JaMarcus blows his second act

OAKLAND -- A few days earlier, the lilt and the optimism had returned. JaMarcus Russell, the disappointment, faced the media and the music.

“There’s better days to come,’’ Russell finally said of his earlier demotion from the starting lineup. “Just move on with it.’’

What a great introduction for his second act, whenever that might arrive. JaMarcus was dealing with his failings, dealing with reality, understanding that when you’re the No. 1 pick in the draft, when you’ve been given a contract guaranteeing $31 million, the demands are high and patience short.

The opportunity arrived Sunday, in the gloom and rain of the Oakland Coliseum. Bruce Gradkowski, who had taken over, and successfully, for Russell a month earlier, went down with medial cartilage damage in both knees. Now, unexpectedly, the Oakland Raiders again were JaMarcus’ team.

He couldn’t produce. It wasn’t only Russell’s fault. The Raider offensive line couldn’t block. But when Gradkowski left, Oakland still was in the game, trailing 17-10 at the half. And then, seemingly becoming dispirited and definitely becoming disoriented, the Raiders collapsed.

Maybe it was the incessant booing from the announced crowd of 44,506, Raider fans already deciding Russell would be their target, especially when his passes can’t find their target. Maybe it was the situation, and the O-line, JaMarcus getting sacked six times, when Gradkowski only got nailed twice. Maybe it’s JaMarcus Russell, who in his third season gives no indication he’ll ever be a competent NFL quarterback, no matter his salary or ranking in the draft.

With Russell in there, the Raiders were out of there, eventually getting beat 34-13 by the Washington Redskins, one of the few teams with a record worse than Oakland’s. Until the game. Now both are 4-9. And now the questions about Russell’s progress are even more unavoidable.

JaMarcus just can’t escape the rush. He takes too long to find a receiver. He is immobile. And, of course, added to the problem, he plays for the Raiders, a franchise destined to have an 11-loss season for a seventh consecutive season.

“I thought it was a tough situation,’’ Raiders coach Tom Cable said of JaMarcus. “Could he have done better? Probably, but everybody could have.’’

Indeed, this was a team loss. Eight sacks in all. Fourteen penalties for 118 yards, two of those, each at 15 -- one for not giving enough space for a fair catch of a punt, the second for arguing the call -- at the same time late in the second quarter.

The 30 yards moved the Redskins from the spot of the catch, their own 10, to their own 40. In four plays, they swept to the touchdown that broke a 10-10 tie and seemingly broke what little resistance the Raiders had presented before that sequence.

“We had the opportunity to take another step forward,’’ said Cable, alluding to last Sunday’s upset of the Steelers and a blown chance to notch a second straight victory in 2009.

“We did not do that. We had too many penalties. There was not enough flow offensively. Defensively we struggled in the first half, and then we were never able to come back, make a stand, do anything in the second half.’’

Which is the half JaMarcus Russell played quarterback, throwing 16 passes, completing 10 for 74 yards, having the obligatory interception and, of course, getting sacked those six times for 52 yards.

Yes, Cable conceded, there was a discussion about pulling Russell and bringing in the third-stringer, Charlie Frye, meaning Russell could not return. But the Raiders stayed the course to oblivion.

When Gradkowski became the starter three weeks ago and the Raiders surprised the Bengals, the Raiders were uplifted. This guy, they implied, gives them the know-how and the electricity. He makes the other players better, as do all good quarterbacks.

When Russell moved in for the third quarter, the life went out of the Raiders. Maybe it was more perception than actuality, but it appeared they knew they were doomed. Which they were. Cable said he has confidence in “whoever we put out there or you can’t put them out there,’’ but do those on the field have confidence with JaMarcus?

“I think the guy can succeed,’’ Cable said of Russell. “I’ve not ever said he couldn’t.’’

Whether he means that is hard to discern. The fans may have given up on Russell -- you almost feel sorry for the way he’s treated -- but Raider management hasn’t. At least on the record. You think they’re going to stand up and say, “Sorry, folks, we were wrong’’?

Russell didn’t say anything after the game. He fled before the media entered the locker room.

Cable said the Raiders need to get “Russell where he needs to be,’’ and no, that isn’t on the sideline.

“Every quarterback is different,’’ Cable said. “Some guys get it quicker. Some guys take longer. We just have to keep working, helping him get where he wants to be. It’s a difficult position to play in this league.’’

