In the aftermath of the Oakland Raiders loss, and JaMarcus Russell's second benching in the last three games, his hold on the starting quarterback position has become quite tenuous. Tom Cable would not commit to starting Russell on Sunday when the Bengals come into Oakland. This is a large fall for the former first overall pick in the draft.
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(AP Photo/ Paul Sakuma)
Russell entered the season as the anointed starter despite struggling during the offseason camps. His struggles have continued into the season, and the numbers represent the cold reality that is ranked among the worst quarterbacks in the league.
In passing yards, Russell is ranked #30 in the NFL ahead of only Shaun Hill and Derek Anderson. Hill was benched for former first round bust and Anderson came on for a benched Brady Quinn. Meanwhile, Russell has started nine games and amassed only 1,067 yards. The two quarterbacks ranked immediately ahead of him are Kerry Collins who has sat for two weeks and Chad Henne who took over for an injured Chad Pennington. What this means is that out of the bottom five in yards passion, only JaMarcus Russell has started every game of the 2009 campaign.
Russell's 46.8 completion percentage places him at second worst in the NFL ahead of only Anderson. Those are the only two qualifying quarterbacks who have a season wide percentage that is under 50%. Russell is also ahead of only Anderson in quarterback rating. He is tied with Anderson for last with two touchdowns.
The numbers paint an ugly picture, even though they don't tell the full story, but they are indicative of the reasons that Cable has reached the point where he is ready to consider replacing his young signal caller. It is a move whose time has come. Cable laid it on the line in his press conference today, "If he remains the starter he's got to understand the responsibility that comes with that position. You can't go out time and time again and consistently be that inaccurate, not have command like you need to in this league. That's a very critical position in the National Football League. It has to be great, or at least close to it all the time."
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After he was benched on Sunday, Russell said, "Really can’t explain it. I really don’t know what to say about it, but that was his decision, and just move on from it."
Russell's inability to see the rationale behind the decision for his replacement is symptomatic of the issues he is having. The quarterback has to be the leader on and off the field, and Russell is not showing that leadership. Following Sunday's game, Cable described the reason for the benching, "The two plays prior to that we misread it. Both of them were wide open. That was enough." Today, Cable said, "I explained to him when I took him out of the game on the sideline, the last two throws were all over the place. Just a number of mental errors and misreads and so made the change and it is what it is."
This is the second game out of the last three where Russell did not finish. He was also yanked against the Jets in the midst of the Raiders 38-0 loss. When Russell was pulled during that game, it was already out of reach and Russell had been directly responsible for three turnovers. That could be construed as sending a message to Russell. However, Russell had no fumbles or interceptions and at the time he was benched, it was a three point game. This was a much louder statement, because he was putting the ball in the hands of Bruce Gradkowski instead of Russell.
Cable had stood with Russell through the first half of the season because of his potential, "I think the fact that I see him every day. The fact that I see his talent and what I think he's capable of. I think in simple terms, it's that word 'potential' that I'm thinking about. And want to give him every opportunity to succeed."
Cable indicated that Charlie Frye would be in the mix with Russell and Gradkowski. Cable was effusive in his praise of Frye who was a late addition who played well during the preseason. "The thing about Charlie is here's a guy, he's gym rat. He's always around, he's always studying. He's a lot like a coach. Sunday morning the guy could really tell you every detail probably about everything that's going on with your offensive linemen to his position. I think we're really blessed to have him. I think what he does every week is come out and works and works and works, performs well, with the look team, and certainly he deserves to be part of this discussion."
On Wednesday, Coach Cable will announce whether it will be Russell, Frye, or Gradkowski under center for the Raiders. Even if it is Russell that starts, he will know that he is on a short leash. If he doesn't respond, the word bust will be fully earned.
You can also find Patrick Patterson on Thoughts from the Dark Side.
Comments
has anyone seen that game? did you guys count the amount of drop passes? dhb would've scored. also, the tripping call that negated the murphy catch. Russell is to blame for this? comon man. go suck an egg.
