Russell said Kiffin "has got a lot of off-time on his hands, so he would pay attention to the defense I would have to go up against and leave me a text message or a voice mail here or there."

--Last season, the Raiders held the league's hottest kick returner, Chicago's Devin Hester, to 14 yards on six punt returns and 34 yards on two punt returns. And here comes Reggie Bush, fresh off 71- and 64-yard punt returns for touchdowns against Minnesota and a franchise-record 176 yards on five returns.

Kiffin proclaimed during the week the Raiders would kick to Hester. Cable isn't willing to tip his hand.

"We took a stand last year and said, 'All right, we're going to kick to this guy,'" linebacker and special teams captain Isaiah Ekejiuba said. "And that's what we did. We kicked to him and we went down and covered the kick. It's a big statement to make if you're going to kick to somebody like that."

Said Ekejiuba of Bush: "You're not going to go out and tackle Reggie Bush one-on-one. You're not going to. It just doesn't happen. So this is where we've got to come together as a unit. We're counting on Shane Lechler to kick the ball like he always does and we're counting on the whole punt team to minimize his gains and send Shane Lechler to the Pro Bowl again."

--CB DeAngelo Hall watched with disgust as a member of the Atlanta Falcons last year when coach Bobby Petrino bolted after 13 games to become the head coach at Arkansas. He wasn't nearly as affected by the departure of Kiffin.

"I don't liken this situation to anything that happened in Atlanta," Hall said. "Atlanta was a whole different kind of beat. This is smooth street right here compared to what went on down there.

"I was happy that something positive came of it, with coach Cable, a whole new attitude. When Petrino finally decided to pack up and leave, he left us in such disarray that it was hard to put the pieces back together."

--Kiffin seemed to have the support of most of the players, even if they weren't always sure where he was coming from in terms of his dealings with the media and even in direct conversation.

Cable is a different story.

"He understands that there is a little bit of gray in everything. But in terms of how he shoots and in terms of his answers and what you should expect from him, it's very black and white," left tackle Kwame Harris said. "He lets you know what his expectations are, of him for you and you know what he expects out of you. And you know what to expect out him. That's something that's very good about him. He's very clean, he's very precise. There's no fuzz in the places there shouldn't be."

--With the Raiders having a 20-64 record since 2003, all the players drafted and developed by the franchise since then have known nothing but defeat. CB Nnamdi Asomugha and RB Justin Fargas are 20-64, OL Robert Gallery and Jake Grove are 15-49, LB Thomas Howard and S Michael are Huff 6-26.

Cable is of the belief that losing has not become a conditioned response.

"All of these guys, to become professional football players, have been winners. They didn't get here because they were second-hand, or couldn't achieve, or any of that," he said. "You've got to take them back and find their spirit, then do it collectively as a team, and that's what we plan to do."

BY THE NUMBERS: 20.2 -- Percentage of incomplete passes deemed "poor throws" by JaMarcus Russell, the highest figure in the league among the top 20 rated quarterbacks.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I love JaMarcus Russell. He's our quarterback, and I've got no issues with the guy. Whatever all that is, I'm not going there. He's our quarterback of the Oakland Raiders, and as the head coach, he's my quarterback. I love the guy. I'm married to him, so let's go," -- Raiders coach Tom Cable, regarding owner Al Davis' contention that Lane Kiffin did not want to select Russell with the first pick of the 2007 draft.