The former Bronco just can’t let his hatred for the Raiders go. He continues to rub the Raiders’ noses into the poop of their recent woes. L-Dizzle has a good round-up of his most recent Raider bashing outburst. Yes, he’s a loser and, yes, Janikowski was snubbed by the Pro Bowl selectors.
Al Davis has officially lost it.
If the draft picks of the last several years and the mad money thrown at mediocre players the last several years weren’t proof enough, the way the Raider management is reacting to Rich Gannon’s offer of help for their mega-bust of a QB is the clincher.
This post on the Silver and Black Report outlines the situation very well.
The Raiders are acting like children, led by that buffoonish John Herrerra.
The Raiders responded to Gannon’s offer through team executive and John Herrera. From the Oakland Tribune:
“It’s Rich that needs the help,” Raiders senior executive John Herrera said. “When he goes on a radio show offering Mr. Davis help, Tom Cable help, the Raiders help, maybe it’s Rich that needs the help.”
What the hell does that even mean? That doesn’t even fit as a response. It’s like in Dodgeball when Ben Stiller’s character responds with “touche” at a completely inappropriate time. Sounds like John Herrera basically just said, “I know you are, but what am I?” or “I’m not a towel, you’re a towel.” Are they trying to say he’s desperate for work? (read more at Bleacher Report….)
I have totally lost faith in this organization. Things will not change unless Davis relinquishes power, hires a General Manager and that GM hires a competent coach with power to hire his own staff and select his own players. Sadly, that might not happen until the old man passes away. John Madden has even stated that it must be done. I wonder if he’s been banished from Raider headquarters as well?
Remember when the Raiders were successful? They were led by GMs or senior executives named Al LoCasale, Ron Wolf, and Bruce Allen. Coincidence? I think not. Al’s Wingman has a good review of those eras and how the Raiders should have handled the Gannon offer (Hint: with professionalism). Wolf turned Green Bay around and you just watch how Allen turns the Redskin franchise around.
The news that Russell skipped the final team meeting for “personal reasons” which was later discovered to be a trip to Las Vegas is yet another sign that this guy is a loser and a bust. Now, the team (Herrerra) says he went with the permission of the team and with a team official. So, that makes it right? That’s a further indictment on the Raider management.
I can’t wait to see what gem they choose at #8 in the 2010 draft.
Meanwhile, “Lance” Kiffin is having a hearty laugh at all this.
I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus for the birth of my son Maximos, but how nice it was to see the Raiders beat a couple of good teams in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Especially Pittsburgh, in their house, when they were fighting for playoff survival. And the way they did it, coming back three times with TDs in the 4th quarter.
When I say hopeless, I’m talking about JaMarcus Russell.
On the one hand, kudos for him for finally talking to the media after his benching. But you know what JaMarcus? Maybe you should just not talk. You just don’t get it.
The transcript of Russell’s Q&A with reporters reads like a high school drop out. Doesn’t say much for an LSU education.
Worse than that, he basically throws his teammates (wide receivers mostly) under the bus for supposedly playing better for Gradkowski than him. He’s still in total denial about his poor performance, poor preparation, and poor leadership.
This is from Jerry McDonald’s blog:
On one hand, Russell seemed humbled by the demotion and determined to be the starting quarterback in the future, while at the same time seeming to either disagree or be in denial about his weight, work ethic and dedication issues which have plagued him since the start of training camp.
It was as if receivers and the players surrounding him magically began playing better when Gradkowski took over and it was simply bad luck they hadn’t done it for him.
His reply to the question of whether he’s talked to Al Davis is nonsensical.
He needs to listen to what his teammates are saying about Gradkowski.
He needs to watch Gradkowski prepare and watch how he motivates and leads the offense.
He needs to work harder in the gym and shed 30 pounds.
He needs to do a lot and I’m not holding out hope, frankly.
The Raiders lose to San Diego for the 13th straight time.
13!
I never thought I’d see the team so bad and for so long. Post-game comments included these gems:
“I did a pretty good job,” Russell told reporters.
“I thought he did some really good things that way today,” Cable said. “Very much seemed to be in control today. A couple of throws hed probably like to have over again but for the most part he gave us a chance to win today and that’s what you ask your quarterback to do.”
