Assessing Russell’s accuracy

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, October 14, 2008  |  Comments( 107 )

Oakland Raiders
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In writing up Oakland Raiders-New Orleans Saints game" target="_new">a preview of the Oakland Raiders-New Orleans Saints game of last weekend, this prognosticator assessed JaMarcus Russell in part thusly:

...one wonders when the last time a dude who looked to have this much natural ability was this erratic for this long. Russell fires bullets, but the occasional duck emerges (on, like, one of every three passes). Sometimes the guy’s precision is admirable – just one interception in 99 attempts is none too shabby – but his completion rate is a lamentable 54.5 percent.

In response, the virtual inbox for email was increased by one when this writer received a note from a presumed member of Raider Nation, one Brian S. Huth, stating:

Dude, you must not have watched the Raiders play much this year. If the receivers could hang onto the ball, his percentage would be over 60%. He’s not erratic like you say.

Ouch, that hurts. No, not the critique from the Nation – attempt to write up the Raiders objectively and sooner or later you grow impervious to those particular slings and arrows – but rather from the assessment “you must not have watched the Raiders play much this year.”

Geez, in actuality, I’ve spent a goodly amount of my Sundays and/or Mondays watching every single play in every single Oakland game via NFL Network. On the other hand, I’ve been wrong before and would readily admit it; maybe Brian was right … after all, that now-exactly 50 percent completion rate can’t all be on Russell, right? I mean, the Raiders do have one of the weakest receiving corps in the NFL, what with just under half Russell’s completions (32 of 67) hauled in by non-WRs.

So I took notes during the Saints game, noting each and every incompletion in order to assess a little blame. A bonanza of incompletions it was, too, with Russell attempting the second-most passes in a game in his NFL career thus far while recording a lowly 37.1 percent success rate against a suspect Saints aerial defense.

A few representative examples (assuming you actually have a life, readers won’t be subjected to an epic-length analysis on each of the 22 misses), with culprit(s) noted, run below.

First quarter, 9:57, second-and-6 at the New Orleans 6. In the end zone, Zach Miller beats his man but cannot make the stretching, driving catch on the pass way in front. Fault: Russell.

First quarter, 9:52, third-and-6 at the New Orleans 6. Russell threads the needle in triple coverage to find Johnnie Lee Higgins. Unfortunately for him, the TD pass is knocked away. Fault: No fault; good defense.

Second quarter, 2:00, third-and-7 at the New Orleans 39. After a series of three running plays plus a scramble, Russell and interim head coach Tom Cable apparently felt some sense of urgency, deciding to go deep here. Javon Walker has a couple of steps on Jason David in single coverage. Sadly, Russell guns the long ball too long, throwing high, long, and convincingly deep into the sideline area. Worse, this miscue essentially hands the ball back to the Saints after Sebastian Janikowski is called upon to attempt a 57-yarder. Fault: Russell.

Third quarter, 13:44, third-and-2 at the Oakland 24. Inexplicably not calling for a run play, Russell drops back, does that annoying baseball-pitcher windup he relies on when given a half-second too long to decide and throws well short to Walker. Nearly coming up with the incidental pick, David starts to become the stuff of Sunday night nightmares for Raider Nation. At this point, Russell is now 6 of 16 for the game. Fault: Russell.

Third quarter, 6:44, third-and-5 at the Oakland 33. From the shotgun, Russell telegraphs Ashley Lelie a bit and as a result has it picked off for only his second interception of the year to this point. Fault: A bit of Russell, but you knew David was going to get one before the end of the game.

Third quarter, 2:58, first-and-10 at the Oakland 46. Russell tosses Darren McFadden an easy one. McFadden can’t hold on, and it’s the third drop of the game by a Raider receiver. Fault: McFadden.

Third quarter, 2:52, second-and-10 at the Oakland 46. And then Lelie makes it four for the day on a pass a bit low but catchable. Fault: Lelie.

Third quarter, 2:46, third-and-10 at the Oakland 46. Seriously on the run from the pass rush – and this despite a holding call on Kwame Harris – Russell avoids a sack and manages to get a bit of a wobbler out to Michael Bush, who drops it. For this they called a timeout? Fault: Bush, with a big assist for the offensive line.

Fourth quarter, 13:37, first-and-10 at the Oakland 38. After an incomplete in which Russell and Miller appeared to be on different pages, Russell lofts one way too high for Ronald Curry, and the frustration boils over. Fault: Russell.

So in the final analysis, Russell would appear to be at least more erratic than necessary, as per previous assessment; potentially always a cannon, at times the young QB seems utterly uncertain of either his abilities or his teammates’. However, the six drops on 35 attempts in the Saints game is beyond poor play and blame here is shared by halfbacks and receivers alike. Of course, had those half-dozen miscues been completed, Russell’s line would have read as just 19 of 35, and 54 percent just won’t cut it, either.

In any case, surely we can all agree: JaMarcus Russell still has quite a way to go. Not what Raider Nation needs to hear, but hey …

Keep those emails coming!
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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CommentsComments: 107  |  Sign Up  View all comments
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No.1
The Shape		03:56 AM
10/14/2008
First All our Receivers Suck!!!! If Cable wants to salvage this season he has to start the other receivers that are riding the...
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No.2
Tommy		04:32 AM
10/14/2008
Don't worry Cable said that he is going to make changes at the WR postion. That means someone is getting benched! Move Curry and...
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No.3
06:30 AM
10/14/2008
Bench Curry, make him a WR3, he was good when he was aWR3. And I would like to see more of Schilens, he is tall, fast and he...
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