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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted at 12:12 a.m., Tuesday, December 2, 2008

NFL: Raider coach Cable mulls botched fake FG attempt

By JOSH DUBOW
AP Sports Writer

ALAMEDA, Calif. — When interim coach Tom Cable watched the film from the Oakland Raiders' latest loss, there was one play that was particularly hard to relive.

It was the botched fake field goal that turned three points for Oakland into seven for Kansas City during a 20-13 loss on Sunday that assured the Raiders of their sixth straight losing season.

"For me, it was difficult, because I made that call," Cable said Monday. "It was set up exactly where we wanted it. They were lined up like we wanted it, and just didn't execute it. As I mentioned yesterday, full responsibility rests on my shoulders for that."

The play in question came early in the second quarter when the Raiders were lining up for a 43-yard field goal by Sebastian Janikowski. Cable called for the fake on fourth-and-10, giving the instructions to Janikowski, holder Shane Lechler and tight end Tony Stewart.

The rest of the team wasn't told so as not to tip off the Chiefs. After Kansas City lined up the way the Raiders had thought, the fake was on.

Jon Condo snapped the ball to Lechler, who then flipped it through his legs to Janikowski, who was running behind him. Maurice Leggett came in off the edge and was in position to scoop up the ball when Janikowski ran too fast upfield. Leggett ran 67 yards for a touchdown that gave the Chiefs a 10-3 lead.

"The guy played up the field like we thought he would. We just didn't handle the ball exchange," Cable said. "Just hurried a little bit at kicker, that's all. I think the pitch was fine in terms of where he was supposed to be, and all that. Just hurried it up a little bit too much."

The Raiders had practiced that play almost every week for the past two years, usually running it during special teams practice on Thursdays and Fridays, and also doing it even more with just Condo, Lechler and Janikowski.

"We never really had a problem with it," Condo said. "We put it in last year. It's something to mess around with. We were just waiting for the right time to run it."

After the Raiders were forced to settle for a field goal on their first drive Sunday, Cable thought the time had come as he tried to find a spark for an offense that has scored just one first-half touchdown all season.

Cable had successfully run a fake punt in his second game as interim coach, helping to beat the New York Jets 16-13 in overtime. He said Monday he had no regrets about deciding to run this fake on Sunday.

"It worked every time, and that's the shame of it all," he said. "But it's like I mentioned a few weeks ago, if you take a chance like that and it works, everybody thinks you're a genius. When it doesn't everyone wants to chew on your butt. So chew."

The play came as a surprise to most of the Raiders who weren't on the field and were expecting Janikowski to make a kick to give them a 6-3 lead. Then they heard the shocked reaction from the crowd and saw Leggett running the ball back and knew something was up.

"We do that in practice all the time, but I never knew that it was a real thing that we were going to attempt," cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said. "When they told me that's what happened, that it wasn't a blocked field goal, I was a little surprised."