For JaMarcus Russell, unfortunately, so far it’s an impossible position.

RealClearSports: Is JaMarcus a $68 Million Bust?

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

OAKLAND -- Unable to invest with Bernie Madoff, management of the Oakland Raiders instead put money into JaMarcus Russell of Louisiana State University, apparently with the same results.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2009

Gradkowski might make it last

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.

Will it ever work for JaMarcus and the Raiders?

By Art Spander

OAKLAND -- He was supposed to the savior, the guy who dragged the Raiders from the mess they’re in, the quarterback who made the right calls and the proper throws. It hasn’t worked that way for JaMarcus Russell, and now, after he was benched a second straight game, you have to wonder if it ever will work.

So many factors, interconnected, inseparable, a bad football team, a questionable offense and then a young man who was the first selection in the draft and thereby supposed to correct the wrongs, supposed to turn the Oakland Raiders into winners.

But after the Raiders were beaten Sunday by one of the NFL’s other bad teams, the Kansas City Chiefs, 16- 10, a team over which Oakland had gained one of its only two victories this season, the future is more ink blot than window to success.

While it’s unforgiving to assign all the blame to JaMarcus -- his receivers offering little or no assistance, head coach Tom Cable counting eight dropped balls that should have been caught -- Russell has a great deal to do with the problem.

Or else Cable, for a second straight home game, wouldn’t have replaced him with Bruce Gradkowski.

And wouldn’t have conceded that he very well might start Gradkowski when the Raiders play Cincinnati next weekend, Cable adding that after watching the films he will have something more to say on that Monday.

Quarterbacks do not all develop at the same rate. Progress is relative. And those with potential invariably are taken by the bottom dwellers, the worst teams, meaning their baptism will be exceedingly painful. And yet it is the how and why of all this that adds to the doubt.

JaMarcus was a star at LSU with an arm able to launch rockets and a body (6-foot-6, 260 pounds , maybe 290) able to take punishment. He lacked finesse, polishing, but the belief was that it would come in the pros. He didn’t lack confidence, or after a long holdout ended and he signed for a $30 million guarantee, was that arrogance? Along with the tools Russell brought an attitude, or so it was perceived, the idea he was someone special. He isn’t.

He’s a struggling kid, the target of boos from a Raider fan base that seems to be shrinking by the week -- attendance at the Coliseum was only 40,720 -- but is not shrinking in its disdain for JaMarcus. Every wild pass was met with vocal derision.

This is JaMarcus’ third year, although he missed most of his rookie season, 2007, and the erratic performances are less baffling than they are irritating. Then again, maybe he’s not at fault -- if indeed he has worked to improve as Cable contends he has, it’s the Raiders who are at fault, for drafting him.

It’s the nature of sports, particularly the NFL, that a team chooses the athlete and then when he doesn’t live up to expectations, and there are no expectations higher than those for the very first pick every year, he gets the criticism, the boos, as opposed to the people who selected him.

Russell comes across as uncaring because he doesn’t scream and yell. He also doesn’t seem to grasp the mistakes, or at least doesn’t admit to them.

“I thought things were going OK at that point,’’ said JaMarcus, who was replaced late in the third quarter. Asked if he were disappointed, Russell said, “Totally. I really can’t explain it. I don’t know what to say. (Cable) said balls were going every which way, but one time my arm was hit when I threw.’’

What Cable said was that Russell, completing only 9 of 24 for 67 yards, misread several throws, two where receivers were unguarded. “It was a matter of game management and accuracy,’’ explained the coach.

It also was a matter of poor hands by his possible receivers or, and this isn’t shocking to anyone familiar with the Raiders, penalties. If Darrius Heyward-Bey or Louis Murphy hang on to a pass or two, maybe JaMarcus stays on the field.

“They affect you,’’ said Russell. “A couple of those aren’t dropped, it’s a totally different game.’’

By the time JaMarcus was taken out, the Raiders’ Shane Lechler had 10 punts, or one more than Russell had pass completions. Eventually, as a team, the Raiders, with Gradkowski going 4-for-7 and also having a couple of long passes dropped, would end with 13 completions. And 11 punts.

Asked if he were disappointed in Russell, Cable responded, “I’m disappointed where we are as a football team. This game is about making plays, and we just didn’t do it, whether it was JaMarcus or Bruce.’’

