And I've never gotten used to it

I've just learned to turn it off

               --Bob Dylan

No two ways to disguise this one, kids:  this loss hurts.  I had a lot more to write at first, but the more I think about the loss, the more depressed I get.   So let's get right to the grades

QB:  Another underwhelming week stats wise for JaMarcus.  I continue to be impressed with his decision making abilities.  Aside from his hesitation that led to the fumble today, it's hard to find a big, prototypical "rookie mistake."   Really, just a very average performance.   He's coming along fine.  That ball he threw to Higgins was a bee-yoo-tee-ful laser beam.  That gets him the "+" in C+.

RBs:  Not a whole lot to say....which is half the problem.  When a team built to run has a combined 98 yards on the ground, there's going to be trouble no matter what the score says.  McFadden was a warrior, out there playing through the pain, though a 3 yard per rush average combined with his constant slipping and falling shows how much it was affecting him.  Bush averaged 4 yards a carry....someone tell me again why he only had 14 carries?  Let's call it a B-.

O-Line:  They only yielded one sack and that was due to J-Russ hanging on to the ball way too long.  McFadden's low YPC average is more a function of his injury than ineffective run blocking.  Notice how we haven't been talking about Mario Henderson very much?  That's as it should be.  B.

WRs:  Weak.  Weak weak weak weak weak.  Unbelievably bad.  HORRIBLE.  Non-existent.  2 catches for 18 yards for Javon Walker?  That's not worth all that guaranteed money, my man.  1 catch for Lelie?!?!?  ZERO for Curry?!?! Sure, some of it is Russell's fault due to inexperience, but you HAVE GOT TO HELP YOUR YOUNG QUARTERBACK.  This means GETTING OPEN CONSISTENTLY so he's not forced to complete two thirds of his passes to the goddamn running backs and fullback.

Some of this is also play-calling though.  How can this team expect to win and not get Zach Miller a single completion.  GET HIM IN THE GAME, COACHING STAFF.  (yeah I know he's a tight end, but it's easier to put him here)

Speaking of play calling, if I may digress for a minute....what kind of lame-ass conservative bullshit were we running out there today?  What the hell happened to Lane Kiffin the gambler, the risk taker, the "damn-the-torpedoes-full-speed-ahead" play caller?

The bright spot:  Johnnie Lee Higgins.  He caught a bullet and ran like hell.  Nice returns too.

Higgins gets the A.  Everyone else? D-.

We'll move on to the other side of the ball tomorrow.  Or, rather, later today...  It's damn near 1 a.m. here on the East Coast.  I'm out for now!

--J-Russ is going to be a fantastic quarterback in the NFL if he can ever be able to consistently drop back to pass without being forced to start running for his life after 4 nanoseconds have passed.  He might be able to swat away a CB coming on a blitz, but a charging defensive end is quite another thing.  The O-line might be able to runblock beautifully, but the Raiders won't win 5 games this year unless the pass protection shapes up soon.  Like NOW. 

--Way to earn that money, DeAngelo Hall.  I certainly hope you're embarrassed this morning because I know I certainly am.  Eddie Royal is clearly talented as hell, but you're supposed to be an elite shutdown corner.  He turned you inside out all night long and you had no response except to get frustrated and take dumb penalties.

--Mike Ditka said it best:  You've got to help out your young quarterback.  That MUST start next week.  Russell is not at the stage yet where he can steal a win or two all by himself.  That involves making that extra effort to catch a ball that might be a little under or overthrown.  I'm looking at YOU Ronald Curry.

--Darren McFadden is going to be fucking DYNAMITE.  Let's all sit back and enjoy the show.

--Zach Miller is essential to any success the offense will have.  Long may he be healthy. 

--Chaz Schiliens may be one of the steals of the 2008 draft.  Only two catches, yes, but good ones.  Wouldn't surprise me to see him move up the depth chart as the season goes by.

