PRESS CONFERENCE TENTATIVELY PLANNED FOR 5:00 P.M. EDT

We’re told that Raiders Al Davis will meet with the media at 5:00 p.m. EDT on Tuesday. If, that is, Davis ultimately decides to meet with the media at all. As we understand it a final decision (for now) on the fate of coach Lane Kiffin and his in-house replacement will be made on Tuesday morning local time. Meanwhile, we’ve heard that it’s possible Monday’s meetings between Kiffin and three offensive assistants focused only on strategy and not on whether one of the three men with whom Davis spoke -- Greg Knapp, Tom Cable, and Paul Hackett -- would be best suited to take over for Kiffin. But, frankly, that doesn’t mean much to us. If Davis hasn’t decided whether to replace Kiffin with one of his three assistants, would Davis come right out and say that the meetings were intended to determine whether the men could replace Kiffin? In our view, Davis would be more inclined to have a dialogue with the men, and to base his decision on the substance and the form of their answers to his questions about the running game or pass blocking or trying a 76-yard field goal. Besides, if Davis were going to talk X’s and O’s in an effort to improve the team after a crushing loss to the Chargers, wouldn’t he also be interested in talking to coaches from the defensive side of the ball? After all, it was the defense that yielded 25 points in the fourth quarter, not the offense. While the only thing that’s clear about this one is that nothing is clear, things are happening that didn’t happen during past phases of the Lane Kiffin termination watch.