Here is somemore fuel to the already hot Fire.
Tony, you are almost alone here.
http://community.foxsports.com/blog...e_to_the_RaidersDO_NOT_DRAFT_JAMARCUS_RUSSELL
Note to the Raiders.....DO NOT DRAFT JAMARCUS RUSSELL!!!
Mar 07, 2007 | 7:24AM | report this
While most NFL Draft Prognosticators are predicting Oakland will draft JaMarcus Russell, I'm telling you that this would be an absolutely disastrous pick for the franchise and would serve as the final nail (both real and proverbial) in the Raiders coffin. While I'm not ready to say who the Raiders should draft with the first pick (actually I have a pretty good idea who I think they should pick but more on that in the next blog I post), here are the top 5 reasons the Raiders should stay away from JaMarcus Russell:
5) Nobody was talking about Russell before the Sugar Bowl. All season long we heard about Brady Quinn, Adrian Peterson, Calvin Johnson, Gaines Adams, or Joe Thomas contending for the top pick in the draft. John Clayton deemed this to be be "Brady Quinn's draft" before the NFL combine. I am always skeptical of players at any position that rise up the draft board based on a single game or what they do at the combine. This is especially true at the Quarterback position where using a top pick on a QB is often a make or break move for a franchise. Look how long the Chargers suffered after taking Ryan Leaf or how the Redskins suffered after taking Heath Shuler. You need to be wary of taking a QB with the top pick in the draft. Speaking of the combine, I know I would be concerned over the fact that Russell came in looking "a little flabby."
4) Not the right piece for a screwed up puzzle. If you want to see a recipe for disaster, this is it. You take a 31 year old first time Head Coach, two malcontent receivers in Moss and Porter, a wretched Offensive line and you throw in an unproven rookie QB who has had his work ethic questioned and his ability to read defenses scrutinized and you have what could turn out to be the greatest football disaster ever witnessed. Now you factor in this sideshow playing in front of 70,000 mad, rabid, crazed and drunken Raiders fans and the picture gets even uglier. Then you factor in the first time the hated Broncos come to town and the Russell has to face a secondary that includes Pro Bowlers Champ Bailey, Dre Bly and John Lynch and it would really be like watching a train wreck. It would be the most gruesome spectacle ever seen on television. If the Raiders had a more seasoned Head Coach (a Belichick, a Shanahan, a Dungy, a Cowher) then this could possibly work. The fact that the Raiders have a 31 year old Head Coach with NO HEAD COACHING EXPERIENCE at any level, only one year of NFL coaching experience (Kiffin was the Jaguars "Defensive Quality Control Coach" in 2000...whatever the heck that is) does factor into this situation. Lets face it, nine years ago Kiffin was a Graduate Assistant at Fresno State and you're telling me that in less than ten years he can go from Graduate Assistant at a middling program to NFL Head coach? that's like going from legislative intern to U.S. Senator in three election cycles. It just doesn't happen!
3) He can't run and he's not mobile. Now I'm not saying that to be an NFL Quarterback you have to run. What I am saying is that when you play behind the worst Offensive Line in football, you have to be able to move in and out of the pocket. To be able to use the arm that can chuck a football 50 yards down the field, you need pass protection that will hold up while your receiver gets 50 yards down the filed. The Raiders O-Line is the worst in football. Statistically speaking they were the worst rated offense in the NFL in 2006. They gave up a league leading 72 sacks. The Lions gave up the second most at 63 sacks. That's nine sacks worse over 16 games. They were the only team in the NFL to lose over 400 yards from sacks. Do you really think it matters whether Russell can throw the ball 15 yards or 50 yards? Do you really think a rookie QB with a questionable work ethic and can't read defenses who is slow of foot can win in a situation like this? No way. Just check out the following image. This will happen to Russell about 80 times next year.
2) He will get eaten alive by the better pass defenses in the AFC East. Can you imagine what will be going through Russel's mind the first time he faces the Shawne Merriman and the Chargers pass rush? Can you fathom what Russell will be thinking the first time the Raiders play the Broncos and he is facing a secondary of Bailey, Bly and Lynch, three Pro-Bowlers? Can you contemplate wily old veterans (who stil have gas left in the tank) like Ty Law and Pat Surtain licking their chops at the prospect of facing a rookie QB when the Chiefs invade Oakland? Let's face it, a team can get better faster by building a running game, especially in the AFC West. There is absolutely no way the Raiders could build up their passing offense to be even remotely competitive in the AFC West next year.
