Posts tagged JaMarcusRussell at FanHouse

With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. Click here to go back in time.

The 1s

Cincinnati (0-5) at NY Jets (2-2): I'm just going to quickly put this on the table -- when the highlight of your season thus far is your "star" wide receiver kissing the head coach on the head, things are not going well. The Bengals look to me a lot like the cast of "Entourage" looked last week trying to "act" on mushrooms. There is no way bad actors should be forced to act like they're on drugs, unless the point is to make them look very, very stupid. This goes for the Bengals. They have acted like a football team for years, but haven't really produced much, and now we get to see them on mushrooms. It isn't a pretty picture. Also, did you notice I went this entire paragraph without mentioning B _ _ _ _, F _ _ _ _? This is me, taking a stand.

Pick: Jets

One of the allegations thrown around by Raiders owner Al Davis during his bizarre press conference two weeks ago, was that former Head Coach Lane Kiffin wanted nothing to do with JaMarcus Russell because he -- allegedly -- thought Russell was just some fat guy he couldn't win with.

If that's true, Kiffin certainly has an odd way of showing it, seeing as how he still contacts Russell and offers him coaching advice despite the obvious handicap of no longer being his coach. From Steve Corkran of the Contra Costa Times (via PFT):

"He just called and talked to me about their defense, things he would do if he was here," Russell said. "So, really, nothing changed."...This wasn't a one-time thing, either, Russell said. Kiffin reaches out to him on a regular basis. "He has got a lot of off time on his hands," Russell said, "so he would pay attention to the defense I would have to go up against. He leaves me a text message or a voice mail here or there."

Nice. I'm sure Davis just loves hearing about this. And by loves, I obviously mean he's probably ripping out what's left of his hair and throwing chairs around the office.
Of course, this probably goes a long way to explaining why Russell still thinks Kiffin is a good guy. It's also probably the most control he's had coaching a Raiders player since, well, ever.

Sweet Lord, Al Davis. We love you. Well, maybe not "we", but I totally back your "control freak in a leisure suit" thing, man. If I was nine billion years old and worth slightly more money than years alive, I would absolutely run a football team. You've got a better deal than Joe Paterno with a few less questions about your sanity because you don't actually call the plays.

However, here's an idea: when a player burns you by not trying hard enough simply because your franchise sucks, well, don't claim he faulted you when he shatters a world record with Tom Brady throwing him the rock the next year. Ah, yes, I see. Just like most of America, you would prefer "rationality" to "I'm going to sue your pants off". No, that's fine. Really.

Davis said the Patriots had tampered with Randy Moss before a deal in April 2007 that brought the wide receiver to New England for a fourth-round choice the weekend of the NFL draft. Patriots coach Bill Belichick denied the claim by Davis that New England had a workout with Moss before obtaining him in the trade.

In a June 5, 2008, memo distributed by Goodell to NFL clubs entitled "Policy on Integrity of the Game and Enforcement of Competitive Rules," the commissioner informed NFL team officials that competitive rules violations must be made in a timely manner. Davis' accusations against the Patriots came 18 months after the transaction occurred.

(Quick caveat/aside: this report is from Scoop (he really would prefer you call him that) so we have zero idea if it has any reliability, but assuming it is true, well, Al Davis needs to retire. Or stop making insanely ridiculous accusations just because he's teed off.

With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. Click here to go back in time.

The 1s

Tennessee (4-0) at Baltimore (2-1): Okay, fine, I'll agree, the Titans are a good football team. They're giving up just 11.5 points per game, best in the NFL, they have a competent quarterback that doesn't do anything flashy but also doesn't make a lot of mistakes (only one interception in four games) and a rookie running back in Chris Johnson that made every fantasy owner that didn't snag him do a collective head slap. Interesting little comparison here, last week Johnson had just 19 less yards than Adrian Peterson with one less carry and as many touchdowns. Also worth noting, the 4-0 Titans have just one nationally televised game the rest of the season, October 27 against the Colts, while the Browns still have four. Does Al Davis also dabble in national television scheduling? Cool.

Pick -- Tennessee

Poor JaMarcus Russell. Here's a guy that's simply plugging away as the Raiders quarterback, minding his own business, trying to establish himself as an NFL player in the middle of a three-ring circus. Then, all of a sudden, without warning, he finds his name in the middle of the fray between Al Davis and Lane Kiffin.

It was during that bizarre press conference earlier this week when Davis, the 79-year old owner, let the cat out of the bag and informed us that Kiffin never wanted to take the LSU quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick. Russell seems to be taking the news quite well.

"It just kind of came out of nowhere. I really don't think myself or Coach Kiffin or anybody else were looking for that to come out that way." "I appreciate the opportunity he gave me to play in the National Football League. Wish for him to go out and get him a job because he's a good guy, a good coach."

Interesting.

Meanwhile, former Oakland defensive tackle -- and current dancing with the stars, uh, star -- Warren Sapp continued to make his voice heard on all things Raiders.

Great news, Lane Kiffin: when God closes a door, he opens a window. Or something. The second-year Raiders head coach is out of a job, and owner Al Davis has the freakiest press conference in NFL history to show for it. Ah, to be a Raiders fan.

To the madness: some choice bits from Davis' surprisingly coherent but still extraordinarily bizarre presser (click that handsome mug above for the moving-pictures proof).

"Maybe I didn't want to admit that I made a mistake ... to be quite frank with you, I'm firing him for cause now, I'm not firing him for anything else other than cause. ...

