Raiders Not Benching Russell

NFL News - September 28th, 2009 - Written by John

The quarterbacking carousel has already begun. Some via injury (see St. Louis, Seattle). Some via incompetence (see Tampa Bay, Cleveland).

But the quarterback who has performed worse than any one of them, the quarterback with a 38.9 rating and a 41.3 completion percentage, appears to be in a cool, dry place right now. Head coach Tom Cable said he has no plans of unseating the former no. 1 pick despite what looks to be another calamity of a season in Oakland.

"I just feel like we have to keep moving forward, trying to figure out what is going to help him be at his best," Cable said.

His best so far came last year when the Raiders went 2-1 to close the season where he had a surprisingly good TD/Int. ratio of 8/2. But he has churned out three miserable performances so far this season, completely missing receivers at times and making bone-headed mistakes usually reserved for players headed to the UFL. He was booed persistently this past Sunday after he threw for 61 yards and two picks. He was allowed to stay in the game in the fourth quarter when Oakland was already well on their way to 0-3. He commanded three drives and only got one first down (it came on a penalty).

There are grumblings that Cable should put Russell on the shelf in favor of back-up Bruce Gradkowski. But he hadn't performed much better when given the opportunity in the preseason and is really only a third option. He was only relegated to back-up after Al Davis decided to cut Jeff Garcia before the opener. The only thing for sure is that the Raiders have been in every game so far, losing to the Chargers in the opener on a late touchdown and staying competitive against the Broncos for the first half. And Garcia probably wouldn't have taken them out of games as effortlessly as Russell thus far.

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