Oakland Raiders

The first practice of day seven of Camp Cable is in the books. They are now two practices removed from the infamous "teaching practices" and are in pads and making contact. Now that the contact has started, the camp battles are heating up and the team is getting ready for football with Mike Mitchell offering a glimmer of his hitting ability, and Darrius Heyward-Bey still struggling with his hands.

However, with the second day of contact came some fresh injuries, with Khalif Barnes spraining an ankle and reserve tackle Mark Wilson having back spasms. In an encouraging sign, fullback Oren O'Neal was on the field practicing despite being less than a year removed from tearing his ACL, MCL, and LCL.

JaMarcus Russell looked a bit shaky today, despite either the pass protection being improved or John Marshall not dialing up as many blitzes. It didn't help that Heyward-Bey had a couple of drops, when Russell did the ball near him.

Following the practice, Coach Cable faced the local media:

Okay, biggest emphasis you saw there was the move-the-ball period. Kinda' get 'em out there, get the coaches and the rest of the players away from them. Let them have to problem-solve in the huddle a little bit and kind of decipher things. Get the call, make the call and adjust and all that. So, some good stuff there. Injury-wise, couple of guys -- Khalif Barnes sprained an ankle, that's what you saw over there, and Mark Wilson got a back spasm in a pass rush drill. Guys still the same, you know Walker with the knee still doing his thing, Gallery with the appendicitis still doing his thing, all progressing very well and Jeff Garcia was better today.

Cable thinks that the cure for Heyward-Bey's hands issue is to just keep pushing him through it. That as long as he keeps getting the reps, it will come to him.

I think like everyone, he's coming along, coming along and just keep giving it to him, keep teaching him how to put the negative play behind him, you know, and that's kinda' where we're at. But much better today in terms of doing that. He dropped a ball on a go-route, came back and made a big catch on an out-route, so just gotta' keep pushing him that way.

He also believes that the Raiders have an offensive core that will be something special down the line.

That's the great thing about what we've done in the draft, and getting some players, and a nucleus of them together that can be here a while, so we just gotta' get them headed in the right direction and they're getting it. They're getting it.

When asked if going against Nnamdi Asomugha every day in practice will help Heyward-Bey, Cable responded:

I think it’s great. I think it’s good for all those receivers. And Nnam’s done a nice job of teaching them. As you said, there’s some time he’s running the route for them, they’re giving it away, and letting them know that, hey, this is what you’re doing, this is what I saw. I think it’s great for them, it’s great for all those guys. What I’m most impressed with is Nnamdi’s want to teach those guys to get better.

In a potential camp battle upset, Cable says that Ricky Brown is pushing Kirk Morrison for the mike linebacker position.

I think everything is serious competition. We wanted to do that for a reason. We want to push Kirk, and we want to push Ricky, and we want to get the right combination in there, so you know, we just want to give everyone the opportunity when it fits, an when they’ve earned it to do that....They’re very similar players. It’s just trying to press the competition as coaches.

Cable had this to say about Oren O'Neal being ready to go this soon after his catastrophic knee injury:

I’m very happy for him. Very excited for our team. You see the team’s response when he goes in there, and puts it on someone and that’s good for everybody. It’s uplifting, because he went through quite a bit, obviously, and to come out and do those things, I think is good for our team. I’m happy for him.

Cable singled out Mike Mitchell for some praise, after he put a hit on a teammate, but didn't go full bore into him:

What I like is he has really committed to the learning part of it. He’s always trying to ask questions, always around with his coaches, so to me, he recognized the fact that he missed all that and he’s making up for it, and doing fine. He’s obviously an intelligent, guy, but just his want to, to press it, go after it and find out and get the answers has been the most important thing.






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