It is becoming clear that the Raiders’ offensive woes are not all the fault of JaMarcus Russell. The Raiders seriously need to do something to improve at the wide receiver position.
The Raiders had a chance to win the game by 1 point with a last second drive, but the drive was unsuccessful after important passes were dropped just as most passes were all game.
The defense looked impressive as usual, recording 3 turnovers and 2 sacks.
JaMarcus Russell was benched during a game for the second time this season and finished the game with 9 completions, 24 attempts, and 67 yards. Bruce Gradkowski, who came in for the benched Russell, finished 4 for 7, 46 yards, and 1 interception. It should be noted that Gradkowski’s interception wasn’t exactly his fault, he threw a perfect pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey who bobbled the pass up into the air for the defender to grab.
The Raiders and Chiefs are now 2-7. Next week the Raiders host the Bengals at home in Oakland.
November 16th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Lets get real. I’ve been a die-hard Raiders fan all of my life. I have nevered turned on “my” team. However, with career stats like 51.7% completion rate, 17 TOTAL TDs and 21 picks, there is only one question to ask. What are the Raiders thinking. You cannot saddle all of the blame on Russell. Management has hung it’s hat on him, and he simply is not capable of performing on a NFL level. They need to be held accountable as well. As far as recievers dropping passes, can you blame them? I honestly think half of the time, they are taken by supprise when the ball DOES get to them. The other half of the time, the ball is thrown so late, they are likely to catch a concussion if they do make the grab.
There is plenty of work to be done by the whole team, but if you can’t score, you can’t win.