JaMarcus Russell: Your Official Starting QB Oakland Raiders' Fans

(Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

Congrats, JaMarcus. After a bitter competition between yourself and loud-mouth Jeff Garcia, you've officially won the job as starting quarterback for the 2009-2010 season.

Tom Cable announced today, "It's his job and we'll see how it goes."

Cable noted Garcia's "lack of work," referring to his on-field play thus far in exhibition games. But we all knew this decision was a long-time coming. It's just official now.

JaMarcus missed two throws last night but Cable assured reporters that he'll learn from those mistakes and that he's much improved from last season.

Plus, Garcia's INT in the second quarter couldn't have helped his case as being "the best quarterback" of the organization, as he touted himself to be during the offseason.

In fact, each quarterback seemed to outplay Garcia, who should be falling further back in the depth chart in my humble opinion. While Charlie Frye and Bruce Gradkowski also gave themselves an INT in the box score, they threw for 47 and 44 yards respectively, compared to a measly 18 from Garcia.

Additionally, Frye's average pass was three times that of Garcia's (9.4 and 3.0 respectively) and showed greater movement outside the pocket with his courageous TD. Gradkowski averaged 8.8 yards per pass but was able to connect with Brandon Myers for a TD, another feat Garcia missed.

Back to Russell for a second. JaMarcus averaged 6.6 yards per pass last season, a stat he will need to improve greatly upon. He averaged 6.9 on Saturday but with Myers stepping up as a surprise pass-catcher and Zach Miller continuing to get open looks downfield, an "improved" Russell should be able to boost his average.

So get at it, Russell. The time is now.

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