No Hustle with Russell

All seemed well leading up to the half in Oakland, even though the Redskins were up by a touchdown. Bruce Gradkoswki had led fourth quarter comebacks and I had all the faith in him that he'd get it done. Like always we were ready to play and got going early and at a good pace. McFadden looked good lined up as a receiver and Gary Russell showed that he deserved to see some time on the green. The Raiders moved the ball well as Bruce looked all over the field to make things happen for Oakland. This was a matchup between two struggling teams; games of that nature are always played with energy and heart. Raiders showed both. We pressed Washington O-line and sacked the quarterback. A few Raiders went by the offensive linemen untouched looking for blood but lucky for Campbell he knows how to scramble. A win felt imminent and then......OH NO!!! Gradkowski goes down and does not return. As if the penalties weren't killing us, we get to have JRuss back on the field as our QB.

Game over, forget about it. There is no way that we were going to get another score. JaMarcus comes in and completes his first 2 passes and they were good passes, I'm not going to take that away from him. After his first two completions and a quick thought that Russell might have learned a good lesson while on the bench, here he goes. In his second half of play, he fumbled, threw an interception and out of the 8 sacks Washington recorded, 6 of them he fell victim to. He creates such a negative vibe on the field, he looks uncomfortable the opposition knows it and feeds off of it. The final score was 34-13. Two touchdowns and a field goal for Washington in the last 11 minutes of the fourth quarter would seal our fate. No fourth quarter comeback for us and word is Gradkowski has sprained MCLs in both his knees. If it wasn't for bad luck we wouldn't have luck at all. I'm not giving Russell a hard time, like most would like to think. Gradkowski played the first half and went 10/18 for 153 yards, no interceptions no fumbles. He was sacked twice but Oakland got on the board with 13 points. After his injury, Jamarcus had to play the second half. Russell went 10/16 for 74 yards, one interception, and a fumble. He was sacked 6 times and his interception set up the second touchdown by Fred Davis. It doesn’t take a Rocket Scientist to see who the problem is.

The Raiders did sign former Bills and UFL QB J.P Losman so we’ll see what happens as either Losman or Frye takes the field Sunday against the Denver Broncos...

Win Lose or Tie, I’m a Raider till I die.