JaMarcus Russell is the future and this team isn’t built to go deep in 2009, so we shouldn’t mortgage the future and damage Russell’s process in becoming the quarterback into the future. I don’t have any doubts: Russell should be the starting quarterback in the 2009 season.

Is a very talented QB and we are very lucky to have a QB such as him with his experience and consistent performances which Russell needs to learn. There is no way anyone here is shying away from the inevitable that Jamarcus Russell is our Quarterback for the Future. I won’t be surprised if Jeff starts a few games and Russell comes in the Third Quarter and try to mimic what Jeff did that is how he will learn the responsibility and the right way to lead a team. I am looking forward to how this will unfold.

Brother, I’m glad we signed Garcia, but he’s gotta play his role. Veteran back-up to the anointed starter, and only through injury should he see significant reps. Anything extra for him is a step backwards with JaMarcus, and we don’t need that. Don’t put our future on hold because we have a guy who thinks he can start.

echoes the others here, and I surely don’t think that Coach Cable wants a QB controversy. To me this season is about taking that next step; if that next step means more learning for the kid (under the wing of an established vet) and a 6-to-8 win season, so be it. The fact that this is a winnable division should not keep the Raiders from sticking with the plan.

I was about to slap some sense into you, but luckily you found your way towards the end. Jeff, like CommittedToExcellence said, has a role on the team, the back-up vet QB. J-Mac is our QB and is this decades QB for the Raiders.

My biggest concern about JR is his work ethic; it’s something you have, not something you learn. I don’t think JR has ever had to work for anything in football before cause his natural talent is so great; unfortunately it’s not enough to make you successful in the NFL. I say this because of Cable’s insistence that JR needs to take on the responsibility of an NFL QB and to start working harder.

Hopefully, because JR is still so young, Garcia will be able to teach proper work ethic. But like I said, work ethic isn’t something you really ever learn.

Regardless of when he should have started, the fact is that he started. I didn’t know that he started putting in the work yet. All I’ve been hearing is Cable talking about how he’s going to get him to do that. Hopefully JR will sustain this work cause it will pay off for all of us.

This work, his arm, Hackett (spelling?), Cable still coach, Garcia, and improving WR’s and OL all point to a great QB. Assuming JR continues to work and gets pushed (in a good way) this could be a very good season.

All of the moves that we’ve made this offseason have pointed in a stability for the organization and for JR. He has greatness written all over him, but he just needs the right pieces around him. He is the franchise QB, no doubt in my mind, and I’m hoping by signing Garcia we add a little fire under his butt so that he get’s moving toward that potential!!

D-Mac can play, and we saw that when he was playing with the injuries. Turf toes can only heal with rest and time; which is what the off season was for. Plus, he’s been working with Nike to develop a shoe that should help with the problem. You also have to remember that we have the fortunate problem of having four good RBs.

I don’t see what’s so wrong about bringing in a guy who has proven he can win games wherever he’s gone to be a backup QB once he’s realized that the NFL market won’t provide him with a starting job. The media all of a sudden thinks that there’s some kind of QB controversy or a “Bench Clock” on JaMarcus Russell. I wil admit that the QB depth chart is somewhat akin to Leinart and Warner or Young and Collins, but I guess I just don’t see Garcia outplaying Russell in the preseason, and we all know Garcia will be pushing Russell.

The fallacy the media talks about the most is “quarterback symmetry” between the starting and backup QB’s – believing that the backup QB should have the same skill set as the starting QB in order to be able to run the same offense. My response to that would be – if the backup QB could run the same offense, why is he a backup QB?

Garcia is a perfect backup to Russell; if for some reason Russell is out of the game the Raiders will rely even more heavily on the run, and Ted Tollner and Tom Cable will pull out some of the West Coast Offense Greatest Hits route trees for Garcia and the WR’s to dink and dunk in a game management way. At the same time, Garcia is still skilled enough to take his shots when he needs to, and the game wouldn’t be an automatic “L” if for whatever reason Russell isn’t in there.