According to a report by ESPN.com, two women have accused Raiders’ head coach Tom Cable of verbal assault and said that he has a history of violent behavior.

In 1989, Sandy Cable sought a temporary order of protection, which said, in part, “On two occasions, one back in ‘86 and the other in ‘88, he hit me. The second time in the face, however on attempts to call law enforcement, my husband would rip the phone out of the wall.”

A third woman, Cable’s second wife Glenda, said in documents related to the couple’s 2008 divorce that “in the past he has been physically and verbally abusive to me.” Glenda and Tom Cable were married for 17 years. She declined to speak to

“Outside The Lines”, but is currently receiving support payments from Cable.

Lutz, who dated Cable as recently as January 2009, said she remembers Cable hitting her “three, four times.” She described a scene in a car after they left a restaurant where “[Cable] just got so angry I could not recognize him.”

Last Jan. 6, Lutz said she came to Cable’s house early in the morning and found another woman there. According to a police report from Alameda, Calif., Lutz became “very upset” and “demanded to meet the woman.” Lutz told police that after an altercation, Cable “grabbed her by the left arm, causing her to fall to the ground” and “eventually pick[ed] her up and pushed her out the front door.”

Lutz went to the emergency room and was treated for back pain and a contusion. Lutz also told police Cable had grabbed her by the neck several months earlier.

Just when Cable and the Raiders think that they’ve put some issues behind them, this story reaches the surface. It’s unfair to speculate at this point because we’re just hearing one side of the story, but this can’t be good for Cable.

And the Oakland Raiders’ circus rolls on…

According to San Francisco Chronicle writer David White, Raiders head coach Tom Cable will not be charged for assault on former assistant coach Randy Hanson. There is still a possibility that Roger Goodell could suspend Cable, but that seems unlikely seeing as how police didn’t charge the Oakland head coach.

With this behind them, the Raiders can now move on and look to build off of their surprising victory over the Eagles in Week 6. That said, one victory isn’t going to magically turn the tide for a franchise that is still in dire straits.

While Cable can breathe a sigh of relief that he isn’t heading to jail, he still has the unenviable task of trying to turn JaMarcus Russell into a pro quarterback. Oakland’s defense played great last week, but Russell still has major issues with consistency, accuracy and his mechanics.

By all accounts, it looks like the Raiders like playing for Cable. They might not give the best effort every week (see Week 5 against the Giants), but players don’t publicly out their head coach in the media. Maybe things will start to turn around for Oakland in the near future…

…wait, I blacked out for a second – is Al Davis still there? Ah, nevermind.

According to a report by Yahoo! Sports, Oakland Raiders head coach Tom Cable could soon be arrested for an altercation during training camp in which he fought with assistant Randy Hanson.

“Everybody is trying to figure out who’s going to take over if Tom isn’t here,” said an assistant coach, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “John Marshall has a lot of experience, he’s probably the guy. But it’s nuts. It’s crazy when you start to really think about it.”

Although Napa Valley (Calif.) police have declined to comment on the investigation, NFL.com quoted the attorney for Raiders assistant coach Randy Hanson as saying that Hanson told police he had been assaulted by Cable on Aug. 5 while the Raiders were in training camp. Hanson was treated for a broken jaw and his attorney, San Francisco-based John McGuinn, said three other coaches, including Marshall, witnessed the attack.

McGuinn did not return three messages left by Yahoo!, but told NFL.com that the situation was “a textbook case of felony assault.”
These types of situations have a tendency to be overblown, but this is example 100,000,001 why the Raiders are the most dysfunctional team in the NFL.

The ironic part is that Al Davis probably loved how Cable handled the situation.

The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that Raiders head coach Tom Cable has officially named JaMarcus Russell his starting quarterback.

Raiders coach Tom Cable made the unstunning declaration during a conference call, all while lamenting how Jeff Garcia’s calf strain kept a true quarterback competition from breaking out in training camp.