--Gibril Wilson was a damn good pickup.

--Where was the D-Line all night?  Jay Cutler could've cooked himself dinner, went home and mowed his lawn, showered, then came back and thrown a pass last night before any pressure would have gotten into the backfield. 

--I'm still with Kiffin.  We'll know whether to blame him or Ryan as the weeks go by...if the defense improves and they still lose, it's Kiff.  If the defense keeps bombing out, it's Ryan.  I think Ryan is a good enough co-ordinator, but his defenses are so vanilla.   Contrast that with a guy like Dick LeBeau in Pittsburgh who has so many crafty blitzes and multiple looks to keep the other QB guessing.

--The most frustrating thing about the Raiders is their tendency to shoot themselves in the foot at the worst possible times.  Every team will make dumb mistakes.  But the timing is the killer.  Whether it was Curry dropping the pass on 3rd down to kill a promising drive or Fargas throwing the ball at Higgins on that reverse that had got the defense to bite in the opposite direction or any number of other things....they need to suck it up and not make mistakes when the chips are down.

Of course, the ref not calling blatant defensive holding to kill another promising drive doesn't help things either.

--I repeat:  JaMarcus Russell will be great.  Give him pass protection and some defensive support and the wins will come.

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Exciting, isn't it?

For the first time in a couple years, there's a lot of uncertainty about who the Raiders will take.  Last year, everyone knew it'd be J-Russ.  The year before, everyone knew it'd be Michael Huff.  But now?  Wow.  An embarassment of riches.

The Raiders will take one of the following people:

Glenn Dorsey

Chris Long

Vernon Gholston

Sedrick Ellis

Darren McFadden

Holy crap.

Who wouldn't want to have that problem?

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Saint, I don't know if you have rules against profanity in diary titles, so go ahead and edit this if you don't like it.  But I'm so pissed off right now.Update: I changed it just to be on the safe side. I'm calmer now

The event that actually got me steaming was an hour ago, but I find it still rankles.  So I need to vent here.

Living here in Steeler Hell, I didn't get to watch the Raiders today.  Hoping to catch some highlights of JaMarcus throwing, I tuned into NBC's post-game highlight show.  What I saw left me shaking with rage.

You know the only two clips they showed?  JaMarcus' interception and fumble.

So if I didn't make it clear in the title, let me reiterate:  FUCK YOU NBC.

This was a rookie who missed training camp making his first NFL start after a DISASTROUS outing last week that would have sent most rookie QBs into a funk.

What did he do?  Sucked it up like a man, put his bad performance out of his mind, and completed over two-thirds of his passes for over 200 yards.  That's a pretty good day for any quarterback, let alone a rookie in his first start.  

But what does the general public who didn't follow the game get?  They get Keith Olbermann and Bob Costas chuckling at how bad JaMarcus is and insinuating what a bust he'll be and how dumb the Raiders are.  And that's the impression they'll have of J-Russ.  They didn't see his touchdown pass to Porter.  They didn't see the skill or maturity with which he moved the ball in the drive that ended the second half or the drive that ended with Rhodes getting stuffed on 4th-and-1.

Nope.  The only impression they're left with is that of another Raider misfire.

Fuck off, NBC.  I have no idea why you seem to get such giggles in running down what was a fine performance BY A ROOKIE IN HIS FIRST START.  And a rookie that everyone acknowledged from the start  was going to need a good bit of seasoning before he came into his own, at that.  

But rest assured:  J-Russ and the silver and black are going to cram your smugness down your grinning fucking throats next year and FORCE YOU to sit up and take notice.

Keep in mind this is super early.  No one's had a star-making turn in a bowl game or blown anyone away at the combine yet.

