Well Kiffin's been fired and new coach Tom Cable is in. And this was the perfect time for these moves, players now have two weeks to get used to Cable, and for Cable to get used to head coaching. The real test for Cable is to see what he does to improve some of Oakland's shortcomings.

-Russell and his receivers- While it's no secret that Oakland hasn't fielded a good pass offense since 2005, and that deficit will continue into this year at least. Russell needs to take some more risks and the receivers need to get open. Hopefully Troupe will play in New Orleans, freeing up Miller to make plays like he did against San Diego. Curry, who was supposed to be our possession receiver, has a case of stone hands. Walker, who was supposed to be our big play threat, looks good getting two to three catches on the first possession, but then seemingly disappears afterward. The only bright spot at WR is someone nobody expected to be anything more than a returner. However, Johnnie Lee Higgins is our second leading receiver (behind Miller) and has an 84-yard TD reception and some very good returns. Lelie has done an okay job, but nothing spectacular by any means. Meanwhile, McFadden and Bush have been great as receivers combining for 15 receptions for 143 receiving yards. If Lofton and Cable can get the receivers up to speed, expect better numbers than those from San Diego.

-Scoring Defense- It's ironic that Oakland is the 17th. ranked defense and 6th. in sacks, yet they're 23rd in points allowed. This is a culmination of Hall's inconsistent play, Ryan's 4th. quarter play calling, and the defense getting tuckered out. They need to work in 4th. quarter rotation and tell Hall to play close to his man. That's what we brought him in for. Because he was supposed to one of the best bump-and-run, in your face, man cover corners in the NFL. But instead, all he's done is give up a lot of passing yards throughout the season. I will admit he's been getting better as the year has gone on. He's had an interception in each of the last two weeks and he's had half a sack on the season. Edwards and Warren have been our most disruptive defensive linemen this year with Richardson and Burgess not far behind. Since Ryan started blitzing more often, this team has looked much better on defense. All we need is Hall to be more consistent and rotate out players when they're tired, especially in the 4th.

-Play calling- You'll notice I didn't mention the rushing offense, well it's ranked fifth and all it needs is to see more action than it did last week. No more passing on first down except for the end of half or game winning situations. I'd also like to see some change ups in the passing game. Checkdowns and the occasional big play is nice, but why not use some more play action. Teams respect our running game, so why not use pay action. Russell is more than capable of rolling out and throwing quick passes. You can argue that our O-Line isn't good enough for play action, not true. As long the opposing defense sees a running back going up the middle they'll forget the possibility of a pass play. If our receivers improve, work in longer pass plays or else teams will just use short zones and pick off passes. Stay mistake free, but don't be afraid to mix it up a bit.

That's all she wrote my friends, we actually i guess he since I'm a dude, but you get the point.

Cheers,

KA1Z3R