Considering the VERY poor and typical start to this year’s Raiders, folks in Oakland and beyond are actually being treated to some good play by The Silver and Black. They beat Denver and Seattle by a ridiculous number of points and have been dominating with a great running game, Jason Campbell managing games, and team chemistry (usually unheard of in Oakland).
When Tom Cable came out yesterday and said that Gradkowski would be returning as the Raiders’ starter I couldn’t stop laughing. Jason Campbell has led the Raiders to their first winning streak since 2008, he passed for 310 yards and 2 TD’s last week, and another 2 TD’s the week before. What is the Raiders organization doing by even entertaining the thought of taking away this momentum with returning to Gradkowski?
Here are a fun few facts Bruce Gradkowski; he has a career 53% completion percentage, a QB Rating below 70, has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns and has averaged under six yards a pass for his career.
My immediate reaction was what I’ve been trained to do when a Raiders issue comes up, blame the worst owner in sports, Al Davis. However, to my surprise, sources close to the Raiders say that Al Davis has expressed to coach Tom Cable his desire for Jason Campbell to remain the starting quarterback for the foreseeable future. “Mr. Davis likes what Jason has done the past month and doesn’t see the need to change when things are going well,” a person familiar with the situation said. “He thinks Jason is a classic fit for the Raiders style of play.”
Knowing the power that Al Davis wields, it was no surprise to hear Tom Cable eat some crow today. “I want to get (Gradkowski) healthy before he really becomes a part of this conversation,” Cable said Tuesday. “At the same time, he’s getting closer. That brings up, what’s going to happen? Right now, my feeling is, we’ve won four of the last five games with the same guy. When you’re winning, you’re winning. You don’t mess with that.”
For the first time in quite a while, the power of Al Davis could possibly help the Raiders. We shall see.