Undoubtedly there'll be many of you who think I'm a looney...but that's cool.  I probably am way off base on many of these picks.  These are just some preliminary thoughts

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ESPN's John Clayton is reporting:

JaMarcus Russell has been getting more practice snaps recently, but is expected to remain Oakland's No. 3 quarterback this week.
It appears Josh McCown will back up starter Daunte Culpepper once again. ESPN's John Clayton doesn't believe Russell will get any playing time before the final two or three weeks of the season, and that could come in relief.

Unbelievable.  

I want to like Lane Kiffin.  I guess I even do.  But his decisions are hurting the team.

Not activating Michael Bush out of spite to Denver and Kansas City?  

Not playing the future of the franchise since this is a lost season anyway?

For this Raider fan at least, frustration is now augmented by fury. Like all of Raider Nation, I was overjoyed by last Sunday's win.  We got that monkey off our backs.  Finally.

Now is the time to start looking forward to the future.  That means Michael Bush.  That means JaMarcus Russell.  

Daunte's playing great, but it's time for him to sit.  He won't be here next year.  Russell will be.  Same goes for Jordan and Rhodes at running back. They are the past.  Bush is the future.

It's nothing short of insane.  The argument about whether to sit a rookie QB or play him is useless.  For every Carson Palmer who sat his rookie year and did well in his second season, there's a Peyton Manning who was thrown into the fire as a rookie and did well in his second year.

It's absolutely sickening.  What real good would LaMont Jordan have been to Denver or Kansas City anyway?  He's half-crippled at the moment.  He would have likely been a backup like he is now.  The decision to sit Bush and play Jordan is inexplicable and indefensible.

And here's a question:  If you don't want K.C. or Denver snagging Jordan or Rhodes, why not cut Andrew Walter to make room for Bush?  That way you can spite your division rivals and let what will hopefully be an exciting young talent show his stuff.

Another excellent reason for activating Bush: if he's going to be a bust, it's better to know now so we can draft Darren McFadden in April.  As it stands now, drafting McFadden would be useless.

As for Russell....even if he doesn't start, the idea that he has to sit as emergency #3 behind goddamn fucking Josh McClown in OUTRAGEOUS.  I'm sorry, Kiffin, did you see the sorry excuse for quarterbacking McClown honored us with earlier this year?  You think if Daunte would go down, he could do any better than Russell?  

Even leaving that aside, Russell as #3 can't step in and out for a few series to gradually gain some seasoning.  It's harder to put him in in the event of a blowout (whichever way it goes).  

It makes me seriously question Lane Kiffin's judgment.  And it worries me. Despite all the goofy bullshit earlier in the year, I thought he was the guy to lead the team forward.

But now I seriously wonder.  The final test will be the next draft.  Drafting JaMarcus with the #1 pick was the obvious move.  But this year's draft will be the first one where the choice won't be so clear.  Do you take a playmaking receiver?  A D-lineman to strengthen the swiss cheese brigade we have now?  An O-Lineman to make sure JaMarcus doesn't get killed next year? (Speaking of O-lineman and bad personnel decisions....why the hell isn't Mario Henderson starting right now?)

If Kiffin makes a dumbass pick, I'll know for sure he'll be just another in a succession of mediocre coaches destroying a once great franchise.  

But even leaving that aside...these personnel decisions are wrong, hurtful to the team, unfair to the fans (their money is paying these potentially awesome young talents) and display a total short sightedness and unwillingness to think about the future.

This season isn't salvagable.  There's no way this team is going to reel off 6 straight wins.

5-11 would be a victory at this point.  We can conceiveably beat Kansas City and Denver.  We can even beat San Diego, despite what happened earlier this season.

I dare not even contemplate what will happen when we play Green Bay, Indianapolis and Jacksonville.

What I mean by a crossroads is this:  are they going to pack it in and go through the motions or are they going to hold their head up high and gut it out for 60 minutes every game?

I read an article today that quoted Warren Sapp as condeming the defense as undisciplined.  He's absolutely right.  It also said though that his shoulders were slumped and he looked defeated.

