By Paul Wexler
RaiderBeat.com Staff Writer
Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell is under fire from fans, coach Tom Cable and others about playing better.
Russell said Thursday that he realizes that he needs to perform better. He also insists that his confidence remains high and that good times are on the horizon.
“We still have a lot of football to go,” Russell said. “Just clean up some things within ourselves. It’s gonna be OK, I promise. Just take my word. Rich said it before about the playoffs. But just take my word that things are gonna get better. I can’t tell you when, but I know they are.”
Russell was referring to defensive lineman Richard Seymour’s on-air guarantee of the Raiders making it to the AFC Playoffs this season for the first time since 2002.
Backup quarterback Charlie Frye said he is impressed by the way Russell has responded to being benched Sunday against the New York Jets.
Frye said that Russell arrived to work in Alameda, Calif., on Wednesday at 6:30 a.m., a full 90 minutes before a team meeting. He also said that he, Russell and Bruce Gradkowski are one of the hardest working quarterbacks corps in the NFL.
Frye knows a thing or two about what Russell is going through. He was the flavor of the month with the Cleveland Browns at one point early in his career, struggled, was benched and the source of derision from fans before he was traded to the Seattle Seahawks.
Russell for the first time accepted responsibility for some of the things that went wrong in the Jets game.
“(There were) mistakes out there,” Russell said. “Everybody saw that. Good or bad, take that in stride and learn from it, no matter what it is, and time you go back and put the small things into details, you know, you can just learn from the mistakes.”
Russell said after the Jets game that he was content with his reads and the decisions he made before he was replaced by Gradkowski.
Cable wasn’t pleased at all, as evidenced by him benching Russell. The next day, Cable said he met with Russell and made sure that he understood what was wrong with his play.
“The fact that he’s had a chance to look at it after Sunday and take some responsibility for those kinds of things, it just adds to his motivation,” Cable said. “He’s got to get better.”
Wide receiver Chaz Schilens did not practice for the second straight day. In other words, don’t expect to see him make his season debut Sunday against the Chargers.
Left guard Robert Gallery made it through practice for the second straight day and remains on track for a successful return from the broken leg he suffered Sept. 20. He isn’t apt to play this Sunday, given Cable said Chris Morris will be the left guard Sunday.
Cable said Gallery is questionable for the Chargers game. Worst case, it appears as if the Raiders will have back Schilens and Gallery for the Nov. 15 game against the Kansas City Chiefs at the Oakland Coliseum, along with running back Darren McFadden, offensive tackle Cornell Green and kick returner Nick Miller.
Cable says the Raiders work extensively on tackling twice a week, every week. So, for the tackling issues to be a lingering issue is “very disappointing.”
He said the Raiders missed 15 tackles against the Jets. That helped the Jets rack up 316 yards rushing last Sunday.
The Raiders are 30th against the run so far this season, at an average of 169.7 yards. Worse, they are only 19 yards ahead of the 32nd-ranked defense.
Things are so bad against the run that the Raiders are 10 yards worse per game this season than they were last season.
Michael Huff will start at free safety against the Chargers on Sunday ahead of Hiram Eugene. He started against the Jets, as well, and will remain in the starting lineup as long as plays as well as he has this season.
His return to the starting lineup marks the culmination of a long journey for Huff. He was benched by Cable after the New Orleans Saints game last season. That was Cable’s first game after taking over for Lane Kiffin.
Since that point, Huff has worked hard on his open-field tackling, learning the defense better and making sure that once he got back the starting job he doesn’t give it back with inconsistent play.
“A great deal,” Cable said, when asked how far along Huff has come the past year or so. “I remember when I first got here in ’07, a good athlete, can run, can cover and all that, but he really just didn’t have that real get after it in terms of a tackler.
“When he got sat down last year and went to being a predominant special teams player, he really developed himself as a tackler. It has showed since that point, and he’s been very, very good for us this year.”
Cable added that Huff isn’t alone in learning that it takes more than talent to excel in the NFL and that most players discover at some point that they need to work harder to succeed than they did in high school and college.
“If truth be known, there’s probably more guys go through that transition than the other way,” Cable said. “These guys are so talented and when you come out of college, you’re kind of the big guy or the best or whatever, and then you get here and everybody is like that.
“So, the ones who have been prepared for it in college, if you take that next step, and you’re lucky enough, too, it’s going to be even more challenging. But there’s very few, really, that are prepared to do that when they come. So, there’s probably a lot more that go through that then we realize sometimes.”
Rookie receiver Louis Murphy was unable to make it through practice Thursday because of a hip injury he suffered at an earlier time.
The Raiders can’t afford to be without Murphy’s services against the Chargers, given he has been the only consistent wide receiver the first seven games.
Johnnie Lee Higgins and Todd Watkins would get additional playing time Sunday if Murphy can’t play or is limited.
Cornerback Chris Johnson aggravated a groin injury and also was unable to make it through practice. Again, he’s a player the Raiders cannot afford to be without Sunday.
