Raider Coach: Team Needs To Eliminate Distractions

After watching his team endure yet another blowout loss, Oakland Raiders coach Tom Cable said one of the keys to getting his team back on track is to eliminate distractions.

Cable was talking about the how the team responds to adversity early in games, when one bad play or bad call can lead to more and end up in a lopsided game.

Cable says the potentially bigger distraction of Cable's legal problems regarding his alleged training camp assault on defensive assistant Randy Hanson are not an issue.

Hanson ended months of silence by talking to Yahoo! Sports late last week, saying Cable threatened to kill him during the August attack that left him with a broken jaw.

Hanson claims he made a prediction right before fists flew at a now infamous coaches' meeting the night of Aug. 4.

"You know what’s gonna happen there," Hanson recalls saying in a lengthy tell-all to Yahoo Sports. "Tom's gonna come out of the meeting and say I’m the problem, that I’m the one confusing them and blame it all on me."

And then Hanson says Cable delivered said blame with a body-slam into the furniture, death threats and enough f-bombs for a Scorsese movie.
Hanson is speaking publicly for the first time since the alleged brawl at Raiders' training camp, and gave a lengthy and detailed version of events to Yahoo! Sports. Hanson says a brewing interpersonal conflict between coach Cable and himself came to a head the night of Aug. 4, with Cable blowing his top and throwing Hanson's body across a room and into a cabinet.

"He was screaming, ‘I’ll f——- kill you! I’ll f——- kill you!’ And I have no reason to believe he wouldn’t have killed me if they hadn’t pulled him away," Hanson said. "If my head would’ve hit a different way, I might be dead right now.”

Make no mistake. Those are the words of a man who is a plaintiff in a pending lawsuit.

Hanson also names names by telling who was in the room. He says defensive coordinator John Marshall and defensive assistants Lionel Washington and Willie Brown were present.  He says they had to pull the enraged Cable off of Hanson. Marshall confirmed he had been interviewed by Napa Police, but told Yahoo! Sports, "I can’t talk about any of this."

Hanson actually wore a Raider jersey to his interview session with Yahoo! Sports. Despite having his face allegedly rearranged by the Raiders' coach, Randy Hanson still remains a fan.

The Napa County DA's office is deciding whether to file charges.