Oakland Raiders

After the second day of "teaching practices" Tom Cable once again faced the local media.

Cable has said that his new and different approach has drawn positive feedback from his players:

Lorenzo Neal said to me, "You know in 17 years, I've never seen anything like this, but I can't believe how much we're getting out of it," you know just in our talks, in our room, or in meetings, or whatever, it's a chance to really sort it out and work through it before all of a sudden you put the combative part into it, which will start on Monday."

This is unique because we don't have the stress, we don't get beat up, we're really learning and relearning, and for the veterans there's some review obviously, but there's little details. Everything comes up. Something came up today with Cooper Carlisle and Cornell Green that they've probably had 4-5 other times in the last two years but bang it happened again today. It's just a chance to talk it through, reteach and just kind of solidify it in their brains, OK, we got it.

In addition to focusing on the basics, this manner of running camp gives the players a chance to get acclimated to being in camp once again, or as Cable said yesterday, to get their minds right:

We're getting enough of that and again, if you remember, part of this is the routine too of a two-a-day, and the whole process of getting taped, in meetings, and getting out of bed and back to bed, and all those sort of things. So, we feel like we're accomplishing exactly what we set out to do.

As of now, there are no updates on the Derrick Burgess situation, and Tom Cable would not devote time to Burgess except to say that there are no updates. Darren McFadden, has been lining up at receiver, and Cable would speak on this use of McFadden:

You know, a lot's been talked about with that, but if you look at us the last six weeks of the season and particularly the last three weeks, we used him more in that role, extensively in the last two weeks, and it seemed to really compliment everybody, it opened everybody up. I think it adds a lot to us and he's a guy that there's no question has to get a number of touches in a ballgame and he helps everybody around him.

Coach Cable talked about the level of competition at wide receiver, and how there were several qualified players fighting for that last spot:

The No. 1 thing is catching the ball and making plays. There's no question we've emphasized the need and the importance of improving our passing game. I think it will really come down to who can do that, who can make plays catching the ball, getting open and run after the catch. All those things go into that position.

He praised fourth round pick Louis Murphy:

He's a guy that came out of a good program and is very passionate about playing the game. For him, it's just learning our offense, a new system for him and just keep doing it but he's progressing very well.