If he can’t play, Stanford Routt would start in his place, with Jonathan Holland pressed into a heightened role as an extra defensive back.
San Diego’s wide receivers are tall, strong and fast, perhaps more so than any other receivers group in the league.
“When you go out on the field, you think you have a bunch of power forwards out there, and they’re all wide receivers,” Cable said. “Great looking group of guys. There’s no one I’ve seen in football like that.”
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Big ups for gallery getting healthy so soon (5 weeks for a broken leg is that not some kind of record) i dont care what anyone says hes been a huge loss to the team. how many people have threw Huff under the bus, nice to see him returning to the starting line up and making some plays this year. im hoping to see no34 get some playing time this week also. Oh and tyvon branch is better then gibril wilson, just looking for positives raidernation
jfat arrived early wow doesnt matter how early he gets thier until it shows on the field..fuck him…looks like after the bye we will be at full strength first time all year good we need to go on a run and win 8 in a row..yeah stop dreaming ..just hope we keep it close against the dolts GO RAIDERZZZZZZZZZZZZ
We need Gallery and Schilens for sure. Not sure where McFadden is or if he will help. Hopefully Barnes will improve at RT because he is young enough to stay for awhile and Green can be a backup. Most importantly, we need Russell to mature and put in the extra time to study defenses. Young QB’s don’t always succeed right away, but they try harder than what we are seeing.
jamarcus leaf showed up early for the first time in his career… and frye saw it… which means frye was already there. whats early to jbust is normal for frye. this is NOT news for committed players, you NEVER hear stories of brees or the mannings showing up early, cause they’re already there and grinding, have already watched film on the opposition multiple times over by the time jbust walks into the krispy kreme on his way to work.
if were back to full strength for KC with chaz, dmc, and gallery, we better demolish them! no close win. absolute ass beating. anything less will be very upsetting cause if we cant run over a pathetic team with our full crew, we may as well throw in the towel for the season.
Nice to see JR admit his bad play, thats always the first step in getting better, im staying positive all the way.
GO RAIDERS!!!
Jbust arrived early before the jelly donuts were gone, but I’m glad to see other players are getting back…JaFatus will be the last to leave too, till there’s no dinner left, ….what a freaking joke we have as a leader……MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE, PUT JAGRIMACE ON HIS PLACE, THE BENCH
destroySD - CLASSIC.You couldnt have said it any better.Do you think jbust picks up krispy kremes for the rest of the team or just himself???Frye was probubly coming out of the film room when jbust got there.
Hopefully Jamarcus had an epiphany and maybe this is a sign of something good to come. This is a young team, never expected much out of them this year. I only care about improvement. If JRuss and the other fellas can improve through the rest of the year, that is a good thing. For starters we are using two rookie receivers and our best receiver is a second year receiver with a broken foot. On top of all that, we are playing with a makeshift O-line because of injuries. And, the defense has played okay in 3 games and horrible in the rest. I really hope nobody (other than Richard Seymour) felt we were going to be playoff contenders this year. If so please give me some of what you were smoking. On second thought, no thanks, after it wears off it might make me as negative as some of you have been.
I wonder if Chris Johnson can’t go Sunday have they thought about movin’ Tyvone Branch to CB and puttin’ Mike Mitchel & Huff at the Safety spots? If I recall right didn’t Branch play CB at UConn? I think that would be something to think about…GO RAIDERS!!
i dont understand why mitchell hasnt been put in to help against the run. that guy can hit. he was drafted on his tackling ability and if are problem is tackling why not put him in. it worked well for me on madden. lol
haha funny shit about russell. i think al davis posted a morning all u can eat pancake breakfast the previous day. he wanted to be first in line.
I’m starting to think this Schilens injury is a load of crock!That’s what what happens when you’re not Al’s #1 pick.You get put on the back burner.
We should play a 4-2-3 on defense with Mitchell as a hybrid S/LB.
O WOW ROUTT GONNA START?, THATS MORE THAN ENOUGH, WERE DONE… OK SO MURPHY OUT AND WATKINS OR HIGGINS? R U SERIOUS WHAT ABOUT WALKER??? SAME B.S. WEEK IN WEEK OUT….. LETS GO RAIIIDAAAHZZZ!!!!
dhb fan DO U MEAN A 4-2-5 AND I DISAGREE I THINK WE NEED TO PLAY A 5-2-4
I think Routt in for CJ is a good thing.
CJ has got burned one too many times this year and Routt did great coming in for Nnam against Philly.
Holland and our safties covering Nanee and Floyd doesn’t scare me nearly as much as LT and Sproles.
Funny how all the guys that get burned week after week keep getting the nagging injuries. There tired of getting burned is more like it. I’m scared of them covering and tackling to be honest. We have no depth and the starters aren’t really good enough to compete at the level we need them to. Gonna be another long one this week, especially since it appears Cable will start JR again even though Grad outplayed him last week. With the embarrassment factor at it’s highest now, it’s a wonder that any of them are eager to take the field really.
spookyraider i agree!! where the hell has mike mitchell been all season.. that dude is a fumble causing machine!!! if we are having troubles tackling… put him in!!!
