ALAMEDA, Calif. – The Oakland Raiders were given the day off Friday, one day after winning for the first time this season and ending their 16-game losing streak. Interim coach Tony Sparano, however, kept his same schedule and was back at the team’s facilities early in the morning breaking down film long before the sun began to rise.

Though the Raiders were eliminated from playoff contention long ago and don’t play again until Nov. 30, when they fly to St. Louis, Sparano saw no reason to change his daily routine. A quick stop to grab a cup of coffee on the way to work qualified as a highlight of his morning.

“I was the first person at Starbucks this morning, I’ll put it that way,” Sparano said. “I left the house at 4:30 and I was in here this morning. But I have every intention of walking out of this building today when the sun is still up, hopefully.”

Many of Oakland’s players have credited Sparano for keeping things together after general manager Reggie McKenzie fired head coach Dennis Allen after the team’s 0-4 start.

The soft-spoken Sparano has repeatedly deflected the attention onto the players for anything positive they’ve done since he took over, and was in that same mode following the stunning 24-20 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night.

But he was unable to shrink from the spotlight in the team’s locker room afterward when left tackle Donald Penn handed Sparano a game ball.

“I have gotten some game balls before [and] quite honestly, probably none more meaningful than that one,” Sparano said. “I say that because of what this team has been through and how far we’ve had to come; and how much the guys have stayed together in that locker room. But really, they’re the ones that deserve the game balls. Our owner, our GM, those people and all of our fans that were out there last night. It was fun last night to go out to dinner and see Oakland Raider fans out there last night with a smile on their face. It was good.”

The Raiders won’t resume practicing until Monday. Bet that Sparano will be up in his office long before then.