Art Spander - Sports Commentary

OAKLAND -- He was talking about the team, about the Oakland Raiders. “Ultimately,’’ said Bruce Gradkowski, “we can make this last.’’ He just as well could have been speaking about himself.

Maybe this time, Gradkowski finds permanence as an NFL quarterback. Maybe this time, he ends up on a roster instead of transactions.

“He’s just what a quarterback should be,’’ said Raiders tackle Robert Gallery of Gradkowski. “Confident, has the trust of everybody, because he knows that he’s doing.’’

As opposed to the man he replaced, JaMarcus Russell, who was expected to do what on Sunday Bruce Gradkowski did, lead Oakland to a comeback victory, this one 20-17 over the Cincinnati Bengals.

If the Raiders made a bad choice in Russell, the No. 1 selection in the 2007 NFL draft, they made a wonderful choice in Gradkowski, signed as a free agent after being dismissed by three other teams in the preceding year.

Ultimately, maybe they can make it last, the Raiders and Gradkowski, a team that has been for years wallowing in the lower depths and a quarterback who has to keep proving himself.

There’s some pedigree. The 26-year-old Gradkowski was a star in the same West Pennsylvania high school league as Joe Montana, Dan Marino, Joe Namath and Johnny Unitas. Taken in the sixth round of the 2006 draft by Tampa Bay, he became a starter and then an afterthought, going to St. Louis and Cleveland in an un-merry-go-round.

“That’s how the NFL is,’’ said Gradkowski, who played his college ball at Toledo. “You shift around here and there, and finally you catch on and get a break.’’

Sometimes that depends on whether your receivers catch a ball, which is what two Raider rookies did at very significant times against a Bengals team eight days from a win over the Steelers.

Darrius Heyward-Bey, of whom it was said early on had more names than catches, made a grab of a Gradkowski ball early in the third quarter on a third-and-three play of a drive that culminated with a Sebastian Janikowski field goal.

Later, with Oakland behind 17-10 and only a half-minute remaining, Louis Murphy made a beautiful over-the-shoulder reception and pushed over the goal for a 29-yard touchdown that tied the score.

A Cincinnati fumble on the subsequent kickoff, and a Raider recovery, enabled Janikowski to kick the 33-yard game-winning field goal.

For the first time in four games, the Raiders had a victory. For the first time since the season's opening week, the Raiders had more than one touchdown.

For the first time all season, it seemed the Raiders had a quarterback on whom they could depend.

“He looked pretty good,’’ Raiders coach Tom Cable said of Gradkowski. So, too, did Cable, who after replacing Russell last week for a second straight game made the decision in mid-week to go with Gradkowski in the opening lineup.

“I thought he was too amped up early in the game,’’ said Cable. “But that’s what I expected. He needed to settle down. But after, he was pretty darn good . . . and I don’t know if you can ask for a better closing drive.’’

It was the stuff of Montana, or Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. It started on the Raiders' 20 with 2:12 remaining and included a fourth-and-10 pass for 29 yards to Chaz Schillens. Gradkowski spiked the ball and then threw the ball 29 yards to Murphy.

“He’s pretty calm,’’ Cable said of Gradkowski. “He goes out before a drive and has some thoughts with (the coaches). He knows where he’s headed. He’s into feedback. He’s into it the way you’re supposed to be.’’

Asked why Gradkowski had been signed and waived, signed and waived, Cable said, “You have to get things going right away in this business, very quickly, or you’re not around very long. That’s coaches, players, whatever.’’

Especially you’re if a sixth-rounder. If you’re the first guy taken in the draft and have a $32 million contract, as does JaMarcus Russell, you’re around perhaps longer than you should be.

Gradkowski showed up for the post-game interview dressed as if he going to a Hollywood party, in suit and tie. “Watch out for the glare off my head,’’ he joked, what hair that still remained having been shaved.

He explained that on the tying touchdown, Heyward-Bey was the first option but was covered. “I went through my progression,’’ said Gradkowski, “and saw the defensive back was on top of (Murphy), so I just kind of threw it the back shoulder. He made a great play. But if he didn’t get into the end zone, I was going to give him crap.’’

Something the Raiders had received more than enough of this season, and in recent seasons. But on this day, they were deserving of praise. And Bruce Gradkowski of getting that starting position as an NFL quarterback.