"That's perfect for us," Cable said. "We need that game. We need San Diego to come in here, we need to do it at night so everybody can watch us. We won the last two games we played in that mattered."

Cable would like nothing better than to erase the 11-game losing streak against San Diego. Given his desire to turn around all losing trends, he probably loved it when the schedule was announced later in the day.

The Raiders visit Kansas City in Week 2, and host Denver in Week 3 -- getting all three division foes in the season's opening month.

Oakland is 6-30 in AFC West games since going 4-2 in 2002 -- the year they won their last division title as well as the conference championship.

Oakland owns wins over Denver in each of the last two seasons, and has beaten the Chiefs in Arrowhead each of the last two years.

--Always a line coach at heart, Cable could barely contain himself when discussing the quality of potential left tackles available in the draft.

"There are four of them -- and they could all be left tackles -- they're outstanding," Cable said.

The players Cable was referring to were Baylor's Jason Smith, Virginia's Eugene Monroe, Alabama's Andre Smith and Mississippi's Michael Oher.

While Cable may not get any of them, he conceded it would be nice for the first time in his career to work with a left tackle selected with a top-10 pick fresh out of college.

"It would be nice to have one of those Cadillacs," Cable said.

--Most mock drafts have the Raiders looking at a receiver and specifically have them picking either Texas Tech's Michael Crabtree and Missouri's Jeremy Maclin, extremely productive college wideouts in pass-oriented systems.

Crabtree was unable to run a timed 40-yard dash for teams because he had surgery for a stress fracture. Given that he played with the injury last year, Cable didn't sound overly concerned about the medical issue.

"He's on film, he's all over the place," Cable said. "He's a great player, looking at the normal evaluation of tape, you see what he's done throughout his career. There's plenty to see. You know who the guy is."

Cable dodged the question as to whether Maclin may be similar to current wideout Johnnie Lee Higgins in terms of style.

"I haven't looked at it that way, yet, but I will," Cable said.

--Jeff Garcia is in Oakland to push and mentor JaMarcus Russell.

"You think about him being in Canada, coming to the NFL, going to the Pro Bowl, the playoffs, he's seen a lot, he's done a lot," Cable said. "My goal was that he would create an environment in that room with JaMarcus to take him where we're trying to go."

While not divulging any names, Cable said one quarterback wasn't attending quarterback school. With Garcia revealing that he had been working out with Bruce Gradkowski and Russell, that leaves Andrew Walter, the former third-round pick who has expressed his desire to move on.

"We'll wait and see where he's going to fit in on this team and all those things that go along with trying to earn a job in the NFL," Cable said. "He's got an opportunity like everybody else."

Cable said he hasn't discussed Walter's wishes to leave.

"He's a Raider, that's the way I look at it," Cable said.

Walter was moved from No. 2 to No. 3 on the depth chart over the final month of the season by Cable in favor of Marques Tuiasosopo, who is currently an unrestricted free agent.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "That's a fine." -- Raiders coach Tom Cable to a reporter whose cell phone went off at the start of a press conference.