Another day, another delay in a pending decision on the criminal fate of Raiders coach Tom Cable.
Cable has been in legal limbo since August when one of his assistant coaches turned up in a Napa hospital with a broken jaw.
That man, Randy Hanson, claims Cable attacked him after training camp during a coaches' meeting. And the Napa County district attorney's office has been deciding what to do since then.
Whatever the decision DA Gary Lieberstein makes, it won't be made just yet. He changed his voicemail message late Monday from an instruction to reporters to "call back Monday afternoon" to "call back in a couple days."
Apparently no reporters needed an update during Monday's post-game Raiders news conference. Not a single question was lobbed at Cable Monday about the matter. True, maybe reporters are still in shock from Sunday's 13-9 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
The subject, however, is still popping on the Internet.
ProFootballTalk.com reported last week charges are unlikely. The site cited sources "with knowledge of the investigation" that the three people who were there when the alleged attack happened are not telling the same story Hanson is telling.
"Lock-step corroboration of Hanson's story by three witnesses having no natural incentive to corroborate Hanson's version would have and should have triggered a much quicker decision on whether to charge Cable with assault," says PFT writer Mike Florio, an attorney himself.
Even if criminal charges aren't filed, that is not necessarily the end of it. Hanson will like file a civil lawsuit.
But avoiding criminal charges would get Tom Cable off the hook with the NFL. The league seems to be taking its cues from the Napa.
Commissioner Roger Goodell told the Associated Press that the NFL is "allowing the criminal process to go forward for some period of time" before rendering judgment.
In other words, they're just going to keep playing a passing game.