Start giving Gradkowski more reps in practice!
I have a lot of respect for Nnamdi Asomugha. Here’s a highly intelligent player who works very hard to be the best there is.
He says: “We can only go as far as our QB cab take us”.
That’s the truth. Russell says he has started practicing harder and that’s great, but if best intentions won games we’d be higher than 2 and 5.
Gradkowski came in to a bad situation and put up TWICE the QB rating as Russell; and that’s saying something since he has not had the experience being on the field.
Give him more reps and give this kid a shot.
I really don’t see how backing a losing pony is going to get us out of this rut.
NFL teams have backups for a reason and it’s not just to replace injured players, but poorly performing ones as well.
Good luck to Gallery. Wait another game, heal properly and come back after the bye week to boost our line.
maybe the benching of Jbust is just what he needed. every other game he played terrible in he said he never once thought that cable would bench him so maybe this knocked him down to reality. so hopefully he will start to put in some hard work and get better. the seasons pretty much over anyway so they might as well see if Jbust can get better that way they can either cut his overpaid ass and draft a qb in this years draft or he gets better and they keep him. if i was Al i would want this guy to play too there is just to much money invested in this guy to call it quits right now.
I FEEL SO BAD FOR US TRUE FANS …AL DAVIS DRAFTS A FATASS QB. DON’T MIND HE EATS LIKE A HORSE. THE FACT HE WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE AND THE GUY CANNOT USE PROPER ENGLISH. AND HE GET TO WOKK 30 MIN EARLY WOW WOW WITH THAT WORK ETHIC NEVER MIND THE PLAYOFF WE WON THE SUPER BOWL ALREDY. HE’S SO STUPID ITS NOT EVEN FUNNY
F. ..AL DAVIS F…TOM CABLE….F FATASS CHECK COLLECTOR .WOW I FEEL ALOT BETTER
IF EVERYONE NOTICE FATASS RUSSELL GETTING THERE EARLY ,,UM UM THAT MEANS ALL THE PLAYERS GOT THERE BEFORE HIM ..WOW WOW THANKS FOR YOUR DEDICATION AND HARD WORK MR RUSSELL..
Didn’t JR say the same in OTA’s and then go missing from them after a minimal showing? It’s a good start if it remains, let’s see how long he keeps it up or just for immediate response to the situation. Next, loose the ear bling, and the hat, chat it up on the sidelines,show some emotion, and stop being so mechanical on the field. Loosen up and use your eyes- see the defenders coming at you, move around in the pocket to avoid the rush and quit locking in on your primary- a little dump off pass is better than a sack and fumble. Can’t get to the bye week soon enough and the anticipated return of some spark players the following week.
JR is so stupid he just got confused and set his clock back a few days early. We go back to standard time this Sunday morning at 2:00 am JR. Go back to bed dummy.
Is it just me or do you think our team plays better when criticised? It seems that this team plays harder when they are trying to prove that they are a good team. I think that we definitely need to bring back Chucky. He never seemed satisfied with his players no matter how good they were performing thats what this team needs. For some reason the Raiders are fine with being good for a half or good for a game. Coach Gruden wouldn’t allow our players to become complacent.
lets just hope gallery can comeback good. That really slowed our offensive preoduction. And jamarcus no hussle sounds confident . If i were cable id be scrimmaging for practice ., just tell number two theres no red jerseys in his fat ass size. He NEEDS to get hit hard. I wish romanowski was five years younger he woulda kept that fool on check
AL CAN OUR DEFENSE BLITZ THIS GAME ? And play zone coverage too?
Brian I wasn’t counting the DBs.I disagree with you.For one teams like to motion their best WRs to the slot to match up against our LBs and Ss. Why not have two safties that can cover in Huff and Mitchell and let Branch roam and help out where ever he can.Teams are looking to match up their WRs against Branch because he’s not that good of a cover man.
Sorry,wasn’t counting our corners*,not DBs.
I am so fed up with the Raiders. The draft is a telling sign about what has happened to this team. Poor draft pick and poor draft pick. JBust and DHB just are not good football players. DHB is a track guy with a football uniform on. It pains to see such bad football. If we do not address the 0-line, we will never get anywhere. We need better front office people and better scouting. The fact that they keep playing these players is all about the money they invested. Murphy is a much better football player than DHB, to give DHB all that money is a shame. Crabtree has more catches than DHB after one game than the entire season.
It is just unbelievable!!!!Fed up Raiders fan!!!!
I hope Johnson is able to play sunday!Can you imagine the field day Rivers and company will have against Routt?It could get very ugly very early if Johnson is a no go!!! Also we need to run Fargas more. We had success with the run against the jets,but Cable gave up on it to early.We proved in the mondaynight game that we can go toe to toe with the chargers!This is a very beatable team.Imo they’re one of the most over rated teams in the nfl. If the Raiders come in confident and don’t give up ,they can win this one!!!After the bye we have K.C. this is where we can get back in the mix in the west!GO RAIDERS!!!!!
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