Raiders-49ers: Tom Cable Day After Press-Conference

With Bruce Gradkowski possibly out another week and Jason Campbell scheduled for an MRI on his knee, it could me Kyle Boller time.  Kyle Boller, who is the Oakland Raiders third quarterback says he is ready if Tom Cable calls upon him.

“I always take the approach that it’s your job--it doesn’t matter what position you play or what position you are on the depth chart to be prepared, because you never know when your time’s coming.  I’ve done a pretty good job with watching tape and staying in the game plan, because it’s also our job to help out the guys that are in there. And they need you to know what’s going on.’’

Tom Cable discussed the quarterback situation but was not willing to name a starter for this weekend:

Is it too early to tell who QB will be this week or have to wait and see how Bruce comes out of it?

"We’ll need to see both come Wednesday, see where they’re both at and then we’ll make a decision and go with it.

Issue with Campbell’s health or is that not an issue? 

"Just see where he’s at, he’s pretty sore today. So let’s just see where he’s at come Wednesday."

Is there a scenario where Kyle could be the starter this weekend? 

"Oh, absolutely, absolutely."

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In his news and notes section, Jerry McDonald talked about his interaction with first round pick Rolando McClain.  Apparently, he is not willing to talk to the media.  I find it interesting that McClain is refusing to talk about the status of the team but I can understand if he is not accustom to this amount of failure being that he played at Alabama and won a lot of games.

McDonald did bring up the fact that Louis Murphy was having similar problems after playing for such a good Florida Gator team.

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Tom Cable's press conference is after the jump or you can watch it here below.

Tom Cable's Press Conference

Opening statement:

"OK, injury update from the game. Samson Satele missed a series in there with some dehydration right at halftime, so just got to back up and some fluids in him. Brandon Myers suffered a concussion. He would be day-to-day and questionable this week. Jason Campbell, did an MRI on the knee, the knee’s fine, does have a little bit of a sprain there but nothing at this point that looks serious."

On if it is too early to tell who QB will be this week or have to wait and see how Bruce comes out of it:

"We’ll need to see both come Wednesday, see where they’re both at and then we’ll make a decision and go with it. "

On if the issue is with Campbell’s health or is that not an issue:"Just see where he’s at, he’s pretty sore today. So let’s just see where he’s at come Wednesday."

On if there is a scenario where Kyle could be the starter this weekend:"Oh, absolutely, absolutely."

On the overall assessment of the game:

"Just what I said yesterday, we’re all very disappointed today. We have the same feeling similar to what we had after the Arizona game, where you felt like you did a lot o things to win a game and didn’t do enough to get it over the hump to do it. You can put your finger on a number of things. We didn’t throw the ball well. Weren’t very good on third down. Weren’t very good in the red zone. Gave up four big plays on defense. Kicking game, pretty solid for the most part, could have done a little better job in the vice in the punt return team, some things like that. But it wasn’t a thing of just going out and executing, making the plays that were there. There was a ton of opportunity in that football game, and we didn’t capitalize on them."

On if he can put finger on third-down problems:

"Just decisions, making throws and getting open, and protection, really making decisions and throwing the football, things like that, very fundamental issues."

On is there anything that jumps out on you more than the other? Is it QBs? Wideouts? Coverage? Hue’s playcalling?

"Nah, nah. I think the first play of the game is a perfect example. We’re going to take a shot to open the game, and you just got to cut that loose, and he ran right by him like we hoped _ and we did get a big play out of it with the pass interference call _ but there’s a chance I think when, when you get a chance to get a big chunk play, you know, to make it happen, and we’re just not doing that. We threw a go-route, we were backed up near the goal line, and just overthrew that one as well. I think the plays are there. I think it shows up on film that they were there, but we’re just not executing, whether it’s a throw or whether it’s a route."

On how you would assess Campbell’s performance:

"He struggled. It is what it is. He struggled with some things. There were times early in the game where I thought the protection around him was a little shaky but it seemed to improve as the game went. He did some nice things making plays with his feet. But at the same time you have to make some of those plays more often than what we’re doing right now."

On taking Campbell out when he was hobbling around with nine minutes left:

"No, it wasn’t something we had even talked about. For us, it was just a play away, a play away, a play away. And you’re trying to get to the right play, and your team in position for the right play. But that’s not good enough."

On if the 49ers were doing anything to take Zach Miller out of the game:

"No."

On his explanation on that losing a 14-yard play to a challenge that isn’t allowed:

"The explanation was that the flag was on the ground before the ball was snapped. That’s all I got."

On whether they should have stopped the play:

"Yes. By rule, that’s the way it should be done. It was not stopped. It was ran to completion before anything was ever said about it. But their explanation was that the flag was on the ground prior to the ball being snapped."

On how come you couldn’t get running game untracked:

"I think we were playing too high on the line of scrimmage. They are a very physical front 7 but we knew that. They didn’t do anything that surprised us or tricked us. Just a lack of pad level and finishing blocks."

On if it seemed you did some good things early with the run then it tailed off:

"The thing about running the ball is consistency. If you start out decent, usually you get better and better from there. For us, it just seemed like we got higher and higher from there. And that’s really a negative. Running the ball for 2 or 3 yards in the first quarter becomes 3 or 4 yards in the second quarter and so on as the game goes. You’re just not able to maintain that."

On how much did it hurt not to have a change-of-pace back when things were going slow with Bush:

"It would help to have the ability to do that this week with either Michael or Darren, or even both of them. So it won’t be an issue for us this week. More than anything, Michael is a proven runner and a very good one. You gotta give him enough seam to run it. He can use that big body to break tackles and get through to the secondary. I just think that the seams were there and they just shut down too quick. That’s a product of not finishing blocks."

On who would third back have been:

"We wouldn’t have had one. We would have put Marcel Reece back there, would have been the third."

On were receivers getting open:

"I thought we had some guys open. I thought there were some times where we could have run better routes and give ourselves a chance to have some better windows to throw the ball to."

On how was the pass rush:

"Just what you thought. You had some physical rush from 90 and 94 and all the speed from the outside backers."

On the Raiders pass rush:

"Kind of hot and cold. Production at times and there were other times when we needed more and didn’t get it. We bothered him all day and we hit him a lot and rushed him. To categorize it sack wise, not enough. But when you talk about just pure pressure and disruption it was pretty good."

On the first play was a flea-flicker and it’s to Murphy, end around is to Murphy, deep pass out of end zone to Murphy, any reason it’s not Heyward-Bey on any of those plays:

"On the go route, he’s the guy on the other side. He didn’t have a step on his guy like Louis did. I don’t know that there’s really any explanation that way. I know we’ve run the reverse with Darrius early in the year. Maybe there’s more of that to come. I don’t know that it’s worth singling anything out that way. It’s kind of what the defense is giving you and the way it’s set up."

On getting burned in zone so why play it:

"Certainly after the play like the big post you sit there and say Mman, I wish we were playing man there.’ But that’s an easy check and it’s an easy read. You just have to get to the post as a secondary player. It’s mot a difficult thing but we didn’t do it."

On how the run defense was:

"The long run obviously we just didn’t play it right, getting over the top of the fullback. There was another counter play we could have come under it outside backer, it would have really squeezed it, made it a 2-yard play. They’re disappointing because the rest of the game you’re knocking it dead, knocking it dead, knocking it dead. But you can’t let up, not at this level. Unfortunately we did on a couple of plays."

On any chance on Raiders being active before trade deadline:

"I don’t at this point know that, what the paln would be in terms of that. Certainly it wouldn’t surprise me if we do something. We’ll see what the next 24 hours bring."