Hall not looking for revenge vs. Falcons

For the record, cornerback DeAngelo Hall is not getting hyped to thrash the Falcons this week.

Hall couldn’t wait to get out of Atlanta last year, a fact he pretty much broadcast to the world until the Falcons traded him to the Raiders in March. Now it has the pleasing gurgle of water under the bridge.

“I got nothing to prove,” Hall said Monday. “They know who I am, I know who they are. I have nothing to prove to them. I don’t have a chip on my shoulder, nothing.”

Hall had his best game as a Raider on Sunday, recovering a fumble, breaking up three passes and mostly covering like the stud this team thought it was getting when it signed him to a lucrative contract extension after the trade.

Hall was victimized repeatedly over the first three or four games this season. Monday, he admitted it took him some time to get used to the precise assignments in which coordinator Rob Ryan places his defenders.

“Every scheme I’ve been in has kind of allowed me to do what I like to do,” Hall noted. “But being here, I almost have to do what I’m told. And like I said, it can be a little bit frustrating at times. Two-time Pro Bowler, you know, 20 picks in my career, it’s kind of hard to be told what to do.”

Hall’s tone made those words sound more like an explanation than a gripe, and he quickly followed up by saying: “I’m buying into it, feel like it’s working. Ain’t got no complaints, as long as it’s working.”

Coach Tom Cable is happy to see signs of the shut-down corner he knew when both were in Atlanta two years ago.

“His confidence is back up,” Cable said. “I think early on we may have asked him to play a little more off coverage and those types of things, but that’s not really his personality, that’s now who he is. He wants to be up on you, challenge you. ... I think (Sunday), hopefully, is a vision of what the future holds.”

SOMETHING UP HIS SLEEVE

Joe Flacco, Baltimore’s rookie quarterback, showed surprising speed and athletic ability when he split wide left and caught a 43-yard pass from Troy Smith on Sunday. But little did we know his secret weapon: According to Raiders backup QB Andrew Walter, Flacco’s right arm is “like twice as big as his left.”

Someone had tipped off Walter to the rookie’s curious anatomy before the game. After the Raiders’ loss, he sought out Flacco to get a better look and confirmed the asymmetry. Walter is hoping it doesn’t become a trend. “Tennis players are like that, because all they do is serve,” he said. “But not quarterbacks.”

DIVISION AND CONQUEST

The Raiders looked anything like contenders as they fell to the Ravens 29-10 on Sunday. But San Diego and Kansas City lost, too, and Denver had a bye.

“Nothing really changed,” Cable observed. “So here we are kind of setting where we were when we went into this weekend.”

In other words, despite reeling at 2-5, Cable’s team hasn’t given up on winning the surprisingly hapless AFC West. The Broncos are 4-3, but have lost three of their past four. Norv Turner’s Chargers are 3-5, and the Chiefs are even worse than the Raiders at 1-6.

Cable isn’t afraid to broach the subject of winning the division.

“We talked about it today,” he said. “Why wouldn’t you talk about it? It’s anybody’s deal right now. I don’t think you can put it out of your mind, because if you don’t ultimately have that as your prize, then what are you doing this for? And yet, right now, the most important thing is the process to get there. I mean, let’s be real about that, too. And that’s winning football games.”

CHEAP SHOT DU JOUR

Raiders linebacker Kirk Morrison is participating in the NFL Take a Player to School program today. He’ll pick up Mason Farley in a limo and accompany the third-grade student to Town School for boys in San Francisco, where he will speak during an assembly.

Flacco apparently did his part for the program Sunday, taking NFL player Ricky Brown to school on his catch from the Wildcat formation.

You can reach Staff Writer Phil Barber at 521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com.