ALAMEDA – Coach Tom Cable has watched film of the misadventure that was the Raiders' botched fake field goal in Sunday's 20-13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Upon further review, Cable has no regrets.
He said kicker Sebastian Janikowski "hurried a little bit," which caused him to mishandle the between-the-legs pitch from holder/punter Shane Lechler. But he understands the backlash he's received after the ball was recovered by Kansas City cornerback Maurice Leggett and returned 67 yards for a touchdown to give the Chiefs a 10-3 second-quarter lead.
"If you take a chance like that and it works, everybody thinks you're a genius," Cable said at Monday's weekly news conference. "When it doesn't (work), everyone wants to chew on your butt. So chew."
Cable believes Janikowski, starting well behind the line of scrimmage, would have been able to run the nearly 20 yards needed to convert the fourth-and-10 situation.
Cable said the play always worked in practice and that the "width" (line spacing) of the Kansas City defender, as well as tight end Tony Stewart being available to block, would have set the play up perfectly.
That made watching film of it even tougher.
"For me it was difficult, because I made that call," Cable said. " … It was set up exactly where we wanted it. They were lined up like we wanted it, and (we) just didn't execute it."
The Raiders will now focus on Thursday night's game against the San Diego Chargers, a team Oakland hasn't beaten in 10 consecutive tries dating to 2003.
Cable said the short week will force his players to quickly put the loss to the Chiefs behind them.
The Chargers are in the midst of their own dreadful season.
After reaching the AFC championship game in January, San Diego is 4-8, just a game ahead of the 3-9 Raiders.
The Raiders will have one full practice today before flying to San Diego on Wednesday.
Players were given Monday off instead of the normal day off today.
"We have a lot of notes from playing them earlier this season," Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said after Sunday's game. "We've just got to go out and get a win. The thing we have to do … is stay together."
Read Jason Jones' Raiders blog at www.sacbee.com/ raidersblog.
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