(TFDSsports photo/Patrick A. Patterson)

Al Davis implored the Raider Nation to have patience with JaMarcus Russell, invoking one of the sacred names from Raider history along with other quarterbacks who have struggled early in their careers before finding success. However, most of those players are not valid comparisons to Russell's situation.

Those quarterbacks did not see a lot of wins early, but their struggles were not nearly as marked as Russell, as well as from an era when teams could afford patience. Thus far Russell is having a season that seems destined to invoke memories of the struggles of failed Raider quarterbacks Andrew Walter and Todd Marinovich.

Comparing Russell to Troy Aikman misses a few key points. True, Aikman was 1-15 in his rookie year, but the Cowboys rapidly built a team around him. He also improved each of his first three years. JaMarcus Russell is regressing in his second year as a starter.

In ten games his rookie year, Elway was 4-6 and had a passer rating of 54.9. In his second year he played in 14 games, winning twelve of them and had a passer rating of 76.8. This is a comparison that Russell definitely does not belong in.

Doug Williams came into a team that was historically bad in Tampa Bay and compiled a 4-6 record as a starter his rookie year. His second year the team went 10-6 to secure the first playoff bid in Tampa Bay history. His numbers weren't spectacular as he had a 53.4 rating in his rookie year and a 52.5 rating his second year. However, one would think that Davis would not want his prize draft pick to have a career arc similar to Williams's. Despite his Super Bowl win after he went to the Washington Redskins, his career numbers are pedestrian at best. His win loss record was 38-42-1, and his passer rating was 69.4.

Jim Plunkett may be the best comparison of Davis's list. Plunkett stunk things up in New England his first five years with a 23-38 record. In those years he had a 59.7 quarterback rating. It wasn't until he was eight years into his career and had nearly a full year off before he found his stride with Oakland. In Oakland, he only started a complete season one year and that was the shortened strike season of 1982 where he led the team to 8-1 before they were upset by the New York Jets. Plunkett also landed in Oakland when they were loaded with talent and had a consistent coaching situation under Tom Flores after having been a seasoned veteran. Does Davis plan on waiting eight years for Russell to lead his team to a Super Bowl?

Davis did concede, "JaMarcus, he's got to do better, Forget the cast around him. He knows it. But we've got to fight through it with him." Perhaps the best thing that he could do to speed Russell's development would be to bench him and make him fight to get the starting spot back. It worked for the New York Giants when they benched a struggling number one overall pick named Eli Manning. He bounced back and led them to a Super Bowl win three years later.

Comments (10)

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written by RaiderDoc, October 17, 2009

We are going to have a SWEET team in 2015! That's great news. Thanks Al!

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Uh?
written by killem, October 17, 2009

I agree with you, Russell isn't ANY of those QB's, and he is a bust, but who the hell is Dan Marion???

Marino?

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no line
written by Fred Jones, October 17, 2009

Most of those QB's had o-lines. I bet NONE of the QB examples had lines and WR cores as poor (young for the WR's) as we do right now.
When you have 3 seconds before you're hit, and the backs are getting tackled in the backfield, how is that the QB's fault?

Not saying fat boy is all that and a bowl of grits, my biggest fear is the mental aptitude. It's a MUST in this days fast paced nfl, and I'm not to confident that he has that much of it. Of course that's just based on his oratory skills. I'm sure he scored higher than a 7 on the Wonderlick.

-moshbucket

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JaMarcus Russell,
written by gothraider, October 17, 2009

JaMarcus Russell ain't a bad QB in the Right system.The Best QB to compare him to is Jay Shrader. Alot of talent but does not know how or wants to aply it.What we need is another John Gruden that will stand up to Al & not be a puppet.Until that happens were not going to be any better then 5-11 team....

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it takes time to get it right!!!
written by blackhole sithlord, October 17, 2009

Why is all the raider fans bashing Al and so quick to tag Jemarcus a bust? you are only accepting the constant anti-raider regurgation from the NFL and media talking heads!!! Jemarcus is playing the hardest position on the football field and playing for one of the hardest teams to be sucessful on. Do you think it's easy to suceed behind our dinged up line (no gallery/grove/green)that makes it hard to run and makes for long 3rd down conversions. Add 2 rookie recievers and a young back field and we lost our starting linebacker smasher fullback(O'neil) for the season. Add it up and it is not surprising he has regressed. He is also really 8 games into his career as a starter (Kiffen used Culpepper/McCown until late last season) when Jemarcus actually started, we beat the Texans and the Bucs (last season) and this year he almost won the Chargers game with some nice play and his big arm. Yes we were beaten like a drum by better teams (Giants/Broncos)I hang those failures on the Defense that gave up the farm and applied no pressure on the QB. If you want to agree with the Warren Sappapotamusses of the world. Follow him and his words as truth. otherwise observe some patience as we rebuild our once fabled pround franchise!!!

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written by ironhammer, October 17, 2009

the defense can only hold off the other team only if they can catch there breath and if your ofense is not moving the team down the field and keeping there defense and getting them tired your defence falls apart and dont they dont play like a team its us vs them on the team

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written by RaiderDoc, October 17, 2009

Uhhh Sithlord... hate to break it to you but all the talking heads nailed it on the head when they made their predictions about the Raiders this year. When a lot of us were hopeful, they were right. Some are haters sure, but some are actually objective. Not everyone who "hates" is being a hater. The truth is the truth.

Poor Jamarcus at the hardest position in football... he is getting 32 million to do it... he needs to get the job done. While I agree that his line and team aren't helping him much, have you watched him? I've never seen a less accurate QB. Even when he does have time he misses by yards. I wanted him to be great, but he is beyond bad. Maybe someday he will get it together (though I doubt it mostly because he has such poor work ethic), but at this point we are just making it worse. No other team would be starting him at this point. Also... you might want to check your facts, Russell started the last game of the 2007 season (his rookie year) and Kiffin had him as the starter for the first game in 2008... and every game he coached in 2008 until he was fired... and he started all but one game under Cable... that would be 21 starts (not .

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written by RaiderDoc, October 17, 2009

That should "not 8" instead of not but I guess that works too

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written by Black Sunday, October 18, 2009

Sad to see this website having no support what so ever for our young QB, yet no talk about how bad the running game is and how terrible the defense it still.

You shouldn't be wearing black.

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Piss poor reporting
written by Junior75, October 18, 2009

This is crappy reporting! You say this is a comparison that Russell doesn't belong in, but you don't show the comparison. I think you must be too busy or just plain lazy. You've taken stats for the other QB's but don't show Russell's. When you actually compare Russell's first 16-20 starts with the others that Al is talking about, I think you will find they ARE comparable.

It's no wonder that this site has lost readers. Raider Beat has definitely taken over TFDS for the best Raider coverage. Come on guys, "Step your game up!"

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