Gas-Can Jam Plays the Hits

There has never been a spark or a flame that was to faint, to weak or to insignificant for JaMarcus Russell to ignore.

After 11 solid weeks of head pounding, awe inducing and spirit destroying "performances" by our man Jam, which burned to the ground any remaining good will he had with the Raider faithful, Coach Tom the Merciful (with the blessing of Lord Al) finally pulled the plug on everybody's favorite arsonist and brought Bruce Gradkowski, of all people, into the chaos.

For three solid weeks, the chaos became a simple storm. Adversity seemed able to be overcome and the football once again resembled something professional. Down went the Bengals, down went the Steelers. Even the loss to the Cowboys, while lopsided, didn't seem like quite the Theater of the Damned that the losses under JaMarcus had been. A loss was now simply a loss instead of a public shaming.

Week 4 of the Era of Bruce started with promise as well. The Raiders managed to take a brief lead, 10-7, before falling behind. It was a rare occurrence where Oakland was actually playing much better than the score would indicate, giving hope to all Raider faithful that fortune would soon be with them yet again. Then the unspeakable happened. Bruce hurt not just one but two knees and was done for the game and maybe the season.

And there was the first spark of doubt and unease. It actually wasn't just a spark. Everybody in that stadium, watching on TV around the world knew exactly what was coming. We all new our man JaMarcus was back from exile, gas can in one hand, strike anywhere matches in the other, just waiting to lay waste to all the good that had been done in the past three weeks.

He never fails to deliver.

In what certainly was the final nail in his coffin in Oakland, Russell showed that he had learned nothing since being sent to the bench, throwing idiotic interceptions, holding the ball too long, fumbling near his own end-zone and basically showing none of the intangibles necessary to be a professional quarterback. The saddest part of the whole experience was how the entire team self destructed just by his presence. When Gradkowski is in the game, the team plays like it has a chance of winning. With Russell in there, they don't. Now we know for certain that those feelings are completely correct.

Hopefully next season will be an uncapped year. If so, Jam, Javon Walker and an number of other bad contracts should just be jettisoned from the team. After a record six straight seasons with 11+ losses, what's to lose?