Moss to Interview with Raiders

I know I've already used this picture before when speaking of Winston Moss, but let's be honest, there aren't a lot of pictures of Winston Moss out there. I bring him up again because it seems he is filling a role I was afraid he might: This year's hot minority candidate as teams try to comply with the Rooney Rule.

Moss, the only major coach on the Packers defensive coaching staff that survived the purge, is set to talk to the Oakland Raiders about their head coaching position. Could the Raiders have a genuine interest in Moss, or are they just hoping to meet the standards of a rule that has good intentions but hasn't had the results it hoped for? According to ProFootballTalk, it could be the former:

By interviewing Moss, the Raiders will be in compliance with the Rooney Rule, which requires at least one minority candidate to be interviewed for each head-coaching vacancy. The Raiders, however, would be one of the last teams to suspect of conducting narrow-minded, non-inclusive job searches. They had an African-American head coach (Art Shell) long before the movement to compel consideration for minority candidates gathered steam, and their Chief Executive (Amy Trask) is one of the only females in any position of significance with any NFL franchise.

Still, even though I am trying to give up gambling in '09, I'm still willing to bet that Moss doesn't get the gig. In fact, there are reports that Tom Cable will retain his head coaching title, only minus the interim label. And to make this story more interesting, Ed Donatell could be the defensive coordinator!

Either way, best of luck to Winston Moss. It doesn't look he'll get the Rams job, and the Raiders job doesn't seem likely either. We know he'll get a head coaching job sometime in the future, I'm just not sure it will be this year.