When someone as fiery as Warren Sapp is defeated, you know there are serious problems.  

He and the rest of the defense have to make a choice.  Are they going to take this embarrassment as a stimulus to step up?  Or are they going to keep playing with downcast eyes?

It's up to them and to Kiffin.  Otherwise there won't be one win more this season.

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This is fucking insanity.

Daunte playing good.  9/16, 174 yards, 1 TD.  Hard to ask for more than that.  120 of those come from Ronald Curry who has torched the Vikes secondary.

That's about the extent of the good...

1 catch for 11 yards from Jerry Porter?  C'mon.  Step the fuck up or get the fuck off the field.

12 carries, 24 yards for Huggy Bear.  Guess the Vikes meant it when they said the Raiders weren't running today.

This defense is a fucking embarrassment.  A goddamn pathetic embarrassment.  If not for Tarvaris Jackson's ingrained ineptitudes--one fumble, one INT--this game would be a blowout.  12/15 for 114 yards?  When has he done that?  We're making him look like a probowler.

And don't get me started on the run defense.  Letting a career backup like Chester Taylor rip off 7 yards at a time, plus one big 40 yarder.

Can you imagine if Adrian Peterson were playing?  He'd have 150 or 200 yards already.  

And finally:  Fuck you, Lane Kiffin.

You get the ball back with less than a minute left...and you run.  Then an incomplete pass.  Then you GO FOR ANOTHER RUN PLAY?!  WITH TWO TIMEOUTS?!

You need to stop this conservative bullshit.  You're bold at all the wrong times and conservative at all the wrongs times.

And stop being such a stubborn jackass.  It's hurting the team.  You ruined our season by sticking by McClown.  Now you practically ruined this game by sticking with the run for a quarter and a half when it clearly wasn't working and Daunte was mostly on his game.  A man can admit when he's wrong.  Remember that.

Thanks to Daunte, SeaBass and Tarvaris Jackson for it being a tie at halftime.  Everyone else should refund their game checks to Al Davis.

I gotta jet.  Probably be back with post-game thoughts.

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Mark your calendars.  During the ESPN pregame show, Chris Mortensen reported that sources inside the Raiders organization say they're looking at the home game against Denver as the big JaMarcus Russell unveiling party.

It's not inconceivable though that we'll wait that long to see them.  Mortensen also said that there's a package of 10 or so plays that JaMarcus  has mastered.  My guess (and this is totally me guessing) is that he's probably familiar with, if not absolute master of, about that many more.  So we're looking at 20 or perhaps even two dozen plays he can reasonably execute.  

In any case, back to what I do know because I heard it said--it's possible that, even though Andrew Walter is the official second string backup today--JaMarcus could be put out there with those plays "if the game circumstances warrant it." (Not an exact quote but real close)

Translation:  If we're either blowing out a team or getting blown out, we'll put in Russell.

In any case, just keeping y'all updated.

Not good:

On Friday, Kiffin told the Oakland Tribune that Andrew Walter will be the team's number two quarterback behind Daunte Culpepper on Sunday.

Two weeks ago, top pick Jamrcus Russell passed Walter on the depth chart at QB.

It was thought that Russell would see some action for the first time, but apparently he is not learning Oakland's system fast enough.

No one doubted that missing camp and pre-season hurt Russell a lot, but I'd hoped he'd be at least ready to step in and take a few snaps during a game at this point.

This likely deep-sixes him starting at Denver on 12/2.  It's pretty much down to starting him against San Diego during the last game of the year.  I can't believe, despite this, that he doesn't start at least one game this season.

In any case, this is a major disappointment.  Russell's been coming in on days off, as well as arriving early/staying late during scheduled practices.  He was a good student in school--was named an All American student/athlete or some such thing, so he's clearly very smart.

So it's not a lack of work ethic or brains that's impedeing him.  If he's behind where he should be at this point, even despite all that valuable learning time missed, something must be up.

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