1) He is just not an accurate passer. I spent this past weekend at the Nike Coach of the Year Football clinic in Orlando, Florida. One of the featured speakers on Saturday night was Les Miles, Head Coach at LSU. His session was on the LSU Red Zone offense. Now if you've never been to a football coaching clinic let me tell you what goes on in these sessions. Coaches will take a topic and bring in cut ups of game film from the past season and they will go through formations and plays that their teams ran. This is normally for the benefit of the High School coaches (or youth coaches like myself...Go Deland Knights!) who may be able to steal and idea or two from the film. Miles went through an hour of LSU Red Zone offensive plays from the 2006 season. Mind you, coaches usually only show the best plays for that particular scenario/situation so all we saw were the plays that Les Miles thought were the best executed plays in the redzone by the LSU offense. After watching about 30 red zone offensive plays I was in shock, as was much of the audience. How is it possible that a room full of youth and high school coaches can see that Russell is a terrible red zone QB but the Raiders can't see it. I can't tell you how many plays Russell was late getting off his throw, how many times he threw to a double or triple teamed receiver while another receiver was wide open or how many times he threw behind the receiver. Other than the post/corner route where he threw a pretty ball, Russel's passes were ugly. Panther, Mesh, T-Slop, Power Pass (all LSU offensive terminologies), it didn't matter. The passes were ugly. Let's face it folks, if you can't make it n the Red Zone in the NFL, you are done for. I counted at least 8-10 touchdowns that LSU scored that would have been picked off passes in the NFL. Now you might say that Russell only threw eight interceptions last year and that he's a fairly accurate passer. To that I would say, check his stats. Sure he racked up big numbers against inferior teams but let's see how he stacked up against better teams. I will give a team and follow that up with his touchdown and interception numbers for that game:
Louisiana-Lafayette - 3/0
Arizona - 2/1
Tulane - 2/0
Mississippi State - 3/0
Kentucky - 2/0
Fresno State - 2/0
Alabama - 3/0
Ole Miss - 3/0
Arkansas - 2/0
TOTAL - 19 Touchdowns, 1 Interception
Now you look at these numbers and say "Frank, you're crazy! Nineteen touchdowns and only 1 interception! Draft him, sign him, break the bank and hand over the franchise to him!" Of course, as my buddy Lee Corso says "not so fast my friend." let's see how Russell fared against the better defenses he faced, the defenses that are probably a lot closer to what he'll see in the NFL:
Florida - 1/3
Tennessee - 3/3
Notre Dame - 2/1
Auburn - 0/0
TOTAL - 6 Touchdowns, 7 Interceptions
Now I don't even think Notre Dame's defense was that good. Florida and Tennessee were probably the best defenses he faced all year and he threw six picks in those two games. Sure his overall stats for the season were great but there are no Louisiana - Lafayette's in the NFL. No Kentucky's, Tulane's, Fresno's or Arizona's in the NFL. The Florida defense was probably the absolute closest thing to an NFL defense and even they aren't as good defensively as the Chargers, Chiefs or Broncos.
Now you might say that the defenses will be better in the NFL but the offensive support that Russell gets will also be better in the NFL. I would say refer to points three and four above.
So if they don't take Russell, who should they take? I'm not going to get into that now but I will give you a little hint....
Tony, you are almost alone here.
http://community.foxsports.com/blog...e_to_the_RaidersDO_NOT_DRAFT_JAMARCUS_RUSSELL
Note to the Raiders.....DO NOT DRAFT JAMARCUS RUSSELL!!!
Mar 07, 2007 | 7:24AM | report this
While most NFL Draft Prognosticators are predicting Oakland will draft JaMarcus Russell, I'm telling you that this would be an absolutely disastrous pick for the franchise and would serve as the final nail (both real and proverbial) in the Raiders coffin. While I'm not ready to say who the Raiders should draft with the first pick (actually I have a pretty good idea who I think they should pick but more on that in the next blog I post), here are the top 5 reasons the Raiders should stay away from JaMarcus Russell:
5) Nobody was talking about Russell before the Sugar Bowl. All season long we heard about Brady Quinn, Adrian Peterson, Calvin Johnson, Gaines Adams, or Joe Thomas contending for the top pick in the draft. John Clayton deemed this to be be "Brady Quinn's draft" before the NFL combine. I am always skeptical of players at any position that rise up the draft board based on a single game or what they do at the combine. This is especially true at the Quarterback position where using a top pick on a QB is often a make or break move for a franchise. Look how long the Chargers suffered after taking Ryan Leaf or how the Redskins suffered after taking Heath Shuler. You need to be wary of taking a QB with the top pick in the draft. Speaking of the combine, I know I would be concerned over the fact that Russell came in looking "a little flabby."
4) Not the right piece for a screwed up puzzle. If you want to see a recipe for disaster, this is it. You take a 31 year old first time Head Coach, two malcontent receivers in Moss and Porter, a wretched Offensive line and you throw in an unproven rookie QB who has had his work ethic questioned and his ability to read defenses scrutinized and you have what could turn out to be the greatest football disaster ever witnessed. Now you factor in this sideshow playing in front of 70,000 mad, rabid, crazed and drunken Raiders fans and the picture gets even uglier. Then you factor in the first time the hated Broncos come to town and the Russell has to face a secondary that includes Pro Bowlers Champ Bailey, Dre Bly and John Lynch and it would really be like watching a train wreck. It would be the most gruesome spectacle ever seen on television. If the Raiders had a more seasoned Head Coach (a Belichick, a Shanahan, a Dungy, a Cowher) then this could possibly work. The fact that the Raiders have a 31 year old Head Coach with NO HEAD COACHING EXPERIENCE at any level, only one year of NFL coaching experience (Kiffin was the Jaguars "Defensive Quality Control Coach" in 2000...whatever the heck that is) does factor into this situation. Lets face it, nine years ago Kiffin was a Graduate Assistant at Fresno State and you're telling me that in less than ten years he can go from Graduate Assistant at a middling program to NFL Head coach? that's like going from legislative intern to U.S. Senator in three election cycles. It just doesn't happen!
