National Football League

Raiders left to try to reach smaller goals

Published Dec. 27, 2010 10:56 p.m. ET

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Now that their playoff hopes are officially extinguished, the Oakland Raiders are left looking to achieve much smaller goals.

A season-ending victory in Kansas City on Sunday would end a streak of seven straight losing seasons and give Oakland (7-8) its first perfect record in the AFC West since 1976. Those are just consolation prizes now for a team that believed it was good enough to win the division.

''Our goal was to go to the playoffs and give ourselves a shot to move on from there,'' offensive lineman Robert Gallery said. ''It's a step forward from where we've been in the past but I don't think anybody feels good about where we're at right now.''

The Raiders will be left out of the playoffs once again, having been eliminated by Kansas City's 34-14 victory Sunday that wrapped up early in the first quarter of Oakland's home finale.

The Raiders went on to lose 31-26 to Indianapolis, ending any chance at a winning season.

So instead of having a playoff showdown against the Chiefs (10-5) in Kansas City, the Raiders will end the season with essentially a meaningless game. A win would give the Raiders series sweeps against division rivals San Diego, Denver and Kansas City and make Oakland the first team since the start of division play to win every division game and not finish first.

''It would be nice go in there and try to give them their first home loss and all that, sweep the division,'' defensive lineman Tommy Kelly said. ''It's kind of hollow but, we achieved a goal but we didn't get the ultimate goal. So that's still kind of hard to swallow right there.''

There were many signs of progress this season for the Raiders, who had their most wins since winning the AFC championship in 2002. The offense improved by leaps under new coordinator Hue Jackson and quarterback Jason Campbell. Oakland has scored 379 points already this season, the eighth most ever by the franchise and most since 2002.

Darren McFadden has emerged as the big-play back the Raiders expected when they picked him fourth overall in 2008, with 1,157 yards rushing, 47 catches and 10 touchdowns.

Oakland has gotten big contributions from a rookie class that includes two defensive starters in middle linebacker Rolando McClain and defensive lineman Lamarr Houston, starting left tackle Jared Veldheer, and game-breaking receiver-returner Jacoby Ford, who has returned three kicks for touchdowns.

The Raiders lost only three games by double figures all season, a stark difference from a year ago, when they lost five games by at least 20 points and two others by more than 10.

Some of those close losses still haunt the Raiders, who lost 24-23 at Arizona when Sebastian Janikowski missed a 32-yard field goal, had chances late against Houston and San Francisco and gave up the winning score in Jacksonville with 1:34 remaining.

''We're really close,'' linebacker Quentin Groves said. ''You look at the San Fran game, you look at the Arizona game, we could have easily had two wins right there. You look at the Jacksonville game, that's another big win we could have had. So, we're right there on the threshold of being a great team and a team to be reckoned with in this league.''

There is still uncertainty whether coach Tom Cable will be back for a third full season. His contract is up next month, although the Raiders hold an option to bring him back in 2011.

Sunday's game will be Cable's 44th since taking over for the fired Lane Kiffin on an interim basis in 2008, a mark only two coaches have reached since Tom Flores moved to the front office after the 1987 season. But he's still looking for his first playoff berth.

''It's a process to get there,'' he said. ''This week is just the last step for this year, and that is to go out and win a game and finish the season 8-8, stop the losing record thing that has kind of been chasing this organization for a number of years as well as complete the sweep in the division. I think that would be a heck of a deal for our football team and launch us into the future and the next year.''

The Raiders went 4-8 with Cable as an interim coach in 2008, then were 5-11 last season, when JaMarcus Russell's struggles at quarterback held the franchise back. Oakland followed that up with at least seven wins this season.

Punter Shane Lechler, one of the last ties to Oakland's division championship teams in 2000-02, said it would be a ''huge setback'' if Cable does not return.

''We've invested so much of our time and there's been so much commitment starting from the day he took over. Not only this year,'' Lechler said. ''He had a plan. The plan is working. It would be a terrible disappointment if there was a change because he's the guy for this job.''

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