I reached a point where I felt the whole staff, we were fractionalized ... that the best thing to do ... was to make a change. It hurts because I picked the guy. I picked the wrong guy. This is regretful, but I thought it was best for the Raiders. And I wanted to make it work, because I want the Raiders to do great. Someone said to me the other day, a newspaper man, 'Why don't you tell us your side of the story? Why don't you tell us what's happening?' And I said to him, look, I don't want to win in the press, I want to win on the field"

Um, obviously? Of course, Davis then proceeded to ignore himself and try to win in the press. Or, at the very least, malign Kiffin in such a way that he comes off looking like a guy who's fresh off running a bed and breakfast. Davis read from a letter he had given Kiffin prior to the Week 3 Chiefs game that included this nugget of awesomeness:

With attention spans dwindling, we forego full game-by-game previews to give you the essentials you need to know about every contest this glorious NFL weekend. Click here to go back in time.

The 1s

Cleveland at Cincinnati: So here are a few fun facts heading into the showdown of Team Zeros. Carson Palmer has more fumbles in three games (2) than touchdown passes (1). If you added up both Derek Anderson and Palmer's quarterback ratings, the number would still fall behind Philip Rivers, Kurt Warner and Jay Cutler, and would be just three points ahead of J.T. O'Sullivan and Tony Romo. Anderson's five interceptions are tied for the most in the league. Needless to say, this might not be the game you DVR in hopes of showing your son the proper way to play quarterback.

Pick: Cincinnati

Houston at Jacksonville: Is it fair to say that Houston is slowly taking the place of Arizona as "the team everyone picks as their preseason sleeper to the point that they're over-hyped and fall flat on their face?" The Texans limp in with the third worst quarterback in the league statistically and the third worst defense, going up against a Jacksonville team that just claimed their first victory in one of those "win or send all the ticket holders a free iPhone" games against the Colts. If there was ever a time for Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Jones to make some magic happen, it is at home against Houston who is giving up 170.5 yards a game on the ground. You know what they call what I just did? Blogger research. It's tough to come by so enjoy the smell.

Pick: Jacksonville

The NFL FanHouse brain trusts got together to identify which young quarterback they'd want if the choices included Eli Manning, Philip Rivers and Jay Cutler. Sure, there are some obvious oversights -- Ben Roethlisberger and Tony Romo immediately come to mind -- and Peter King will no doubt be miffed that Brett Favre and Tom Brady weren't included, but, hey, that's what our readers are for: to let us know (often loudly) when we're wrong.

Ryan Wilson: Jay Cutler is still maturing as an NFL quarterback and I think he has the most upside of the three. Yes, Eli Manning's won a Super Bowl and Philip Rivers proved his toughness during last year's postseason, but I think they're both pretty close to their ceilings as NFL players. That's not to say they're bad, just that Cutler could be much, much better. Particularly if Ed Hochuli referees every one of his games.

Michael David Smith: I think Cutler has the best arm of the three by a pretty wide margin. It's amazing how few people realized going into the draft that he was the best of the group of Cutler, Vince Young and Matt Leinart; Mike Mayock deserves a ton of credit for identifying Cutler's talent before just about anyone else.

Cutler has still only started 23 games in his career, so we still don't know a ton about him, but based on what we do know right now I think he's going to make about five Pro Bowls in the next 10 years.

It's pretty much been decided that Lane Kiffin is a short-timer in Oakland. Owner Al Davis unsuccessfully tried to push him to quit this offseason, and following the Raiders embarrassing showing in the season opener, coupled with an uninspiring four-win effort a year ago, he'll probably be looking for work in the near future.

In fact, according to the Mercury News' Tim Kawakami, that could be as soon as next week.

It happened to Mike Shanahan in 1989 after four games. It could happen to Lane Kiffin in 2008 after two games. Gone. See ya.

I hear it could happen to Kiffin on Monday or Tuesday, if the Raiders do not put up a half-decent effort in Kansas City on Sunday. Wouldn't surprise me if people around the Raiders are all but planning the firing press conference–whether it comes next week, the week after or in two weeks.

Because it's coming. The Rob Ryan Blow Up on Thursday–dictated, I'm sure, by Davis himself and directed at Kiffin and Kiffin's supporters–told us all that things are at a boiling point in the Raiders offices right now and the only way to ease it up is to fire Kiffin.

We here are at Fantasy FanHouse are deeply committed to helping the desperate. And you may be among them. If that's the case, we have some lovely last-minute gambles for you to try out in fantasy this week. Fourth and 26 isn't an "ideal" situation, but sometimes it works out.

Quarterback
JaMarcus Russell, OAK -- No way he's owned in your league. Seriously. No way (unless it's a keeper league I suppose). And you may remember from that Monday night snooze fest that Russell ended up going 17 of 26 for 180 yards and two touchdowns; respectable numbers, even in a blowout. And the Broncos are slightly better than the Chiefs. And by "slightly" I mean "the rough equivalent of "USC over OSU". (Warning: Comparison could backfire.)

Kerry Collins, TEN -- He doesn't have any receivers, and the Titans will probably lean on the running game and defense to win. But if you're considering him, you're pretty desperate. And the Bengals are pretty bad. So you could do worse.

Running Back
Tim Hightower, ARI -- Hightower might actually be a pretty good start this week; Edgerrin James had 100 yards last week, but it took him 26 carries, and Hightower saw some goal line action. Also, Miami is not good.