3) He can't run and he's not mobile. Now I'm not saying that to be an NFL Quarterback you have to run. What I am saying is that when you play behind the worst Offensive Line in football, you have to be able to move in and out of the pocket. To be able to use the arm that can chuck a football 50 yards down the field, you need pass protection that will hold up while your receiver gets 50 yards down the filed. The Raiders O-Line is the worst in football. Statistically speaking they were the worst rated offense in the NFL in 2006. They gave up a league leading 72 sacks. The Lions gave up the second most at 63 sacks. That's nine sacks worse over 16 games. They were the only team in the NFL to lose over 400 yards from sacks. Do you really think it matters whether Russell can throw the ball 15 yards or 50 yards? Do you really think a rookie QB with a questionable work ethic and can't read defenses who is slow of foot can win in a situation like this? No way. Just check out the following image. This will happen to Russell about 80 times next year.
2) He will get eaten alive by the better pass defenses in the AFC East. Can you imagine what will be going through Russel's mind the first time he faces the Shawne Merriman and the Chargers pass rush? Can you fathom what Russell will be thinking the first time the Raiders play the Broncos and he is facing a secondary of Bailey, Bly and Lynch, three Pro-Bowlers? Can you contemplate wily old veterans (who stil have gas left in the tank) like Ty Law and Pat Surtain licking their chops at the prospect of facing a rookie QB when the Chiefs invade Oakland? Let's face it, a team can get better faster by building a running game, especially in the AFC West. There is absolutely no way the Raiders could build up their passing offense to be even remotely competitive in the AFC West next year.
1) He is just not an accurate passer. I spent this past weekend at the Nike Coach of the Year Football clinic in Orlando, Florida. One of the featured speakers on Saturday night was Les Miles, Head Coach at LSU. His session was on the LSU Red Zone offense. Now if you've never been to a football coaching clinic let me tell you what goes on in these sessions. Coaches will take a topic and bring in cut ups of game film from the past season and they will go through formations and plays that their teams ran. This is normally for the benefit of the High School coaches (or youth coaches like myself...Go Deland Knights!) who may be able to steal and idea or two from the film. Miles went through an hour of LSU Red Zone offensive plays from the 2006 season. Mind you, coaches usually only show the best plays for that particular scenario/situation so all we saw were the plays that Les Miles thought were the best executed plays in the redzone by the LSU offense. After watching about 30 red zone offensive plays I was in shock, as was much of the audience. How is it possible that a room full of youth and high school coaches can see that Russell is a terrible red zone QB but the Raiders can't see it. I can't tell you how many plays Russell was late getting off his throw, how many times he threw to a double or triple teamed receiver while another receiver was wide open or how many times he threw behind the receiver. Other than the post/corner route where he threw a pretty ball, Russel's passes were ugly. Panther, Mesh, T-Slop, Power Pass (all LSU offensive terminologies), it didn't matter. The passes were ugly. Let's face it folks, if you can't make it n the Red Zone in the NFL, you are done for. I counted at least 8-10 touchdowns that LSU scored that would have been picked off passes in the NFL. Now you might say that Russell only threw eight interceptions last year and that he's a fairly accurate passer. To that I would say, check his stats. Sure he racked up big numbers against inferior teams but let's see how he stacked up against better teams. I will give a team and follow that up with his touchdown and interception numbers for that game:
Louisiana-Lafayette - 3/0
Arizona - 2/1
Tulane - 2/0
Mississippi State - 3/0
Kentucky - 2/0
Fresno State - 2/0
Alabama - 3/0
Ole Miss - 3/0
Arkansas - 2/0
TOTAL - 19 Touchdowns, 1 Interception
Now you look at these numbers and say "Frank, you're crazy! Nineteen touchdowns and only 1 interception! Draft him, sign him, break the bank and hand over the franchise to him!" Of course, as my buddy Lee Corso says "not so fast my friend." let's see how Russell fared against the better defenses he faced, the defenses that are probably a lot closer to what he'll see in the NFL:
Florida - 1/3
Tennessee - 3/3
Notre Dame - 2/1
Auburn - 0/0
TOTAL - 6 Touchdowns, 7 Interceptions
Now I don't even think Notre Dame's defense was that good. Florida and Tennessee were probably the best defenses he faced all year and he threw six picks in those two games. Sure his overall stats for the season were great but there are no Louisiana - Lafayette's in the NFL. No Kentucky's, Tulane's, Fresno's or Arizona's in the NFL. The Florida defense was probably the absolute closest thing to an NFL defense and even they aren't as good defensively as the Chargers, Chiefs or Broncos.
Now you might say that the defenses will be better in the NFL but the offensive support that Russell gets will also be better in the NFL. I would say refer to points three and four above.
So if they don't take Russell, who should they take? I'm not going to get into that now but I will give you a little hint....
