, learning as fast as possible is essential for Cable.

The New Orleans Saints might just be the perfect team to start the learning experience.
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About Anthony Carroll

Anthony Carroll began writing for RealFootball365.com on Sept. 26, 2005, making him one of the longest tenured contributors to the “365” team. As a senior writer, Anthony has taken on the task of delivering original content to the silver and black faithful year round, despite having to deal ...
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