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Raiders fire Kiffin 4 games into second season

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ALAMEDA, Calif. — The Oakland Raiders fired coach Lane Kiffin on Tuesday just four games into his second year, ending a public feud with owner Al Davis that had been simmering since the start of the season.

"I reached a point where I felt that the whole staff were fractionalized, that the best thing to do to get this thing back was to make a change," Davis said during a lengthy news conference. "It hurts because I picked the guy. I picked the wrong guy."

The Raiders promoted offensive line coach Tom Cable to interim head coach.

Kiffin had a 5-15 record (1-3 in 2008) since being hired last year, losing his final game 28-18 on Sunday to San Diego at home.

The decision to remove Kiffin was more about his frequent criticisms of Davis' franchise than the team's performance. Those critiques reached a peak when Kiffin distanced himself from the defense after a blowout loss in the season opener, saying that was under coordinator Rob Ryan and Davis' control.

During Tuesday's news conference, however, Davis also critiqued several of Kiffin's coaching and personnel decisions. Among other things, he said Kiffin objected to the Raiders using the first pick in the 2007 draft on quarterback JaMarcus Russell.

"I didn't think it was any one thing; it was a cumulative thing," Davis said. "The pattern just disturbed me."

The Raiders said Kiffin was fired for cause, meaning they will likely try not to pay him for the remainder of his contract. He signed a three-year deal worth about $6 million when he took over last year.

Cable is regarded as one of the top offensive line coaches in the game, and worked with successful units in Atlanta and Oakland. He spent four years as a college head coach at Idaho, and was also an assistant at UCLA, California and Colorado.

"This is in many ways a strange day," Cable said. "I have a friend who lost a job. That's difficult in this business but, as we know, this is a business. It is time for us to move forward and to put the past behind us. … We have a good coaching staff here and a good football team here."

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tony Gonzalez didn't just want the NFL record for receiving yardage for tight ends. He wanted to set the mark at Arrowhead Stadium.

So when Gonzalez got within 3 yards of the record in Sunday's 33-19 home win over Denver, he began pestering head coach Herm Edwards and tight-ends coach Jon Embree to pass him the ball one more time.

That pass never came. The Chiefs, trying to protect a lead and get their first win of the season, gave the ball to Larry Johnson on their final six offensive plays.

Gonzalez will probably get the record on the road this week when the Chiefs play the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte, N.C. But to him, it won't be the same.

"It will still be the record, but I'm just a little disappointed by that," Gonzalez said Monday. "Not just a little. I'm highly disappointed. I wish I could have gotten it with a win against the Broncos, a home game, my whole family is there. They were going to do a little ceremony and stop the game and stuff.

"I'll get over it. I'm still a little upset about it, but I'll get over it. You can call it selfish if you want, but I don't think it is. It's not about the record. The record is going to come no matter what. It's just that I wanted to do it in front of the fans. I wanted to do it at home. I wanted to do it against the Broncos, our rivals. It was a good situation to go and get it done. I felt like we had the game won anyway and I could go get a catch real quick."

● Baltimore running back Willis McGahee has a rib injury and his status for the Ravens game against Tennessee on Sunday is unclear. McGahee suffered the injury during Baltimore's 23-20 overtime loss Monday night against the Steelers. He was limited to 1 yard on his only second-half carry after injuring his ribs in the final minutes of the first half.

● Marc Bulger got his job back Tuesday as Rams starting quarterback, the biggest development of new coach Jim Haslett's first full day in charge of the winless team. The highest-paid player in franchise history, who ran the scout team offense last week, also broke his silence. Backup Trent Green started Sunday's 31-14 loss to Buffalo in Scott Linehan's final game as coach. Bulger was back with the starters in practice Tuesday, and Haslett said he will be the starter for the remainder of the season.

● Ricky Williams says he was tempted to smoke marijuana during the Dolphins' bye week, an act that could have ended his roller-coaster career. Williams has been in the league's substance-abuse program since 2002 and has tested positive for marijuana. "But I just thought about what I have to lose, and it was easy. The urge didn't last very long," he said.

● Tailback Cedric Benson signed Tuesday with the Bengals, who were undeterred by two alcohol-related arrests in Texas, which prompted the Bears to let him go.