Obi Wan Raider
“…………Ah, I think I Did Alright………..”
“…..Ah in the beginning I was taking what was there…… they ran some things scheme wise that kinda forced us to take check downs and the scheme made some of our check down receivers stay in to help block ………… there are some things that I can’t control …………………. Ah, but ah, other than that I think that I did alright you know……..” What in the name of everything is holy would make this kid think that his performance was alright. Now I know that some of you are going to say that the receivers didn’t help him out enough and while I will not disagree with ANY of you on that aspect the bottom line is he is the QB. JaMarcus Russell is the starting quarterback for the Oakland Raiders, he is the $64,000,000 man, and he is the one that is the leader offensively on the field. It does not matter what kind of scheme that they were throwing out there at you, 61 yards passing is beyond putrid, beyond unacceptable, beyond mediocrity, beyond worthy of the fan base that always shells out it’s hard-earned money to come and watch this excuse of a product.
I drink the “kool-aide” most of the time just like most of us in THE RAIDER NATION, but this time boys and girls, I‘d rather drink the freaking molten lava that flowed from Pompeii’s or Mt. St Helen’s violent eruptions as that death would be a quicker and arguably less painful death than what we fans have been accustomed to over the last 6 plus years now. At some point it has to dawn on JaMarcus, Coach Cable and Al Davis that a change must be made. If Cable doesn’t have the foresight to make said change than all that talk of “……..it’s being done my way……I have total control and input in regards to the roster……. It’s a competition….” is all nonsense. No matter how you dress up a steaming pile of elephant dung it still stinks!!! With the amount of money that is being “invested” in JaMarcus we should have seen more than brief flashes of light as return on that sizeable investment. How much longer must we wait to see if he will turn the corner and become in his 3rd year what we see from Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco in their first and second years?
The patience of THE RAIDER NATION is beyond worn thin with this kid. We are tired of hearing about potential. We are tired of hearing, “…this is the year for Russell to make it happen.” We are tired of hearing that he has had three different offensive systems in his head since coming into the league. Hell Jason Campbell has had 4 different OC’s, had to worry about being traded, cut and having someone else rumored to be brought in to take his job and he has done a far better job than Russell. Frankly we are tired of hearing JaMarcus Russell is our starting quarterback. Seriously now, 61 yards passing with those lofty numbers screw it, put Gradkowski or even Frye in as it can only be an improvement! In Church on Sunday our Pastor said these words that ring ever so true “Potential is a blessing that has yet to be realized and cultivated to fruition!”
My RAIDER brethren it’s time for a changing of the proverbial guard here at the QB spot. I say that they need to let Gradkowski start at least the first half of the Houston game. With the QB performance that Russell put forth on Sunday against the hated Broncos, I loath even watching this game. Houston is a team that should be totally destroyed by us. You take away Andre Johnson with Nnamdi and what do they have? Nothing really, no big names, no big contracts yet they can manage more points on the board than us. Who among us really believes that JaMarcus and the team is going to bounce back offensively? Ten, maybe twenty of us at most? If JaMarcus sits there and throws for 300+ yards 4 TD’s and the win than I will give him an “Atta boy” but he needs to do it consistently and not just for one damn game. If he were in any other field of employment he would have been given his walking papers a long time ago. In tough financial times like these where people are losing their jobs, homes, cars and in some cases their families no one is going to have pity on the $64,000,000 kid that can’t put it together and get the job done.
In the old days as a worker no matter what your trade was you performed subpar work you were put on notice, removed from duty for a short time, retrained while someone more capable did your job and then told this is your last chance get it done or get it out. Well Al, Tom and Paul Hackett its 10 minutes past the official time to remove Russell and replace him with someone more capable and retrain or get rid of the kid. This is a game for men, I long for the days of old when the QB position for the RAIDERS was manned by men that didn’t accept failure, ineptitude, lack luster play and play calling. Plunk, Snake, Gannon and the Mad Bomber controlled the game, executed the plays and changed them when they didn’t work. That’s what we need back. We will not go A N Y W H E R E as a team with out astronomically vast improvement, execution, heart, desire and decision making from the quarterback position.
Game Balls = Janikowski & Lechler
As Always,
Obi-Wan-Raider
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