That’s what it has come to in Raiderville. That’s how low the bar has been set for a number one overall draft pick that’s supposed to lead this team. The most pathetic thing is that these comments came after he threw for a whopping 109 yards passing (81 net yards). The longest pass play went for 15 yards. He had one bad interception where he said “it didn’t hurt too much”. I guess he forgot that it led to a San Diego touchdown or he just missed that while he rested his fat ass on the bench in his ski cap. He was lucky that at least one more wasn’t intercepted and that he didn’t lose his fumble.
The season is half over. JaMarcus Russell has 2 touchdown passes.
Two touchdown passes in eight games. I would be willing to bet that just about every other starting QB in the league has two in a quarter.
I didn’t think it was possible, but this inept offense is on pace to be worse than the infamous Tom Walsh B&B offense.
This team is maddening to watch. They’re not even entertaining. The QB is horrible. The WRs can’t get open and when they do, they can’t catch. The return game is non-existent. The defense folds when they need a stop and they allow way too many third down conversions.
The defense still cannot stop the run. Tomlinson is officially over the hill, but has all three of his TDs against the Raiders this year.
I generally like the speedy, active linebackers (Howard and Morrison), but they cannot fill a gap to save their lives. The Raiders need a stout, strong linebacker like Brian Cushing that can fill a hole, shed blockers, and tackle well.
Chris Chambers is a veteran WR who was just released and who could instantly help the Raiders (if Russell can get him the ball….did I mention that he can’t hit the side of a barn?), but I’ll be surprised if they sign him.
I’ll also be surprised if Al Davis hires a take-charge GM before he dies. He needs to do this to rescue the franchise, but he’s a stubborn old man. In his head, doing that would just be an admission that he was wrong and his critics were right.
So much for “Just Win, Baby”.
Read this transcript of a recent interview with JaMarcus Russell, couple it with his atrocious play on the football field, and tell me you aren’t concerned if you’re a Raider fan.
This is the voice of the franchise.
The leader.
The quarterback.
The guy that needs to be the smartest man on the team.
Sheesh, we’re in even more trouble than I thought.
The quarterback of a football team is supposed to be the leader. The guy who speaks for the team and takes responsibility for the team’s failures, especially offensively since he controls the ball on every snap. He’s accountable.Not the Raider’s quarterback.Therein lies the problem.Whether he’s too young and immature or just happy to have his 30 million guaranteed dollars and just doesn’t care, it’s plain to see that JaMarcus Russell does not feel like he’s accountable.
“I don’t think it’s me personally, I really don’t. It’s a bad combination of one guy doesn’t do something right one time.”
What quarterback says that? Add his comments to the way he conducts himself off the field, most notably his weight, rumors of missing meetings, and general lack of commitment to this football team. And watch him on the sideline. He reportedly sits in his usual spot on the bench and doesn’t engage other players or coaches much at all. The most animated he has been was cheerleading for Bruce Gradkowski when he replaced him last Sunday.
Miller said he didn’t talk to Russell about being benched but hopes it will have a positive effect in that he’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again. That’s Cable’s plan, anyway.“You hope so. If a guy’s wired right, that’s exactly how they’ll use it,” Cable said. (more)
Let’s all hope that this guy is “wired right”. All signs point the other way right now.
Want a laugh? Try this site: Vote JaMarcus Russell for the 2010 Pro Bowl!
Here’s the main reason the Raiders are so inept offensively: horrible drafting. They have Russell, McFadden, and Heyward Bey when they could have Adrian Peterson, Joe Flacco, and Crabtree or Maclin. The sad thing is, they have so much invested in these players, they’re going to have to suffer with them until it’s obvious beyond any reasonable doubt that they are busts. These lean years will continue because of it.
Crabtree watch: In his first game, Crabtree has already surpassed Heyward-Bey’s productivity. DHB has played virtually every snap for seven games. They could be tied if he hadn’t dropped a touchdown pass late in the Jets game. Bad hands, but man he can run really fast.
Blindly loyal.
That’s me.
Won ton at Bleacher Report writes exactly what I feel, though I have about 10 more years as a Raider fan on him. I’m not going to be spending any ticket or tog money on them, but I’m not jumping ship. I can understand how others might be and I can’t say that I blame them. My nature dooms me to endure the pain.
Jarrod Cooper gives a frank assessment of the team on KNBR and he speaks the unfortunate truth.
