NFL

Raiders coach Tom Cable sees bright spots with first team offense

LexisNexis Feed [[[Normal]]][[[Normal]]]By Jerry McDonald jmcdonald@bayareanewsgroup.com, Contra Costa Times (California)
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Upon further review, Raiders coach Tom Cable was willing to see the bright spots in the shutout pitched against his first-team offense Thursday night.

"It looks to be probably a little better than I thought last night after the game," Cable told reporters by conference call Friday evening. "I think we can fix it, and fix it rather quickly."

A 17-9 road win over the Dallas Cowboys came with all the Raiders' points scored in the final 4:58. Starting quarterback Jason Campbell was on the field for 20 snaps, during which time the Raiders gained 60 yards, had four first downs and scored no points.

He finished 7 of 12 for 49 yards, missing two deep attempts to Louis Murphy.

Oakland had only 12 yards on Campbell's first three possessions before going 48 yards in his final series, throwing incomplete to Zach Miller on fourth-and-one at the Dallas 30.

"Everything feels new to me," Campbell told reporters after the game. "It's like coming into the league all over again. I'm learning a new area. In the pregame, I'm a six-year vet and I'm trying to figure where everyone's going, how everything gets situated and where I'm supposed to be warming up.

"Once you get all those little kinks out of the way, you can play football again."

If the Raiders didn't exactly light up Cowboys Stadium with Campbell in the game, Cable thought the offense looked organized and efficient.

"I thought we could have maybe been faster in our tempo, but that's normal for the first game of the preseason," Cable said. "In terms of communication, we even ran a little bit of no-huddle. He handled that very well."

Cable's biggest issue was an area targeted early in training camp -- presnap penalties. The offensive line had four of them, with false starts by starting right tackle Langston Walker, backup tight end Brandon Myers, reserve tackle/center Jared Veldheer and reserve center Chris Morris.

It was the only real blight in a game that had no turnovers and some tough running by Michael Bennett (68 yards, 12 carries), Rock Cartwright (25 yards, seven carries) and starter Michael Bush (31 yards, seven carries).

The backup offensive line, including rookies Veldheer and Bruce Campbell, got passing grades but not much more from Cable, a tough grader for the position group that long has been his specialty.

"It was OK for the first time out," Cable said. "A lot of mistakes, but the longer they played, the better they got. I'll look for bigger and better things (next) week against Chicago."

No status change in injuries reported by Cable after the game. Cornerback Walter McFadden (shoulder) might practice today. Linebacker Sam Williams mighter have suffered a minor concussion and will begin the series of tests mandated by the league before he can practice. Reserve kicker Swayze Waters had a calf bruise.

Tagged: Raiders, Jason Campbell, Bruce Campbell

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