The JaMarcus Russell Era officially began as soon as Tom Cable named Russell his starter for the September 14th Monday night season opener. Jeff Garcia had a calf injury that kept him from competing for the job. Cable gave JaMarcus an amazingly half-assed endorsement stating:
“I’ve said that it’s his job and we’ll see how it goes,” Cable said. “Unfortunately, Jeff hasn’t had much work. We’ve been fortunate in that JaMarcus has improved. It would have been nice to have someone really pushing him. Maybe we could get him to improve a little bit more.”
It’s hard to say there’s a lot of confidence in that declaration. With number one receiver Chaz Schilens on the shelf, the Raiders probably won’t have much of an aerial game to begin with. It could be another bad year in Oakland if JaMarcus Russell doesn’t step up in a hurry.
