Some wondered if P Shane Lechler would be sent packing after he publicly bashed the Raiders for not picking up the option on head coach Tom Cable’s contract. Oakland signed P Glenn Pakulak after Lechler sounded off, but word is the signing was not a signal that Oakland was ready to part ways with Lechler, who is arguably the best punter in the league. — Pro Football Weekly

Three-time Raiders Pro Bowl cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha has had the option year of his contract voided for failing to meet several incentives this past season, making him free to sign with any of the league’s 32 teams. “The contract is voided, but we have to wait on all the ramifications of the CBA before we really move on from there,” Raiders senior executive John Herrera said Sunday in reference to the uncertain status of the Collective Bargaining Agreement that has yet to be renewed. Continue reading →

That Al Davis dumped Tom Cable so soon portends his desire to head off other teams from making a play for offensive coordinator Continue reading →

Coach Tom Cable said he isn’t worried about his job security right now. That time will come after the Raiders’ season ends Sunday in Kansas City. Continue reading →

Tom Cable had plenty to say at halftime Sunday with his Raiders and the lowly Denver Broncos tied at 17. The coach lit into his team with a fiery speech that players cited as a motivating factor in their outscoring the Broncos 22-6 after intermission en route to a 39-23 victory at the half-empty, rain-drenched Oakland Coliseum. “We got chewed out at halftime,” defensive tackle Tommy Kelly said. Continue reading →

Raiders CB Nnamdi Asomugha is still being bothered a foot injury that kept him out of two games in November, but quarterbacks have avoided challenging him, even though he’s not at 100 percent. Quarterbacks have consistently targeted receivers being covered by players other than Asomugha, and a team observer said adding better depth at corner should be a priority for the team in the offseason. — Pro Football Weekly

An MRI performed on Raiders quarterback Bruce Gradkowski on Monday revealed a third-degree separation of his right (throwing) shoulder, according to a source familiar with the situation. Coach Tom Cable hadn’t received word of the results of the MRI by the time he met with the media for his weekly news conference, so he wasn’t able to comment on the bad news he expected. Gradkowski reinjured the shoulder Sunday against the Miami Dolphins in a 33-17 loss at the Oakland Coliseum. He said after the Miami game that he felt comparable to the way he did after the San Diego game. Sure enough, the results confirmed Gradkowski’s fear that he had undone the progress from the previous seven weeks. The MRI also revealed other damage, though nothing as severe as the separation. A third-degree separation typically involves the tearing of all the ligaments in the shoulder that hold down the clavicle, according to several medical websites, and takes weeks to months to heal completely. — Oakland Tribune

Some people believed New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick had fleeced Raiders managing general partner Al Davis when Belichick traded soon-to-be 30-year-old defensive lineman Richard Seymour to the Raiders for a 2011 first-round draft pick.
Many of those same critics now are touting Seymour, acquired in September 2009, as a primary reason for the Raiders’ defensive success this season. “Their front (four) is talented, deep and dictating the pace of games,” said coach Mike Tomlin, whose Pittsburgh Steelers play the Raiders on Sunday. “I really think that the rest of their defense is riding an awesome wave created by the play of those men up front, led by Richard Seymour.” The Raiders boast the league’s sixth-ranked defense at an average of 309.6 yards allowed per game. That’s a dramatic improvement from the 361.9 figure last season, when the Raiders were 26th. Many credit Seymour’s play, especially the past three games, with spearheading the turnaround. Suddenly, their decision to re-sign him in the offseason to a one-year, $12.4 million contract seems prescient. — Oakland Tribune

Raiders managing general partner Al Davis has expressed to coach Tom Cable his desire for Jason Campbell to remain the starting quarterback for the foreseeable future, according to sources inside and outside the organization. “Mr. Davis likes what Jason has done the past month and doesn’t see the need to change when things are going well,” a person familiar with the situation said. “He thinks Jason is a classic fit for the Raiders style of play.” One source said Campbell’s accuracy on deep throws endears him to Davis.
Nine days ago, Cable said Bruce Gradkowski was the “clear-cut” starter and there was “no issue” regarding the situation. — Contra Costa Times

Jason Campbell is going to remain the Raiders starting quarterback for the foreseeable future, perhaps even beyond the time when Bruce Gradkowski returns from a right shoulder sprain, coach Tom Cable said Monday. This statement comes a week or so after Cable said Gradkowski was the “clear-cut” starter and that there was “no issue” regarding that situation. “I really haven’t wavered, but I do have a belief in me about when you’re dealing it and you got the hot hand, and things are going in the right direction for your football team, why would you make a change?” Cable said. Campbell has guided the Raiders to victories in three straight games, while throwing only one interception. — Oakland Tribune

Cornerback Chris Johnson isn’t one to hold back on the football field or in speaking his mind. On Monday, he was at it again, making sure everyone knew that the Raiders’ latest victory isn’t a one-game aberration. “It’s never a fluke with us,” he said. “We have the talent. We’re probably the most talented team in the National Football League. If we play like we played (Sunday), and we do the same thing in practice, then we will expect to win and we expect to make plays, and we did that (Sunday).” — Oakland Tribune

Former Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell had one of the lamest mea culpas by an athlete in recent memory. In an interview with Josina Anderson on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL,” Russell, perhaps the biggest draft bust in NFL history, acknowledged that he made a lot of mistakes after being selected by the Raiders with the first overall pick in the 2007 draft, and that he’s really sorry for those mistakes. But he, uh, isn’t sure what those mistakes were. “I don’t know where it went wrong,” he said. “But for the things that did go wrong, I take full blame for whatever was my fault and the things that did happen.”  — Philadelphia Daily News

Two Raiders front-office people scoffed at an ESPN report that said every player on their 53-man roster is available before the league trade deadline Tuesday. As one front-office person said: “Does (the reporter) really think that we would trade Nnamdi (Asomugha), Richard (Seymour), Rolando (McClain) or either of our running backs? You do that math on that one.” — Oakland Tribune

A flier posted in the Raiders’ locker room quotes longtime nemesis Marty Schottenheimer as saying the “Raiders would eventually fold” and “that is still the perception around the league.” One small problem: Schottenheimer never said those things earlier this week on Sirius NFL Radio as the flier states. The flier quotes Schottenheimer as saying: “The one constant you can count on in playing the Raiders is that they don’t finish. They don’t finish plays, and they don’t finish games. I always told my players that if they kept playing hard against the Raiders, they would eventually fold. That is why I knew we would always win. That is still the perception around the league.” Schottenheimer, who coached the Kansas City Chiefs from 1989-98 and the San Diego Chargers from 2002-06, posted a 27-6 record against the Raiders. The retired coach did nothing to hide his disdain for the Raiders, who play the Chargers on Sunday. Here’s are some of the remarks Schottenheimer made about the Raiders on Sirius NFL Radio a day after they lost to the Houston Texans 31-24: “Well, from my perspective “… I’ve always saw in that football team, they don’t finish plays very well. And I’m not going to sit here and tell you that “… they don’t care. But, I do think that losing over an extended period of time produces guys that tend to “… they don’t finish plays the way you need to finish plays. “”And that was always the thing that I felt about the Raiders and why I felt we could always beat them is “… I always would tell our players, if you just hang in there with the Raiders, they will find a way in the end to lose themselves.”  — Oakland Tribune