It’s nothing that isn’t now totally obvious. Take what NY Giant Antonio Pierce, who grew up a Raider fan, said about playing against the pathetic Raider offense. It sounds a lot like what the 49ers were saying in a pre-season scrimmage, but at least that actually was a scrimmage.
It’s a truly depressing situation where hope is dwindling. I never thought it would come to this, but Ray Ratto is now a voice of reason and someone whose writing I am know plugging. Read his latest on the Raiders and what they’ve become. Us Raider fans like to point out the 2002 Super Bowl but it really has been sandwiched by about 20 years of some pretty sad football…
Yes, quarter-century. Going back to 1986, the Raiders have made the playoffs six times; of the teams that have existed that long, only Arizona and Cincinnati have been less January. The last six years and change have been spectacularly awful, but this has gone on a lot longer than anyone wants to admit.
Obviously, the pre-2000 slump pales in comparison to what we’ve been seeing the past 6-7 years and it appear to not be getting any better. I should have seen this coming with the selection of Heyward-Bey at number 7 this spring. Oh, and by the way, the guy I wanted, Jeremy Maclin, had a great game last week and will undoubtedly be showcased against the Raiders on Sunday. I hope Al is watching. And it will add to the Raiders embarrassment when Crabtree, just across the bay, starts playing at first rounder’s level while Heyward-Bey continues to struggle.
And JaMarcus Russell? I’ve almost lost all hope in him. I don’t see any improvement in him. I don’t think an inaccurate passer can suddenly become accurate. I don’t think he’ll work hard enough to be a good quarterback and I don’t think he has the leadership qualities (see Antonio Pierce’s comments). I also think that Al Davis is totally off base in comparing him to other, slow-starting QBs that became great ones. That’s like the Heyward-Bey pick - a reach. And wishful thinking.
It’s gotten so bad around the Raiderhood that fans are hoping for injuries. Injuries to Raider players. Certain Raider players. Crazy thing is that it would probably help.
And really, what do we suffering Raider fans have left to do but laugh? Kissing Suzy Kolber has a hilarious piece on the Raider’s so called QB:
JaMarcus Russell is Too Lazy For Clever Headlines
How could a QB be sooo bad on first down passing? A down where the defense usually expects run? Russell is 12 of 40 for 136 yards with one sack, three interceptions and a passer’s rating of 10. Ten!
On the polar opposite end of the spectrum, wouldn’t it be nice if Russell and the other “10 percenters” on the Raiders had the attitude of Khalif Barnes?
“Being a professional and being in this league for a while now - I’m still young, I’ve only played four years - but you catch on to stuff and you know how stuff kind of works,” Barnes told me. “Whenever there’s adversity, and things aren’t going your way and your back’s up against the wall, and everybody’s out to get you and against you, the one thing, I think, a coward would do (is) turn his head, tuck his tail, and kind of walk off. A strong man, you kind of find out what a man is made of when he goes through his hardest hours, when his team goes through its hardest hours, darkest hours. So I think those kind of moments really define a person and let’s you know what a person is made of. Let’s you know who you want exactly on your team - are guys going to fold in the tent, throw it away already? It’s already a quarter of the way (through the season) and there’s 12 more games left. Anybody on this team who thought we were done and finished, probably shouldn’t be here. You have reporters and beat writers, they have their job. News guys have their job; that’s their job is to report what’s going on. You can’t get mad at them for doing their job and you can’t worry about them doing it. What you’ve got to do is worry about the guys inside this building. If you’re worried about everything else like that, you’re not going to get it done on Sunday. You have to worry about what you’re doing that week, get it done and know the adversity is coming - it’s going to be there. I’ve gone through it; I’m going through it now, other guys are going through it now. But what you do in that darkest hour is what defines you. When you come out that tunnel, man, it’s a good feeling. That’s how I look at it.” (from Paul Gutierrez)
That’s what everyone must be saying after details of the Rich Gannon ban became public.
I’ve got to agree with Jerry Mac, David White, the AP’s Dubow, and even Tim Kawakami on this one.
Gannon was a truth machine. His comments were based on facts and his experiences with the team. Sure, the truth hurts, especially when you’ve been so bad for half a decade. It’s the man’s job as a broadcaster to comment on these things and what he said had mostly already been said on Raider blogs and by loyal Raider fans everywhere. Yes, I said loyal. You can be critical and yet still be loyal.
