Raiders Should Come Clean With Fans

The Oakland Raiders lost to the Houston Texans today, 29-6. You could see the Texans enjoying themselves as if it were an exhibition game. The Raiders are getting worse instead of better. As much as we don't want to put the blame on quarterback Jamarcus Russell, he's the man at the helm on the field. The ship has sunk and the man at the helm is still telling his mates to "stay the course." What course? The one that leads him straight to the bank is about the only course any Raiders fan sees in sight.

This one my fellow Raider fans has Big Al written all over it. What coach in his right mind who wants to keep his job will continue fielding a quarterback who can't read defenses, can't lead an offense and doesn't take responsibility for his poor performance on the field? Heck, Jamarcus should be embarrassed enough about his performance to bench himself. As they say in the south, "that dog just won't hunt."

So here we are again wondering what wise ol' Al is thinking in continuing with Russell as the starting quarterback. For a man who pulled off a great pickup in DE Richard Seymour at the start of the season, could it be Al is completely blinded by Russell's strong arm? or maybe just trying to squeeze some miracle juice out of a lemon and caring not what anyone else says. Al, baby, say it ain't so.

We are now in the phase of the season where as a Raiders fan you must adopt the phrase: Pay No Attention To The Man Standing Behind The Offensive Line.

Please, someone in the Raiders organization just come clean and tell us why? Is it the money? Is it the Madness of the man above? Is it the Contract? What is it that keeps an unproductive quarterback on a professional football team from being benched? Are the backups that bad? Are we too proud to bring back Jeff Garcia, even if he did say some hurtful things about the organization? What Gives? Thank goodness for kicker Sebastian Janokowski who's produced 12 of the 19 Raiders points the past three games. Go Jano!

The Raiders were 2-for-15 converting third downs and their possession chart (not including the end of the first half) read punt, punt, field goal, punt, punt, field goal, punt, fumble, safety, punt, punt, downs, fumble, punt. As for penalties, 9 for 60 yds against the Texans 1 for 5. Included in those 60 yds of penalties was a 15-yarder against Raiders cornerback Chris Johnson for excessive celebration after an interception in the endzone. What was the excessive celebration you may ask? Taking a knee to Pray. Guess there's no praying in hell!

As of this late Sunday hour, here's what we do know:

Russell's lethargic stats in today's loss:

12 of 33 for 128 yds 0 interceptions
1 fumble lost / endzone sack safety