Sunday, November 28, 2010

Raiders Quarterback Carousel Won't End Soon

By Rick Richardson

Start Bruce! No, give Campbell a fair shot! These are the shouts of a Raider Nation that has endured more than their fair share of turmoil.

Neither is the answer.

Bruce Gradkowski is the short-term band-aid. He is a spark that has been missing but ends up being reckless with his body and the ball in a desperate attempt at one final effort of NFL relevancy. His heart is limitless even if his talent in finite.

“The Bruce” is easy to root for; he has every thing you need for stardom except one thing…big league talent. He could be good, maybe even really good in an offense that could run on anybody and allow him to play within his game. However, these Raiders are not there yet as the Steelers demonstrated. Last weeks drubbing sent a blue print to the rest of the league. If you stop the Raiders run game it gets ugly in a hurry.

Jason Campbell reminds you of the old 7-UP commercials touting their aversion to caffeine. “Never had it and never will”. Great guy, but even his latest comment leaves you questioning his passion for the game. As per Raidernews.com Campbell is quoted as saying,

“We’re at home, and the main thing about it is we just need to bring the energy into our stadium, no matter what’s going on. I feel like, for the most part in this season, I had a pretty good year, and hey, we lost two tough games, but that happens.

After that last sentence, somewhere Rich Gannon just threw up a little.

The Raiders and their faithful have had more than their share of “oh well, stuff happens” emanating from the leader on the field. The JaMarcus Russell experiment gave the Raiders enough lethargy and apathy to fill and empty Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

So don’t blame them if it seems a little quick to pull the plug on Campbell.

Campbell brings no energy or urgency. His delivery is painfully slow and a defensive backs dream. His only redeeming feature is an athleticism that shows up only enough to tease you with potential.

The only solution for the Raiders is a Gradkowski band aide until a quarterback handpicked by Hue Jackson in next years draft can be groomed to take the reigns. A quarterback that can match Jackson’s fire and intelligence working within his system could be the quarterback whom the Raider faithful are searching.