This Herrera guy should shut up. Is Davis actually sanctioning what this guy’s saying? The word “clown” comes to mind whenever this guy talks. First there was the bizarre Kawakami press conference incident last year, now this. The Raiders really need some competent PR people. Here’s a sample of what he said:
“Rich Gannon is not welcome here.”
“He was one of the least popular players with his teammates that we ever had here and he still can’t seem to get over the fact that he played the worst game in Super Bowl history. He threw five interceptions and three of them were returned for touchdowns. He has blamed everyone else for that.”
“I guess it’s our fault he threw five interceptions.”
“He’s attacked us on a regular basis since becoming a member of the media,” Herrera said. “After affording him the opportunity to establish a career here, he has since gone on to attack us in a way that’s totally unacceptable.”
No, Herrera. What is totally unacceptable is the way Oakland handled this situation. Banning one of their all-time greats because he hurt their pride is unacceptable.
What does Gannon’s Super Bowl meltdown have to do with him being brutally honest? His brutal honesty was probably the reason he was unpopular with his teammates. The team was full of slackers and underachievers and Al Davis scholarship players. He came to the Raiders at a time when they desperately needed his leadership. And I’ve never heard him deflect the blame for that Super Bowl performance.
Herrera also used Gannon’s “they should just blow up the building and start all over again” quote as a reason to ban him, citing that it’s improper to use such words in a post 9/11 society. I think the fact that Herrera related that quote to 9/11 is more inappropriate than Gannon’s words.
In the end, the Raiders relented and lifted the ban. Well, they had to anyway because of NFL rules.
I think I speak for many Raiders fans when I say that I was proud of the Rich Gannon years and what he did to lift the team to greatness. He was simply doing his job when he was critical of the team. He always qualified his comments by saying it hurt him to watch the team in its current tailspin. I wish Rich was still at QB or at the very least in a coaching capacity with the team. His knowledge and dedication to the game is sorely needed. I guess that will never happen.
Now….banning Warren Sapp? I’m all for that.
Winning Ugly? This was absolutely hideous.
The Raiders had no business winning this game.
A 13-10 victory at Kansas City.
But hey, it’s so much better on the winning side of a game like this. I recall a game against Carolina last year where Delhomme had almost as bad a game as Russell did today and the Panthers won by 11.
Maybe this is a sign that things are changing.
All my fears about Russell are unfortunately looking to have validity - he’s terribly inaccurate, has little pocket presence, and stares down his intended receivers. I think the inaccuracy is the biggest concern. Do QBs really ever improve in that area? Or is it innate? You have it or you don’t? Name one QB who improved in that area. I hope I’m wrong, but these are real concerns. We heard about it all through training camp and he’s looked bad these first two games. What is he, something like 17 for 50?
Today, he missed wide open receivers on numerous occasions. One was a potential Louis Murphy TD. TE Miller never caught a pass and he was open several times. How do you not complete a pass to Miller in an entire 60 minutes? Russell was also very, very fortunate that an easy interception-for-a-TD was dropped by KC. That could have been ball game. Also disturbing was the fact that he wasn’t getting all that much pressure from the KC pass rush.
Heck, he was having great difficulty even completing screen passes and dump offs.
As for the rest of the offense, the running game disappeared today when they needed it most. Though he scored the game winner, McFadden gets tripped up way too easy, whether it’s his own lineman or a defender’s hand. What’s up with that?
166 yards to over 400. 11 first downs to 25. 21 minutes of possession to 38. How do you win a game like that?
Thank you Michael Huff for finally playing up to your first round potential. His two interceptions were huge.
The Raider special teams were half very good (Lechler, Jano and the kick coverage), but half scary bad. By that I mean the return teams were just there to catch the kicks and not make mistakes. One punt late in the game was muffed and almost lost.
More huge though, were the Chiefs ineptness. They did things the old Raiders used to do. They let the clock run out at the end of the half in the red zone. They committed some bad penalties. They dropped interceptions. Their special teams watched punts roll into the end zone.
Lastly, why was dehydration such a factor with Raider players in 75 degree weather?
Nevertheless, a win is a win. Just expect every team on the schedule to play at least eight in the box and dare him to throw and beat them with his arm. It should be interesting. I hope I’m wrong about him, but right now his name is being discussed with Ryan Leaf’s. Not good.