Russell not the problem in Oakland

The Raiders have finally decided to bench JaMarcus Russell. In his place the Raiders will start Bruce Gradkowski. Who? Exactly.

The Raiders are a bad team, I think it’s painfully obvious for some time now. Why is that though? I know everyone is talking about why people shouldn’t gang up on Russell because of the recent success of other “first round bust” Vince Young. It’s impossible to tell if someone’s a bust until the end of their career so I have to agree with that.

But the bigger picture here is the team itself. Right now Russell is a reflection of the Oakland Raiders. He doesn’t seem to care about anything and neither do they.

So does this start from the top with Al Davis? No way! If you don’t think Al Davis cares about winning you don’t know Al Davis. Then where is the breakdown. If you find that then you find the problem.

The Davis mantra of Just Win Baby doesn’t seem to be getting across to any of the other people in the organization. How can that be? Davis has a few people he trusts to help him run the team. Maybe someone is spitting on his cupcake and calling it icing.

The communication seems to be breaking down at many levels on that team. But when you look at it, the communication should be between the head coach, the GM and the owner. If that’s the case then there may be the possibility of sabotage in their somewhere.

That possibility means that people are lying to other people within the organization. If Al Davis is being misinformed on the operations on his team then the person responsible shouldn’t be allowed in football.

Related posts:

1. Oakland keeping it close to the vest
2. Ocho + the Black Hole = Viewers