Dammit all to hell!

by Raybin on Nov 17, 2007 10:36 AM PST Comment 4 comments

On Friday, Kiffin told the Oakland Tribune that Andrew Walter will be the team's number two quarterback behind Daunte Culpepper on Sunday.
Two weeks ago, top pick Jamrcus Russell passed Walter on the depth chart at QB.
It was thought that Russell would see some action for the first time, but apparently he is not learning Oakland's system fast enough.

No one doubted that missing camp and pre-season hurt Russell a lot, but I'd hoped he'd be at least ready to step in and take a few snaps during a game at this point.

This likely deep-sixes him starting at Denver on 12/2. It's pretty much down to starting him against San Diego during the last game of the year. I can't believe, despite this, that he doesn't start at least one game this season.

In any case, this is a major disappointment. Russell's been coming in on days off, as well as arriving early/staying late during scheduled practices. He was a good student in school--was named an All American student/athlete or some such thing, so he's clearly very smart.

So it's not a lack of work ethic or brains that's impedeing him. If he's behind where he should be at this point, even despite all that valuable learning time missed, something must be up.

This is what drives me nuts about Kiff. He makes these seemingly inexplicable personnel moves--sticking with McClown, refusing to play Rhodes, keeping JaMarcus as third string despite the fact that he actually thought about playing him against the Texans (which you would think indicated he was almost ready to go).

There have to be good reasons for these...but he won't share them with the fanbase. I know a coach can't go shooting his mouth off about everything, but it seems to me he should throw us a bone about these things in some form.

There's no more frustrated fanbase in the league right now than Raider Nation. I think we're ready to give Kiff the benefit of the doubt and trust him...but he should try and relieve some of that frustration by trying to explain some of these things that are driving us nuts.

At this point, his actions basically say "Shut up and trust me."

Forgive me if, at 2-7, I'm skeptical about giving that trust 100 percent.

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Title changed from "Well, crap"

Because I feel "Dammit all to hell!" better reflects my feelings of disappointment and aggravation.

I've read some stuff recently that says Raiders fans are too quick to boo their team. Maybe so, but there are reasons for that--bigtime frustration. If the fans were told why things are the way they are, maybe we'd be more understanding.

by Raybin on Nov 17, 2007 10:43 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Before this news...

...I'd actually changed my mind about waiting until a home game to start JaMarcus.

The Dolphins are giving John Beck his first start in Philadelphia of all places. If they're willing to take that risk with their future--and they're worse off than the Raiders--surely JaMarcus could start at K.C. His first start ever in college was at Florida. He could handle it. (Or so ran my thought pattern until I read the above)

by Raybin on Nov 17, 2007 10:53 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

On the other hand...

...we could be going through the 49ers' hell right now:

He is scared...his body language is that of a defeated man. I don't give a rats ass what comeout of his mouth about confidence. His slumped shoulders and saucer eyes tell me everything that I need to know about his ability to lead a team and make snap decisions on the fly. ...Alex is doe-eyed, happy footed, slumped-shouder, over-throwing, locked-legged QB, who has never done anything extraordinary to win us a ballgame.

Full thread here

ESPN article...the whole thing is worth reading

Think about it, though: Smith was the No. 1 pick in 2005 mostly because he excelled in the fresh and innovative offensive scheme Urban Meyer created at the University of Utah. Meyer's version of the shotgun spread offense best utilized Smith's talents. It put a large number of receivers downfield, maximizing Smith's options and forcing him to make quick decisions. If nothing opened up quickly, Smith was fast enough and shifty enough to take off and gain yards in the middle of the mostly linebacker-free defense.
We have to assume that's what the 49ers saw when they scouted and evaluated Smith. Sure, there were combines that measured his athletic ability and psychiatric evaluations to assess his mental acuity, but the bulk of the available evidence came on the field in a University of Utah uniform.
So what do the 49ers do? They put Smith in a traditional offense, have him take seven-step drops behind an offensive line that is well below average in terms of pass blocking, and they wonder why they have the worst offense in a league full of bad offenses.
...
There is no reason, right now, to believe Smith will ever be considered anything other than a horrible drafting blunder by a team that couldn't afford one. But most of the blame seems to fall on Smith -- he doesn't have the right instincts, he doesn't have the arm strength, he doesn't have the savvy to lead a team.
...
And somewhere, lost amid the white noise of the myth-making and myth-killing machine, someone might make a footnote of the fact that nobody ever came close to putting Smith in a position to succeed.

Now the 49ers know how we felt with Andrew Walter last year. A big, promising college QB who was put in an utterly vanilla offense and forced to take 7 step drops behind a swiss cheese O-Line and giving no real coaching whatever. At least Walter was considerably less expensive.

Anyway, enough dumping on our rivals across the Bay. (For now). And enough talking to myself! :)

by Raybin on Nov 17, 2007 11:44 AM PST reply actions 0 recs