Al Davis talks about Cable

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Watching on CSNCA, The Chronicle Sports Desk follows the Raiders' news conference to announce the promotion of Hue Jackson to head coach. Refresh page to get the latest.

2:48 p.m. Not a lot new for a few minutes here. We're going to sign off. But we'll jump back on if there's new news.

2:43 p.m. Davis says he brought Cable back for this season because he thought Cable had told him everything about Hansen and the women's accusations, and that Cable would toe the line because of his past issues.

The topic moves to the stadium issue: Davis says he doesn't want to talk about whether he'd share with the 49ers, or about stadium issues in any manner.

Back to Cable: Why did Davis keep Cable around this season even after he learned that Cable had not been completely honest with him (in Davis' opinion)? Davis says he didn't want to cause turmoil at the time.

2:35 p.m. When it looked like the press conference was breaking up, Davis said Wait a minute, and everyone sat back down.

Davis then opened a folder, reviewed some paperwork, and started talking about Cable:

He started by saying, "When we had the ... Randy Hansen incident, we had a turmoil in our coaching staff, Randy's jaw was broken, to this day nobody is sure how it was broken. We had a spouse accuse the head coach of personal relations that were not good. And at that time there were a lot of people who wanted me to take action (against the coach)."

Here are excerpts, paraphrasing of what he said next:

Says the team has faced a lawsuit from a woman with allegations that Cable mistreated her.

Says he had to deal with "the wrath (Cable) brought on the Raider organization"

Davis said one allegation was "too much for me" the allegation that he brought his accuser on the road and that he was "flying in friends so they could be with them the night before the game."

He says, "I just wasn't going to take it anymore."

Davis said he started taking money every week out of Cable's pay until it was resolved what penalty the Raiders might face in court. He took $20,000 a week over the last six weeks, he says

2:17 p.m. Davis says he would very much like a new stadium, on the site currently occupied by the Coliseum.

Jackson on whether there were tensions between him and Cable: "I didn't feel that, I didn't see that." He says he thought the two of them did a good job of meshing what the Raiders were recently and what they will be in the near future.

2:11 p.m. While waiting for possible details on Davis' issues with Cable, a couple notes for those not able to see this on TV: Davis is sitting a good foot taller than Jackson, just like TV talk show hosts have higher chairs than their guests.

Jackson is wearing a black suit, with white shirt and silver and black tie. Davis is wearing the Members Only style jacket we've seen before, with "Oakland Raiders" on the left breast. He is wearing beneath the jacket what looks to be a white sweater with a big wide collar.

Davis is speaking very well. He's missed a couple names, but is otherwise coherent, efficient and forceful, with some impressive feats of memory from football's past.

There's a bandage on his left forehead and the left side of his face is a bit fallen. His left eye is tearing up.

2:05 p.m. Davis on the coach search: Talked by phone to several candidates he previously was high on. But none of them impressed him like Jackson does as "ambassador to the Raider Nation around the country and around the world." Won't give names.

2:00 p.m. Davis compares Jackson with Gruden: Very similar in the way they -- as offensive coaches -- challenge the Raiders' defense in practice. "Feisty."

Nothing more on Cable recently ... but we're waiting.

1:59 p.m. Jackson praises Davis' football knowledge; says he goes to him with every tough football question. "That's why I call him Coach Davis."

1:50 p.m. Davis says yes, he takes some of the blame for all the coaches they've had in recent years, not always giving them the best players, but that he knows what he's doing. He notes that he hired Jim Harbaugh and the new Stanford coach David Shaw long ago.

1:47 p.m. Davis says that Cable would have been dismissed even if the team had made the playoffs, and that he'll get into that later.

1:44 p.m. Davis, about the other "strong" reasons Cable was let go: "That's going to be an area that's tough to handle. But I'll handle it as good as I can."

Was there a point during the season when Davis realized a change was due: "No ... I wanted to see how we finished. ... And we messed it up (their chance to make the playoffs)."

Davis touts Jacoby Ford.

Who made the QB changes last season? Davis says it wasn't him.

Davis on Gradkowski: OK, but too frail.

Davis notes his moves to draft Asomugha, trade for Seymour, and make the 2010 draft picks as evidence he knows what he's doing.

Davis on Nnamdi coming back: "We'll see." He says he's "a great player."

1:41 p.m. Now one can only hope Davis gets into the other "strong" reasons he had to dismiss Cable.

1:40 p.m. Jackson says there will be changes on the staff and says the media has already documented one (assuming he's talking about DC John Marshall being let go).

Davis then talks about a reporter's assertion that there were a lot of free agents on the Raiders. He says that the reporter is off-base about the Raiders having 31 free agents ("ridiculous").

Asked why Cable had to go: "The very thing that I did when I brought Hue in to be the offensive play caller ... should have given (the media) the feeling ... as far as (Cable's) ability goes, you have to look at (the years when he was the play-caller). ... He is a zone blocking purist and I'm not a zone blocking purist. And we switched already this year. ... I just didn't think he could do it ... And there are other reasons, very strong reasons that we'll get into.

1:35 p.m. Davis talked again about quarterbacks who took some time to become top QBs. He talked about Steve Young, Elway again, and Rich Gannon. He talked about Alex Smith as an example of a guy who hasn't worked out, but who could become a good quarterback.

1:31 p.m. Some quotes from Davis:

"JaMarcus is gone. When I decided this year that we no longer can fight the battle of personal problems for certain players. We tried it in the past, we had been successful with some of the greatest players who have ever played professional football ... Basically, he's a good person, but he's got personal problems."

"We had a shot, this year, without about five games to go, to make the playoffs. We have a defense, if we can keep them together, that's a tough group. Seymour leads the pack with Kelly."

"JaMarcus hurt. Any time you lose a first-round draft pick, it hurts."

1:28 p.m. Some Jackson excerpts: "There's no question that we're going to win this division, we're going to get into those playoffs, and we're going to challenge for the Super Bowl."

"I've worked for a lot of owners in this league. ... No one of those guys ... I've never had the opportunity to sit and talk football ... there's nothing like working for Al Davis." He didn't quite deliver on this quote, but what he was saying was that nobody talks football, among owners, like Al Davis.

Jackson says he'll be the primary play-caller.

1:24 p.m. Davis has turned things over to Hue Jackson. Davis did not mention Tom Cable. He might have made one reference to him (as providing opposition to Jackson's authority over the offense).

1:23 p.m. Davis continues listing what went right this season: Tommy Kelly. The hiring of Mike Waufle to coach the D-line. The hiring of Hue Jackson ("he was given the authority to run the offense ... he met with opposition some of the time."). "This football team has the most explosive players that have been together in a long time, at every offensive position."

1:20 p.m. Davis notes that a "writer in the room" listed things the Raiders did right in the past season to get the Raiders going in the right direction. Davis notes some of those things: The draft ("a group that we think will dominate in years to come at certain positions."). The trade for Campbell ("Jason came a long way in the year 2010.") Davis talks about how great he thinks Jim Plunkett was and that greatness doesn't come quickly to everyone. He cites John Elway and Brett Favre as QBs who took a little time to peak.

1:15 p.m. This is the first time Davis has spoken publicly since September 2009. He and Hue Jackson are behind the microphones. Davis, looking a little worse for wear, with some sort of bandage on his forehead, speaks first. He introduced Jackson and his family.

1 p.m.: The news conference is scheduled to begin at 1:15 p.m. Check back in to this blog shortly.

Posted By: The Sporting Green (Email) | January 18 2011 at 02:47 PM