Oakland Raiders Get Good News Twice: Will it Help?

Today, two little pieces of news came out of Oakland. Both of them should bring a smile to the face of the fans both near and afar, but belong to the Raider Nation.

For one, JaMarcus Russell is now on the sidelines. Yes, this is right, Russell's actions have planted him there. For anyone's guess, it is similar to the same reason why the Titans benched Vince Young early in his career....too much, to soon, with too many chances to fail.

And for JaMarcus Russell, he did just about everything wrong, with a few exceptions.

As for the Bruce Gradkowski experiment, does anything think JaMarcus will remain on the sidelines for any length of time? It will depend on if Bruce comes out and wins a game or two right away, or if he actually looks worse than JaMarcus.

If he performs as he did last year, in a single start having a rating of one...we can only hope that with his mobility, he can use the speed this team has, and turn on the switches as needed.

What does come as a bit of surprise, is that Al Davis was okay with this. This, could mean one of two things. One, he thinks Tom Cable will be gone after the season, the same way Norv Turner was after replacing Kerry Collins for a game in his last year in Oakland. Or Two, he feels that Tom Cable still has some ideas on turning this club around and that Russell is truly that bad as a player.

The second news, to the Raider Nation, is important.

A general agreement to extend the lease for the Oakland Raiders was made to keep the team in Oakland until 2013. More than a few nights were spent, wondering if this was going to be Al's method of deciding on when to leave the city. The biggest problem that Al would run into, is who would accept a team with Al acting as the sole dictator to the Raiders?

Odds are good, he has not become trapped to his own team, until such time that the team can produce more than six wins in a season...Oakland's bargaining chip in the '80s, was the ability to win.

So the fans can rest easy, knowing at least some good news happened this week.

Will it help Sunday? It all depends on how well Bruce Gradkowski has been studying film.