It’s not that Cable wanted Garcia to beat out Russell. The job was Russell’s to lose. It’s just that Cable hoped Garcia would use his experience and fiery attitude to spur Russell to greater growth.
This is the season Russell has to step up and stop relying on the excuse that he’s still learning. He’s entering his third year and while Oakland doesn’t have the greatest line in which to play behind, Al Davis has surrounded Russell with more than enough playmakers to be effective.

I don’t think the Raiders are expecting Russell to post a 100-plus QB Rating and lead the league in touchdowns. But they do expect him to look more comfortable in the pocket, not overthrow his receivers by 20 feet and most importantly, to work hard and be a leader.

According to the National Football Post, Oakland assistant coach Randy Hanson will turn over medical records on Friday at the request of authorities investigating an incident that occurred at the Raiders’ facilities in which Hanson’s jaw was broken, presumably by head coach Tom Cable.

The alleged assault took place Aug. 5 after Cable informed Hanson he would no longer be involved with coaching defensive backs on the field and would be relegated to film work, the source said. Cable had been working to reduce Hanson’s role for months, the source said. Cable said that Hanson had been confusing the Raiders’ defensive backs, and Cable held a closed-door meeting with the cornerbacks and safeties and just himself. That led to a meeting between Cable and Hanson in Hanson’s room, and later a meeting with coaches after Cable had instructed Hanson not to come to practice.

In the meeting among coaches that included Cable, defensive coordinator John Marshall, defensive backs coach Lionel Washington and assistant defensive backs coach Willie Brown, Cable allegedly came at Hanson from behind as he was verbally contesting what Marshall had said.

In the meeting among coaches that included Cable, defensive coordinator John Marshall, defensive backs coach Lionel Washington and assistant defensive backs coach Willie Brown, Cable allegedly came at Hanson from behind as he was verbally contesting what Marshall had said.

According to the source, Cable knocked Hanson out of his chair and up against the wall and into a cabinet. Cable and Hanson fell to the floor, where Hanson was choked, the source said, and Cable was pulled off Hanson by the other men before Cable went after Hanson again.

“Cable said, ‘I am going to kill you, I am going to kill you,’ as he was choking him,’’ according to the source, who also said furniture in the room was damaged.

Granted, this is just speculation and nothing has been proven yet, but if any of the above is true, it’ll be interesting to see how the league punishes Cable. According to the article, Hanson can be a pain in the ass, but that doesn’t mean he deserves to have his jaw broken and his life threatened.

Cable notified Hanson that he would only be breaking down film in the future, which is why Hanson doesn’t mind cooperating with authorities because he knows he won’t be allowed to return to his former position. There will probably be an investigation and Cable could face a felony charge. I’m just speculating, but after that, the league could step in and either fine or suspended him, or both.

This situation is far from over for Cable.

According to a report by Nancy Gay of AOL Fanhouse, Raiders head coach Tom Cable fractured the jaw of defensive assistant Randy Hanson during a fight early in training camp. But Cable denies that punches were thrown and ESPN.com is reporting that Hanson suffered the jaw injury when Cable flipped him out of his chair.

That’s backed up by what former NFL scout Daniel Jeremiah told ESPN’s Chris Mortensen. Jeremiah’s “reliable source” said that Hanson broke a facial bone when his cheek hit a cabinet in a team meeting room when Cable flipped him out of his chair.

Jeremiah also wrote on his Twitter page that Cable reacted when Hanson spoke profanely to defensive coordinator John Marshall. Cable rebuked Hanson, then pushed his chair, which caused the injury.

There seems to be little doubt that something did take place between Cable and Hanson, but the details are shaky. There apparently was an argument between the two coaches and physical contact did occur, but it appears that Gay’s original report that Cable punched Hanson seems to be false.

Regardless, it’s hard not to appreciate this kind of news coming out of Raiders’ camp. I would question whether or not a report like this was true anywhere else, but not in Oakland.
Al Davis has to be loving himself some Tom Cable right about now.

Current Redskin and former Raiders’ cornerback DeAngelo Hall appeared on a Washington D.C. based radio show recently and told an interesting story about Oakland owner Al Davis not knowing who Tom Cable was when he hired him.

