blc2000's blog

Well, here's an easy prediction: The Raiders won't lose.

I know, I know. It's an elementary school barb. But what else is there left to say?

Tom Cable? Will he stay? Will he go? My thinking is: It won't matter.

OK. Enough of the defeatist attitude. The weekend is upon us.

I will say this about the 49ers, though.

The Raiders have won more recently than their cross-bay rivals. And while a game against Tennessee a few weeks ago looked like a walkcover, I'm sure you 49er fans are gripping a little.

Things were so great last month, but now you've got a three-game losing streak, and four days to prepare for a game with Chicago after the Titans game.

And ... in comes a Titans team coming off its first victory of the year and with a rejuvenated quarterback in Vince Young.

I can sense a little panic. By Sunday at 4:30 p.m., there could be a lot more panic if the 49ers don't, as they should, take care of business.

Well, for those of you smart enough not to buy Raider tickets, you'll actually be able to see this mess on TV when Oakland plays at San Diego today.

I don't really expect anything as close as we had on opening night, when San Diego marched down in the final minute to beat the Raiders, who had just taken the lead.

Members of the Raider board I belong to have turned their attention away from JaMarcus Russell, and are now focusing on some Rich Gannon quotes about how he knows for a fact that Jon Gruden would come back to the Raiders if: 1. Al Davis asks him. 2. He gets to bring back ex-GM Bruce Allen.

I think it's longer than a longshot that would happen. Really, it's a no-shot.

Still, it would be interesting, and bring the team instant legitimacy.

I was a big Gruden fan until he had his agent start shopping his name to Notre Dame a few months before he eventually was "traded" to Tampa Bay.

After the victory last week against Philadelphia, I was enjoying some of the positive press coverage until I came across something somewhere that basically said that the Raiders would go back to their old ways the next week.

I was a little perturbed. But, whoever wrote that (and it escapes me) was correct.

I obviously didn't see their dreadful performance coming. I thought the Jets were good, but in a somewhat Kool-Aid moment, I felt the Raiders were better.

Who cared that they only scored 13 points in beating the Eagles. Their defense played great, and JaMarcus Russell had somewhat of a minor breakthrough.

Unfortunately on Sunday, Russell looked out of place, and it's becoming ever more clear that he is not going to turn out to be the franchise quarterback I thought he would.

He'll start the rest of this season, and probably next. It doesn't seem as the Raiders have much of a choice.

Is this the week I finally go back to the Raiders?

Afterall, they had a nice win over Philadelphia, their coach, Tom Cable, won't be locked up for allegedly assaulting his assistant coach and their new defensive lineman, Richard Seymour, actually predicted they'd make the playoffs.

The Jets, meanwhile, have lost three straight after winning three straight. Their rookie quarterback looks more like JaMarcus Russell than Matt Ryan. And in maybe the biggest blow, they lost nose tackle Kris Jenkins for the year with a knee injury.

Curiously, the teams have met 10 times since 1999 thanks to playoff games early in the decades and mirror finishes within their divisions. Amazingly, eight of those games have been in Oakland, where the Jets are 2-6. Their latest loss, last year in Oakland, was a crushing defeat that ended on a Sebastian Janikowski 57-yard field goal in overtime.

Been out of touch and all things Silver and Black Blog the past week, but am back and rested after some good golf with close friends.

Given the game is 15 hours away, I'll keep things short and sweet ...

If you're coach Tom Cable, with the season already lost, do you pull JaMarcus Russell if he gets off to a slow start?

That's one of the things I look forward to seeing on Sunday.

No doubt, JaMarcus Russell is going to get booed early, and if he gets off to a bad start, it's going to be pretty brutal.

In all the games I've been to since the return to Oakland, I don't know if I've ever heard a young player get the treatment Russell got in the final 1 1/2 quarrters of the game against Denver.

If things to astray early, will he let him stay in?

In a season that's gone, that's about the only intriguing thing left in football's wasteland by the way.

So there. I guess I do have something to look forward to on Sunday.

Well, that and whether I can get back into double-figures in my picks. Here are Week 6. Use them at your own risk.

I thought about just not writing at all, figuring if the Raiders didn't show up, why do I?

In their 44-7 loss to the New York Giants, the Raiders weren't competitive. Their starting quarterback fumbled three times and didn't complete a pass to a wide receiver. The opposing quarterback was resting comfortably in the second quarter, having been taken out of the game with his team in control leading 28-7.

At this time of peril, I'm reminded of one of my favorite movies, "Wall Street," where Lou looks at the crestfallen Buddy after his arrest for insider trading and says:

"A man looks in the abyss, there is nothing staring back at him. At that moment he discovers his character. That keeps the man out of the abyss."

The only problem with the Raiders is they have no character.

Their coach could be charged any day with assault.