Too Giant for JaMarcus

First, let me apologize for this blog coming two days after the game instead of one. This loss had me in a depression so great by Sunday night the only words I had typed were “yet again”. I even stayed off Twitter once the Giants went up 14-0. I look forward to watching the Raiders play no matter how much they disappoint me. For the past two weeks, I’ve had to TiVo the games because I have school from 9-12 on Sunday. This Sunday, I TiVo the game as well but not to go to school, to go to a pop warner football game. I threw on my Raiders jersey and my Raiders beanie, hit record on the TV and my son, my nephew and I left. The people are looking at me as I find a seat as if I’m crazy but who cares, this is what I do. I end up getting a text from a friend of mine who informs me the Raiders were losing 14-0. I sign onto Twitter and sure enough my timeline is filled with insults to the Raiders. I signed out and didn’t sign back in until Monday. I dint check my updates and enjoyed watching my friends son score a TD for the Crenshaw Colts. Let’s fast forward. I get back home, kick my shoes off, throw on my basketball shorts (Raiders jersey still on) and turn to channel 2 so I can watch the rest of the game live and I see Pitt vs. Det. I hit guide because I’m thinking, ‘I know I didn’t TiVo the wrong damn game’ & sure enough the guide even says Raiders vs. Giants. I turn back to channel 2 thinking that maybe it was just a highlight and it’s Det vs. Pitt. I hurry up and go to 708 to see if the Package channel is blacked out and it’s not. That’s when it clicked in. ‘they have taken us off the air, we were getting our asses kicked that bad that they took us off the air!’ I said out loud to myself. My son says, “You must be talking about your Raiders huh” I couldn’t believe it. I sit down already in a funk that 1. We were taken off the air and 2. We were losing 38-7. I can’t lie to you FAM; I didn’t even watch the half that was TiVo. I couldn’t do it. The half I watched was a testimony to the half that made the heads at channel 2 remove us from the television.

I’ve talked about JaMarcus Russell for the last couple of weeks and will continue to talk about him until he sits down. Russell had 100 yards. YES! This is not a typo. A Quarterback in the NFL only had 100 yards. Ahmad Bradshaw had 110! In addition to his 100 yard game, he had 3 fumbles that all resulted in scores for the Giants. I can’t be mad at anybody but him. I watched a snippet of an interview Coach Cable gave and a reporter asked him how he felt about Russell. He said that he “wasn’t worried about JaMarcus that sometimes you have to put your foot down and say enough is enough. I have to think about the rest of the team” Could this mean what I think it means? Does this mean that Russell will not start or even play for that matter vs. the Eagles? I hope he doesn’t.

7 first downs for the Raiders and 27 for the Giants. 124 total yards for the Raiders and 483 for the Giants. The defense gave up a few plays but they stay on the field longer than the offense does. Across the board we could have played better. We had 7 penalties for 67 yards. Our rushing average was 2.4. Where does this happen? We need to execute these passes. We need to be able to convert 3rd downs. We need more 1st downs. We need more hustle. I fell like the team is being brought down by the lack of leadership and skill Russell has. The rest of the teams goes out and fights for each yard and hustles each play only to be let down by a QB who couldn’t see a blitz coming a mile away. A QB who can’t smell a sack coming until he’s on his way down. This was a day for Oakland. I wouldn’t say it’s because of the loss. For me, it’s the fact that JaMarcus wasn’t benched, not even when Carr got in the game. Eli just sitting back, watching his back-up QB finishes what he started. Russell is just sitting back getting sacked and losing fumbles and not knowing what the hell is going on. I don’t agree with anybody that says the Raiders as a whole are good or that our WR can’t catch and that our defensive is terrible. This job is too big of a responsibility for Russell. He doesn’t possess leadership quality. I’m beginning to think he doesn’t possess football quality period. A good leader can either put his team on his back. A good teammate will sit himself. He is neither and therefore does neither. Jay-Z said it best. Men lie, Women lie but numbers don’t. Our QB isn’t putting up numbers so how else is the rest of the team supposed to. We can’t buy a first down or convert a 3rd down so how do we expect a tired defense to produce? We can’t and I don’t. Like I said we’ll end up 3-13 if Coach Cable doesn’t sit JaMarcus. I’m sure has had enough of this. Raider Nation has for sure.