Jeff Garcia Intends to Start for the Raiders

It is no secret that quarterback JaMarcus Russell has hit a few bumps in the road as he tries to become a prime time QB in the NFL, but after just two seasons are the Oakland Raiders justified to pull the rug from under the young quarterback's feet and hand the starting job over to veteran quarterback Jeff Garcia?

In my opinion, no, it isn't justified and the kid deserves one more shot before he gets dropped to the backup role. Obviously when the Raiders pick Russell number one in the draft a few years ago they were planning for the future and intending to make him the face of the franchise, but just the drastic mid season firing of head coach Lane Kiffin, Al Davis has absolutely no patience and wants to win as soon as possible.

Wanting to win in the NFL or any professional sport in the US for that matter is natural and admirable, but what Davis is asking for is just ridiculous. Yes, the Raiders have potential to be at least a playoff team, but the way he is imposing his will on the Raiders is not healthy and will continue to tear the team apart with frustrated coaches and unhappy players.

The Raiders went out an made somewhat of a drastic move by signing veteran quarterback Jeff Garcia to motivate Russell and secure the quarterback position as best they could for the next NFL season.

Garcia has been great quarterback throughout his career starting with another bay area team in the San Francisco 49ers where he had to deal with the ego of a young Terrell Owens. Once Garcia started to get on in years and the Niners started to drop off the veteran quarterback started to hop around the NFL with stops in Philadelphia and Tampa Bay before signing with the Oakland Raiders this offseason.

Some say Garcia is over the hill and others believe he still might have a few good years left in him like Kerry Collins in Tennessee. The one thing that has made Garcia successful every where he has gone has been his will to win and never say die attitude which he fully intends to bring with him to Oakland as he tries to compete for the starting job with JaMarcus Russell.

"Not knocking JaMarcus or anybody else on the team, but I have a belief in my own abilities," Garcia said in a phone interview from his home in San Diego.. "[That has] me feeling I am the best quarterback on the team. That's just how I approach the game."

The debate in Oakland now is: Who to start at quarterback?

JaMarcus Russell has tremendous upside with a cannon for an arm, quick feet and a big body, but he lacks experience and has had problems with his weight. Garcia on the other hand is a proven quarterback with experience and the competitive fire sorely lacking in Oakland.

Who will get the starting job? Honestly, I couldn't say, but I think they will either put Russell on a short leash and once he makes a mistake pull him out or start Garcia at the get go and have Russell use Garcia as a mentor.

Either way, it will be interesting to see what happens and who will be taking the snaps when the season begins.

Raiders Miss Out on Terrell Owens Sweepstakes

It seemed like a forgone conclusion that Terrell Owens would end up with the Oakland Raiders where all troubled stars in the NFL seem to land.

In somewhat of an unexpected move the Dallas Cowboys decided it was time to give TO the boot in Big D. Some may say they made a bad move, but in my opinion he is locker room poison who only cares about himself and will never change his destructive ways. Great player, very talented and a game changer, but at times nothing but a distraction.

Every NFL analyst was predicting it and Raider fans were waiting for it, but TO didn't end up signing with the Oakland Raiders after all. He may have been more trouble than a young JaMarcus Russell could handle, but he might have been the key ingredient the Raiders needed to become a force in the AFC West again.

No one could have seen it coming, but the Buffalo Bills were the team that eventually got their hands on Terrell Owens for a $6.5 million one year contract.

Smart move by Buffalo? I would say so. I don't think the guy will change, but maybe he will have better luck on a team that is not surrounded by the media like the Cowboys and Eagles.

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Tom Cable is the New Head Coach of the Oakland Raiders

Well, this decision seemed like to be inevitable. Crazy Raiders owner Al Davis has made his decision on the Oakland Raiders head coaching job, arguably the most undesired position in all NFL football.

With finishing the season they way he did I think Tom Cable was a no brainer to be the new head coach for the Raiders. First of all, I don't know a single coach who would want to come to Oakland right now with all the drama Lane Kiffin endured last season, but Tom Cable seems to be up to the task and in my opinion they got the right man for the job.

Cable did only win four games out of the eight he had coached to finish the season after Davis gave Kiffin the ax, but I would say that is one hell of an accomplishment considering the circumstances.

The Raiders may not be contenders for a few years, but after the team started to come together under Cable the future in Oakland looks brighter than it has in quite some time.

Darren McFadden didn't exactly have a season to remember, but not all rookie running backs are going to turn out like Adrian Peterson did in his first season. The one-two combo of Justin Fargas and McFadden will prove to be deadly in the near future as Fargas seemed to come into his own last season and McFadden will not be rushed into doing too much too soon.

JaMarcus Russell also seemed to have somewhat of a breakout season as well, not one like say Kurt Warner or Peyton Manning, but it has become obvious that Russell is starting to become more and more comfortable in the Raiders offense.

Needless to say, the Raiders for once have made the right decision by giving Cable a chance and the way things are looking Oakland will be poised to make some waves in the AFC in the coming years, especially if they make good use for the #10 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.

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Al Davis in No Hurry to Fill Raiders Head Coaching Position

Although Al Davis seems to always be famously quick on the trigger firing head coaches, he is not exactly taking quick action to hire a new one, but maybe that is for the best.

Davis isn't exactly in the good graces with anyone these days with his erratic and almost idiotic decision making, but I have to think he may have learned his lesson for being quick on the draw with this past decision like signing free agents DeAngelo Hall, Javon Walker and hiring a young head coach in Lane Kiffin.

