Raiders have work before they qualify as reborn

The Raiders are on the rise, baby.

At least that's the conventional wisdom among the Raiders' ultrafaithful, among many Raiders players, and in the view of some of the impartial media.

Present coach Tom Cable sees "a ton" of improvement in his team this season.

In this corner, though, the rebirth of the Raiders is a tough sell. We suggest a check of Cable's scales.

The Raiders played the Colts tough Sunday, but lost 31-26 at home in another postseason-free season.

Cable and most of the players speak of the improvement of the team, the definite move this season out of the NFL dregs and into legitimacy, and how this rise can serve as a springboard to greater things next season.

Sorry, not buying.

In order to believe in the rebirth of the Raiders, it's necessary to see an improvement in the grand design, starting at the very top. As in: Al Davis rediscovering his genius touch.

That would be cool. It would be like Frank Lloyd Wright deciding to abandon a strip-mall-design career and return to his grander architectural projects.

But what evidence do we have that Davis is back?

The most dramatic improvement in the team this season has been the disappearance of JaMarcus Russell, and that happened only because Russell sank so deeply into personal problems that Davis was forced to abandon his irrational faith in the young man.

It has been proposed that the recent foibles and failures of former Raiders people like Mike Shanahan, Lane Kiffin and Randy Moss help build a case that Davis was really wise, after all, because he rid himself of those folks.

But a counterargument is that Davis continues to attract and fall in love with those types of people in the first place.

A lot of the Raiders' resurgence this season has been accidental.

-- Jacoby Ford, really a phenomenal find for the Raiders, mostly sat for the first six games, his talent pretty much unrecognized or unappreciated until he got his shot thanks to injuries and the ongoing failure of Al Davis trophy Darrius Heyward-Bey to live up to his draft status.

-- Cable, if he really is a significant part of the resurgence, and many players say he is, was accidental, a quick fix necessitated by the Kiffin debacle. If Cable legitimately earned an extended stay, he still can't be considered a brilliant Davis discovery.

Cable, of course, sees dramatic improvement in his team.