The funniest Al Davis story from his time in Oakland?

“Probably the funniest thing, I was pretty close to Lane Kiffin…and after they fired Lane and were about to announce who the next coach was – I don’t know if you guys saw this in the media world, but I was actually sitting there live, me and a couple other players there in the back. And [Davis] went through this whole spiel of what happened…and said our next coach is Tom Cable, he’s going to be our interim coach. When everybody paused for Tom to come in, like a breakoff. [Davis] goes to the media guide and not even whispering says ‘hey, anyone got any information on this Tom Cable guy, I don’t know where he comes from.’ That’s just vintage Al Davis. Making a move, not really knowing why, no real justification for doing it. But just saying, ‘hey, I want this guy, let’s get him, I’ll figure everything else out later.’ And that’s just how Al Davis is.”

His thoughts on being out of Oakland:

“Oh, it’s a weight off my shoulders, just that whole situation out there and the way they did things. I’m not knocking it but it wasn’t what I was accustomed to, what I was used to, and I just started just not caring like a bunch of other guys, you know. It kind of rubs off on you. They say you go to Oakland as a player to die..You can definitely go there and have fun towards the end of your career, but to go there during the prime of your career, that’s just not a place you want to be. I felt the same when I was out of there – just a sigh of relief to get out of there.”

For as zany as Al Davis is, I highly doubt he would hire a head coach not knowing who he was. I also highly doubt that Davis would say what Hall says he did in front of an entire media staff. (And loud enough for Hall to hear it in the back, but not loud enough for the media members to hear it in the front.) It just sounds like Davis didn’t know where Cable was from (i.e. where he was born, raised, bred, etc.), which isn’t as big of a deal as Hall making it sound like Davis hired Cable not knowing who he was.

His second comment is vintage Hall and vintage Raiders. Hall isn’t saying anything that former Raiders haven’t said before about the situation in Oakland, but it doesn’t surprise me in the least that he says that he stopped caring. The Raiders handed him a $70 million contract and $24 million in guaranteed money and he couldn’t even make it half a season without throwing in the towel. I know the situation in Oakland lends to guys quitting, but it pisses you off when you hear about guys making millions of dollars to play football and they just go through the motions. (Especially in this economy.)

According to sources at ESPN.com, the Oakland Raiders have chosen Tom Cable to become their full-time head coach. The team hasn’t officially announced the decision yet, but it appears like it’s a done deal.

Cable of course coached the Raiders for 12 games last season after Al Davis fired Lane Kiffin. But before those 12 games, Cable had just three years head coaching experience at the University of Idaho (in which he complied an 11-35 record), which begs the question: is he qualified to take over the mess in Oakland?

Cable coached in the collegiate ranks from 1987 to 2005, mostly as an offensive line coach and as an offensive coordinator. In 2006, he took over as the Falcons’ offensive line coach for one season and then coached the Raiders’ O-line in 2007 and six games in 2008 before taking over as interim head coach after Kiffin was fired.

In 12 games last year, the Raiders went 4-8 under Cable, with impressive victories over the Broncos, Texans and Buccaneers over that span. But the team also showed little to no effort in losses to the Falcons, Chargers and Patriots.

Possibly the main motivation behind the Cable hire was that the players seem to favor him. He has become known as a motivator, which is certainly one of the things that the Raiders need. But can he develop JaMarcus Russell? Can he help Davis build a roster via free agency and the draft? Or is he just another “yes man” that Davis can control and that’s the main reason he got the full time gig? (Remember, Kiffin was fired in Oakland largely because he wanted to do run the team his own way and that never sat well with Davis.)

The key to the Cable hire might be whom the team chooses at the coordinator positions. If Cable can find two respected coordinators to run the offense and defense, then he can do what he does best in keeping the team motivated throughout the year.

Regardless of the overall inexperience he has at the NFL level, Cable deserves a shot because he’s built a good relationship with the players and that could go a long way in Oakland. Now he just has to build a competent staff and hope that Davis doesn’t spend another offseason overspending on overrated players.