The Raiders have scored more than one touchdown only in one game this season, opening night. They ranked 32nd, dead last, in the league in offense. The Chiefs were 30th. And now both teams are 2-7.

And now JaMarcus Russell hasn’t finished two of the last three games he started.

“Some guys take longer than others,’’ Cable said, defending Russell. “He’ll get there at some point. He’s a talented guy.’’

But so far one without a clue how to play quarterback in the NFL.

RealClearSports: Cable's Troubles Becoming Unacceptable

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

OAKLAND -- No one's ever judged this region by what might be called normal standards. The Bay Area, Northern California, was settled by Spanish missionaries, who were pushed out by pioneers looking for gold, with a lot of frontier justice on the side.

The edge of the continent may have put a limitation on movement -- this is as far west as you can go without a ship or a surfboard -- but there never has been any limitation on ideas, no matter how irrational or unpopular.

Almost anything is acceptable. Almost.

This situation with the man who coaches the Oakland Raiders has all but reached a point of unacceptability, with people who don't know exactly what happened screaming "Off with his head'' and those in a position to find out the details saying very little.

Oakland is one city south of the Protest Capital of the World, Berkeley, or as the late columnist Herb Caen called it, "Berserkeley.'' It was an Oakland native, Gertrude Stein, who said of the city, upon returning to find her old home had been razed, "There is no there, there.''

These days, with Tom Cable being accused of everything except that recent mechanical failure of the Bay Bridge, the one that closed the structure for eight days, there is plenty there.

Too much for Cable and the Raiders organization.

The Raiders have a bye this weekend, which, when you're 2-6 for 2009 and haven't had a winning season since 2002, might be viewed as beneficial. Instead, it's proving just the opposite, since media that might be focused on the team's troubles instead are concentrating on Cable's.

And they are many.

During camp in August, up at Napa in the middle of the wine country -- where else would a Nor Cal team train, anyway? -- Raiders assistant Randy Hanson incurred a broken jaw during a meeting of the coaching staff.

He accused Cable of causing the injury, either, as the story goes, by shoving him out of a chair in which he had leaned back, or punching him in the jaw.

After an investigation, and surely deliberation, the district attorney of Napa County declined to press charges, maybe because he didn't believe the case was strong enough, maybe because Napa didn't want to aggravate the Raiders and chance losing them to another city.

For a few days after the announcement, the Raiders' subject matter dealt with the ineffectiveness of third-year quarterback JaMarcus Russell and other paranormal items. Then on its "Outside the Lines'' program last Sunday, ESPN provided the revelation that some 20 years ago Cable had hit his ex-wife and early this year smacked a girlfriend.

The Raiders contended they were blindsided by ESPN, a network the team contends harbors a grudge against it. But to the credit of the Raiders -- meaning owner Al Davis, considerably more sensitive than his critics want to believe -- and chief executive Amy Trask, the allegations were not taken lightly.

"We will undertake a serious evaluation of this matter,'' read a release from the Raiders. "We wish to be clear that we do not in any way condone or accept actions such as those alleged.''

This was not good enough for the National Organization for Women, which demanded Cable be suspended while the allegations are checked out. It wants NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who has spoken about fairness, to make a statement about Cable.

Earlier in the week, asked about his future, Cable insisted, "I'm coach of the Raiders, and I think my future is to be coach of the Raiders.''

Al Davis does not like firing coaches, despite all the coaches he has fired, and he likes even less dismissing them during the season, having done that only twice, Mike Shanahan and Lane Kiffin, over the past 40 years.

But this uproar over Cable is an embarrassment. It may even become a distraction, although the players, worried about their own futures and paychecks, invariably ignore everything except trying to keep the opposition from making a touchdown while making some touchdowns of their own.

Cable conceded he did slap his first wife, with an open hand, not a fist, and has regretted it. He said he did not strike any other female.

A team as bad as the Raiders, groping for any reason to be optimistic, hardly needs the current scenario, a coach under fire for reasons other than his record, and even the folk of Northern California wondering what is going on.

Any moment, we may all go over the edge.

As a reporter since 1960, Art Spander is a living treasure of sports history. A recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award -- given for his long and distinguished career covering professional football -- he has earned himself a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the PGA of America for 2009.

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© RealClearSports 2009