It is pretty much common sense these days in professional sports that there is no such thing as instant success. Some teams get lucky by things coming together quicker than expected like the Atlanta Falcons experienced this season by gambling on rookie quarterback Matt Ryan and running back Michael Turner and having it pay off immediately, but that barely ever happens.

In the Oakland Raiders case, Al Davis tried way too hard to make a winner immediately by signing a bunch of overpriced free agents and expecting it to pay off without consequence. As everyone in the sports world knows, that didn't exactly turn out all that well as the Raiders lost a bunch of close games, fired a coach and paid a DeAngelo Hall a million per game for the eight games he played in silver and black before releasing him.

As for the the newly vacant head coaching position, interim coach Tom Cable should be the front runner for the job since he took a seemingly hopeless Raiders and turned into a team with promise going into next season.

I kind of get the feeling that some of the best available head coaches around aren't exactly going to be jumping at the chance to coach in Oakland with all the drama and a dictator like Al Davis running the show. No way in hell Mike Shanahan is going to go back to the Raiders, Bill Cowher has said he doesn't want to coach again and Eric Mangini will probably end up being the Cleveland Browns head coach.

Of course there are a ton of head coaches out there dying to get the chance to make the jump to the professional level in the NFL, but in my opinion, Cable should get the job.

Who knows what Davis is thinking or planning, but hopefully he gets some sense and doesn't make another rash decision going into 2009.

Raiders Shock Texans with Convincing Win in Week 16

The season is basically over, the playoffs were never a factor and the Oakland Raiders have arguably been the one NFL franchise filled with the most drama and bad blood this season, but they looked like a team out to prove something when they convincingly beat the Houston Texans last Sunday 27-16.

An 80 yard punt return for by Johnnie Lee Higgins, JaMarcus Russell near perfect with two passing touchdowns and no picks and the team playing they way they should have played all season, the Raiders were playing for some sense of dignity in a season filled with disappointment in Week 16.

At the end of the game the Texans just looked shocked, bruised and beaten as the Raiders just had their way with they by putting up 27 points and while holding Matt Schaub and company to only 16 points.

The Texans got one rushing touchdown from Vonta Leach mid way through the first quarter, but it was all down hill from there as they had to settle for field goals three times after their only touchdown of the game. The Raiders on the other hand got their game going early with a 20 yard passing touchdown from Russell to Chaz Schilens followed by two field goals from Sebastian Janikowski to close out the first quarter.

In the second quarter the Texans seemed to get back in it as they held the Raiders from scoring and got two field goals out of Kris Brown, but it was a different story in the third as Johnnie Lee Higgins pretty much took the game over with two touchdowns of his own. One from a 29 yard pass from Russell and the other an 80 yard punt return touchdown which put the game out of reach for the Texans.

Texans quarterback Matt Schaub who has been awesome since he returned from injury was no match for the Raiders defense as they picked him off once and held him to no touchdowns while sacking him three times. Even though he didn't look it against the Raiders, I believe Schaub will be one of the best quarterbacks in the league in the near future.

Although this was a great win for the Raiders in terms of seeing what can happen when both the offense and defense are clicking, it is just a shame that they couldn't get it together earlier in the season.

NEXT RAIDERS GAME: Oakland Raiders @ Tampa Bay Bucs Sunday, Dec. 28th 10am PST

Raiders Beat Down Hated Rival Denver Broncos

In what was supposed to be an easy win for the AFC West leading Denver Broncos, the Oakland Raiders had perhaps their best performance of the season as they pulled off the unlikely upset 31-10.

All season the Raiders have struggled as much as an NFL franchise can struggle. With a coaching change, a nutty dictator of an owner in Al Davis and injuries to their go to guys. Even though all this controversy and bad blood has been going on in Oakland, JaMarcus Russell and his Raiders came in Denver, where they are hated more than any Broncos opponent, and just destroyed their arch rivals.

Although their season is over unless both the San Diego Chargers and the Denver Broncos absolutely blow it to finish the season, which could happen, then the Raiders are just playing for pride.

With that being said, the Raiders made a huge statement Sunday by being the best offensive team on the gridiron in Denver. So far this season, Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler has been as impressive as you can be at that position as he consistently hooks up with up and coming wide out Brandon Marshall along with all the other talented receivers on the Broncos, but he just couldn't get the job done against a Oakland team determined to upset Mike Shanahan's boys in their house.

It was just the same old story for the Broncos in week 12 as they proved they still can't stop anyone with there pathetic defense. The Raiders just torched the Denver D, especially with the ground game. Both Darren McFadden had great games. McFadden hurt the Broncos with 2 rushing touchdowns while Justin Fargas gain all the yardage with 107 yards.

JaMarcus Russell also had a pretty decent game with one passing touchdown and 152 yards. Jay Cutler on the other hand had a nightmare of a game as he failed to throw a single touchdown and turned the football over twice, once with a fumble and another with an interception.

Although the Broncos are still in first place in the AFC West, it is painfully obvious that they still need a lot of work on the defensive side of football field. As for the Raiders, anything positive is good news in Oakland. They may be out of contention in the AFC West 3-8, but maybe they can take this win and build on it for the future.

NEXT MATCH UP WEEK 13: Kansas City Chiefs @ Oakland Raiders Sunday, Nov. 30th 1:15pm PST

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