Russell would of completed 70% if it weren't for the drops. What about the outrageously bad playcalling? Cable called 4 seams and a check down one play, screens and wildcat instead of what was working (bush). And its Jamarcus fault? How can you execute plays that suck loads? Get Cable out of here, his playbook is as complex as a pop warner team. Season is over with fatass calling plays.
Start Jamrarcus on Sunday. If he does bad put in Frye. If recievers drop ONE pass, sub them. PLEASE
To spartan and eks, Russell can't get his job done deal with it. It's not just the last game, it's since he started in this league. Coach Cable doesn't call a great game because Russell is too dumb to handle it so cable has to shorten the playbook to accomodate his Qb. He still can't read a defense for beans and all of his completions were 1 for 15 yds, 1 for 12, the rest were 9,6,3,3,1 etc. He can,t do the job! He earned his spot on the bench!
It's like this!!
You take your kid for a drive around the block to evaluate his or her driving ability, when they've EARNED your trust and show competence, your comfortable givin them the keys to the car and then they learn a little as they go after they have proved they are responsible enuff be trusted..
Moral of the story.....
Put that helmet back on Jamarcus and put him right back on that short bus he arrived in and send him back to the swamps, he's not smart enuff to drive or operate anything but a seatbelt on the shortbus!!!!
Do you idiots really think this retard has the ability to lead your team to a superbowl???? Maybe your team but not the Raiders!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well put mike!!!!!
RAAAAAIIIIIDDDEEERRRRSSSSSSS!!!!!
raiders need to just lose every other game to better our draft this seasons lost any how then get some recievers who can catch a ball we would have won most of our games if even some halfway good recievers
Russell has not heart, Put in Charlie Frye at least he has heart and desire. Replace Bey with Murphy.
Russell has no heart, Put in Charlie Frye at least he has heart and desire. Replace Bey with Murphy.
Mike is right but for the amount of money they are paying him, they need to be absolutely sure before they bench him for good. It is not easy to admit you made a 30 million dollar mistake. As I said yesterday, start Grad this week after working with the ones all week. If he does not work out then give Frye a shot. Between the two, we may have a future starter. For my money, Russell should have been long gone. With Hackett coaching him and this is the finished product, he is a bust. Let see what we have at the position so we know were we stand for next year. Next year, I promise to draft FOOTBALL players.
Russell should have been pulled in several other games and was not. So why pull him when the raiders are down by 3 and his receivers can't catch? Bad coaching by a bad coach. Horrible play calling by a horrible play caller. We are not going anywhere. Gradkowski is not the solution. Neither is frye. Garcia would have been hurt by week 3, so enough about him.
Cable is a clueless moron. What happened to the power running game that was going to protect the young qb? Russell is a bust, but so is the entire Raider coaching staff. Al hired these buffoons, so al is too blame as well. I have zero confidence in this thing getting turned around anytime soon.
Russell has no heart, he is all stomach!!!!!
There were also a lot of plays where the guy was wide open and Russell missed them completely..a lot of drops yes,but a lot of throws every pro qb in the league can make,but he cant!..NOT JUST THAT GAME..EVERY GAME!!
Just look at Heyward-Bey, he messes up and it kills him...Russell messes up and he thinks he's doing pretty good? Heyward-Bey will earn his way up, while Jamarcus just floats along to a bust!
We don't need a higher draft pick. That hasn't worked 5 out of the last 6 years. We need to trade or first for a proven player, then start drafting in the second(that's when we have been doing our best work).
Make Russell the back up the rest of the year. Give him a chance to COMPETE for #1 next year. If he doesn't win it then go with someone else again. Who cares about money. We are paying them both anyway, may as well have the best one start.
forget thi year .get our old raiders old coch gourdon .and trade the babe russel .he isno good he still act like he is in fu...
school . even put chilly in his bot hole .stile same crap .get a
all new staff and some new good raiders lover.we have lot of talent . no good leaders .give a milk and send a russelll to his mother
GOT STICKUM ? "lESTER HAYES" ? TRY ANYTHING AT THIS POINT!!!!
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