Raiders’ Tom Cable has kept battered offensive line afloat

From his vantage point in the television booth last Sunday, former NFL offensive lineman Mark Schlereth instinctively knew the ground assault the Raiders were about to unleash on the Los Angeles Chargers. And not just because the former Denver Broncos great knows just about everything about run-game blocking.

The ace up Schlereth’s sleeve was the longtime relationship he’s forged with Raiders offensive line coach Tom Cable, a teammate of Schlereth’s at the University of Idaho and a major voice in the Raiders’ weekly run-game planning.

Eight games into the season, Cable has emerged as one of the Raiders’ MVPs by overseeing a group that has dealt with constant injuries, illnesses and missed practices and turned the offensive line into one of the team’s strengths.

The Raiders have played a total of three plays this season with their assumed starting lineup of right tackle Trent Brown, right guard Gabe Jackson, center Rodney Hudson, left guard Richie Incognito and left tackle Kolton Miller intact.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said former Raiders offensive lineman Lincoln Kennedy, now a color commentator on their radio broadcasts.

Said Raiders quarterback Derek Carr: “There has been some crazy stuff that has happened.”

Understandably the offensive line has not played perfectly as a result of all the turmoil. But thanks to Cable, it has managed to perform well enough to remain one of the team’sanchors.

Denzelle Good and Brandon Parker, in particular, have emerged as reliable assets after being pressed into duty, Good as a versatile piece to the puzzle playing all over the offensive line and Parker overcoming his early struggles to provide solid play at both tackle positions.

“You can tell that their success means something to Tom,” said Kennedy. “It goes beyond just football.”

Making it personal

For Cable, the personal relationships he forges with players is central to his approach.

“When a coach can connect with a player and vice versa, you understand them,” Cable said. “You know what it takes for them to be prepared, what they need to get prepared. They recognize the fact that you’re with them. You’re in it for them.”

Cable said he and others on the coaching staff don’t put themselves on a pedestal. “Ego stays out of it, all that BS and nonsense that comes into football at this level. A lot of guys need to be pumped up or need someone to talk about them or whatever. We just have never approached it that way.”

It’s why Parker’s success has been such a point of satisfaction for Cable, who never lost faith in the project out of tiny North Carolina A&M when so many others were ready to kick Parker to the curb. Cable knew Parker’s struggles were tied to confidence rather than ability.

“When you come from a small school into this league, there is a transition. Some guys handle it quickly and some guys don’t,” Cable said. “The skill set’s obviously there, the size, the mind, the passion. He’s always had great want-to. But at some point, an athlete, whether they’re a superstar like the quarterback or they’re a young left tackle that’s backing up and getting an opportunity, at some point they have to learn to trust themselves.

“I think he’s finally trusting himself, and I think we’re seeing the beginning of something really cool for his future.”

Now in his second go-around with the Raiders after coaching their offensive line from 2007 to 2008 and then taking over as head coach from 2008 to 2010, Cable has delivered a masterful performance while dealing with incredibly unusual circumstances.

The Raiders are the ninth-best running team in the NFL, averaging 131.3 yards, and rank 14th in total yards, averaging 371.6. The Raiders have given up the 11th fewest sacks in the NFL at 14.

“The guy is a great football coach. He’s just such a teacher and a great game planner in the run game,” Schlereth said. “What they want to do, where they want to attack. What fronts they want to attack. How they want to run the ball.”

Said Kennedy, whose role on the broadcast team has meant many an airplane ride in which he and Cable constantly talk about the nuances of offensive lines: “He’s a teacher, first and foremost. And he cares deeply about his players. There is no question they respond to him. And what he and they have done this year is remarkable.”

Take what’s given

Cable said one key is the ability to adjust and take advantage of whatever a defense is trying to do.

“We’re schooled enough as players in our system now that we can take what they give you,” Cable said. “I think it’s really the truth of the whole thing. It’s really up to the opponent, what they’re giving us, what they present to us. It really targets how we attack in that game, and hopefully, we can stay with it and have success.”

Which brings us back to Sunday and the sly, knowing smile creeping over Schlereth’s face as he called the Raiders’ game against the Chargers.

As Los Angeles is sometimes prone to do, they were in an alignment that left their cornerbacks vulnerable on the edge to the run game. Cable, recognizing the advantage for his big, physical offensive line, opted to turn to a heavy two-tight end formation and called the classic run play in which the center and guard pull to the edge beyond the tight end and tackle to create a convoy for the running back.

The mismatch it created pitted big offensive linemen against much smaller defensive backs. Or, as Schlereth explained after getting into the head of his old friend: “Let’s get some heavy players out there and let’s scramble a couple of brains over there at the corner position. Let’s let those guys get involved. Let’s let those guys play football.”

It was a call the Raiders repeated over and over, as it turned out.

“I loved the nature of play repeating — oh, you guys aren’t going to stop it? Your corner’s not going to come up and take one of our guards out?” Schlereth said. “All right, well, we’re going to keep running it until you can show us that you can stop it. So they must have run it five or six times during the course of the game.”

In the process, the Raiders rolled up 160 yards rushing, a 6.2-yards average, after rushing for 209 yards the week before against the Cleveland Browns.

The face of it all being Cable, the veteran coach who refuses to use injuries and illness as an excuse.

“He’s just done a tremendous job,” Schlereth said.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.