Raiders will let QBs Russell and Gradkowski compete for starting job

The Oakland Raiders will let quarterbacks JaMarcus Russell and Bruce Gradkowski compete for the starting job, at least it is what the team’s head coach Tom Cable plans to do. It seems that the competition has already started.



The former first-round pick Russell actually failed to live up to expectation last season. He should just feel lucky that he still have another chance to compete for the starting job at quarterback as he is no longer the coach’s favorite. If he wants to be a starting quarterback again, he really needs to spend as much time as possible on studying his divisional opponents and self-scouting his own game in the film room.

As for Gradkowski, who is in his second year of wearing the Raiders jerseys, he will not just wait for the coach to announce the result of competition. Having proved that he can win on the road with 80.6 QB rating, 6 TDs, 3 INTs, he will definitely make the best use of the opportunity to show that he can also lead the Raiders to winning season.

Raiders QB Russell will have to compete for starting job

According to the Oakland Raiders Coach Tom Cable, quarterback JaMarcus Russell, who was formerly the No. 1 overall pick of 2007 draft, will not be guaranteed with a starting job as the team considers the best thing for all quarterbacks in Raiders jerseys is a competition. That is to say, Russell will have to compete with some other quarterbacks for the starting job in 2010 season.




"I have not put a lot of thought into this at this point," Cable said when asked about naming Russell the starter. "JaMarcus is working and doing the things he should be doing right now. He’ll get himself prepared to compete for the job. I think that’s the only way to look at it. That would help our football team right now, getting into more of that competition. I’m for having guys go at it and battle for the job."

Currently the Raiders have three other quarterbacks on their roster: Charlie Frye, Bruce Gradkowski and J.P. Losman. And there are still possibility that the team may acquire quarterback outside the team.

Frye, not Russell, will start for Raiders against Broncos

The Oakland Raiders Coach Tom Cable announced Wednesday that the starting quarterback against the Denver Broncos will be Charlie Frye, who waited more than a year for another opportunity to start in the NFL. JaMarcus Russell is listed as No.2 quarterback and may have to wait as long time as Frye to get the starting job again.




“As the coach I want to do what I think is best for this team, and that’s Charlie Frye,” Cable said. “It gives us the best opportunity to win. You watch Charlie every day and his preparation, he just certainly deserves the opportunity.”

Frye has not played this year and worked strictly with Oakland’s scout team. His last start was on Oct. 12, 2008, while he was playing against the Green Bay Packers wearing Seattle Seahawks jersey. In the game he threw for 84 yards and two touchdowns. But since then he has not started a game. He signed with the Raiders in the offseason to revive his career and served as the team’s emergency quarterback through the first 13 games.

Raiders QB Russell admitted mistakes in loss to Jets

The Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell eventually realized that it was partly his fault that caused the team’s shameful 0-38 loss to the New York Jets last Sunday. He understands now why Coach Tom Cable benched him in the second quarter of the game.




Russell surely did not realize that immediately after the game as he said he didn’t feel like he made any bad reads or decisions in the game. It was after three days of further review that he addressed the media and said there were “mistakes out there. Everybody saw that. Good or bad, take that in stride and learn from it.”

His mistakes included: lining the team up in the wrong formation and losing a fumble on the first play from scrimmage, throwing a ball in an area with no receivers on the third possession, and throwing an interception in the end zone on the next drive.

Fans booed mercilessly, commentators have ripped him and Cable benched him. Even before the game in which he made mistakes, he had not been giving satisfying performance as a starter in Raiders jersey- he was the second-worst quarterback in the league with rating at 47.2. But the loss was not caused all by Russell’s fault. For the past five weeks, the Raiders offense has been inept, scoring just 29 points and two touchdowns in losing four of five games. I guess there would not be much improvement in near future as Cable said Russell would still start for the team this weekend against the San Diego Chargers.