The Raiders, you remember, dug a hole in the ground and buried a football after they fired coach Dennis Allen five weeks ago. It was a symbolic move by interim coach Tony Sparano, putting the first four losses underground and starting over with a new life and purpose.

Well, Sparano has now lost four games himself. There are no plans for the 0-8 Raiders to bury any footballs or players this week.

Sparano was asked Monday how this 0-4 team was different than the first one, Allen’s?

“I don’t know, I guess you guys have to answer that,” Sparano said. “I know how it’s different.”

Well, the Raiders have clearly been more competitive. Oakland lost its first four games — against teams with a combined record of 17-18 — by an average of 13 points. They were blown out twice, against Houston and in London against Miami.

Under Sparano, the Raiders have lost the four games — against teams with a combined record of 22-11 — by an average margin of 7.5 points. Oakland hasn’t been embarrassed in any of those four games, and in fact have been within a touchdown entering the fourth quarter in all of them.

Players praise Sparano’s fire and motivational techniques, and he thinks they have definitely gotten better at bouncing back after a bad play. They’re a tougher bunch now.

“In situations where an error occurs or a penalty occurs or something to that effect happens, I think our guys’ response to that has been better,” Sparano said. “I think their response has been much better, and what I mean by that is the next play it doesn’t bleed over, we can stop the bleeding a little bit easier.”

Sparano also said the collective effort has improved.

“The effort right now out there has been tremendous,” Sparano said. “There are not many plays in that game that I can turn on that I can watch and think that, ‘Hey, there’s a lack of effort here. This guy is not playing hard on this play.’ That wasn’t the case either.”

Sparano and the rest of Allen’s coaching staff have also made some X’s and O’s changes. The playbooks were shrunk down, and safety Charles Woodson was brought down to play more in the box and shore up the run defense. They started throwing the ball to the tight end.

The run defense has been the biggest improvement in the Sparano era, as the Raiders have gone from giving up 158.3 yards a game under Allen to 106.5 the last four.

(In fairness to Allen, middle linebacker Miles Burris was terrible the first month replacing the injured Nick Roach, and he has gotten better the more familiar he gets with his new role. And outside linebacker Sio Moore missed two games under Allen. Rookie Khalil Mack, meanwhile, has also become an impact player after getting his feet wet the first two or three games. And Seahawks castoff Benson Mayowa has been a big improvement over now-injured LaMarr Woodley the last three games.)

Oakland still can’t sack the quarterback, with four sacks in each set of four games, or intercept a pass, as they are also second-to-last in the NFL in that category, with 3 overall.

Offensively, the Raiders are scoring more points, 78 under Sparano to 51 under Allen, and averaging 37 more yards a game. They still can’t run the ball, though Darren McFadden has been a little better the last four games, increasing his yards per carry from 3.4 under Allen to 3.9 under Sparano.

Rookie quarterback Derek Carr had four touchdowns and four interceptions his first four games, and 7 and 3 his last four. The handcuffs are still on a little, but Carr’s yards per attempt have gone up from a pitiful 5.52 the first four games to 6.2.

The only real negative in Sparano’s column (besides the run blocking of his own offensive line group … and that fake field goal pass by Matt Schaub) is the number of penalties. The Raiders had 24 for 173 yards under Allen, and have 32 for 265 yards in four games under Sparano.

So … all told, Mark Davis’ and Reggie McKenzie’s move to fire Allen after four games was a good one.

The Raiders are better for it, though Sparano understands if fans aren’t doing cartwheels in the parking lot over it.

“When you’re 0-8, I get it,” said Sparano, whose team hosts the 6-2 Broncos Sunday. “There’s not a lot to be proud of if you’re a fan, maybe, sitting out there looking at it saying, ‘Hey, they’re 0-8.’ I understand that. This business is about wins.”