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For Raiders, 'just win, baby' has turned into 'just cut it loose'
By Chris Chase
It's every bit a part of the Raiders mystique as the black and silver uniforms, the roughneck players and fans in the Black Hole. Al Davis has created many a slogan that his Raiders teams were to adhere to, but the signature one was simple. "Just win, baby."
Now a new slogan has inspired the revived Oakland Raiders: "Just cut it loose."
The four-word phrase began when coach Tom Cable saw his team worrying too much about mistakes. Quarterback Jason Campbell(notes), in particular, wouldn't let interceptions or sacks or poor throws go by without overanalyzing them. So Cable told him to just cut it loose.
He told the New York Times that the phrase works for the whole team. "I got you," Cable tells his players. "I'm with you. Really, just stop worrying about things."
The team has responded. After posting the worst record in the NFL since 2003 (that was the year after the Raiders went to the Super Bowl), Oakland has been the surprise of the NFL, starting 5-4 and in the midst of a three-game winning streak. The team is over .500 for the first time since that Super Bowl season.
Cable says Al Davis has taken to the new phrase. How could he not? For seven years the team has been one of the NFL's laughingstocks. Turned out they just needed to cut loose in order to get back to just winning, baby.
By Chris Chase
It's every bit a part of the Raiders mystique as the black and silver uniforms, the roughneck players and fans in the Black Hole. Al Davis has created many a slogan that his Raiders teams were to adhere to, but the signature one was simple. "Just win, baby."
Now a new slogan has inspired the revived Oakland Raiders: "Just cut it loose."
The four-word phrase began when coach Tom Cable saw his team worrying too much about mistakes. Quarterback Jason Campbell(notes), in particular, wouldn't let interceptions or sacks or poor throws go by without overanalyzing them. So Cable told him to just cut it loose.
He told the New York Times that the phrase works for the whole team. "I got you," Cable tells his players. "I'm with you. Really, just stop worrying about things."
The team has responded. After posting the worst record in the NFL since 2003 (that was the year after the Raiders went to the Super Bowl), Oakland has been the surprise of the NFL, starting 5-4 and in the midst of a three-game winning streak. The team is over .500 for the first time since that Super Bowl season.
Cable says Al Davis has taken to the new phrase. How could he not? For seven years the team has been one of the NFL's laughingstocks. Turned out they just needed to cut loose in order to get back to just winning, baby.
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