A Look Back at The '08 Jamarcus Russell That Finished Strong

The 2009 season for Jamarcus Russell was very ugly.  We all watched the same games so we all seen the same thing.  Russell just didn't seem to have "it" this past season.  He did deliver what should have been the game winning score in the opener against SD.  He led the Raiders to the game winning score the following week against KC and also hit Chaz Schilens in Denver to win the game.  The only thing is that the bright spots last year were too few and far between. 

Lets take a look back at the Jamarcus Russell before last season.

After a holdout costed him pretty much his entire rookie season he finally got the start in wk 17 against the Chargers.  This is what we all were waiting for.  We all wanted to see what the kid could do.  He delivered on our expectations completing 74% of his passes going 23-31, 224 yds, TD.

He went into the 2008 as the starting QB for the first time.  The season was full of ups and downs for Russell as expected. 

WK 1:  17-26, 180 yds, 2 TDs, 0 ints, 111.1 QB rating.

WK 3:  Russell threw a strike to Higgins for an 84 yard TD taking the lead in the 4th

WK 4: 22-37, 277 yards, 1 TD, 1 int.  Not great but definitely not bad.

WK 7: 17-30, 203 yards, 1 TD, 0 int, 88.6 QB rating.

WK 11: 15-22, 68% comp, 156 yards.  O TDS/ints.  Another decent, solid game.

WK 12: 10-11, 91% comp, 152 yards, 1 TD, 0 ints.  149 QB rating.

After a couple of sub par games against KC and SD in week 14  Jamarcus Russell put together three straight solid performances to close out the year.

WK 15: 17-32, 53% comp, 242 yards, 2 TDs, 1 int, 85.7 QB rating

WK 16: 18-25, 72% comp, 236 yards, 2 TDs, 0 int, 128.1 QB rating

WK 17: 14-21, 66% comp, 148 yards, 2 TDs, 1 int, 98.9 QB rating

That is 626 yards, 6 TDs, 2 ints over the final three games.  Those numbers over an entire season would add up to about 32 TDs and just 11 INTs. 

He seemed to finally have taken a step with his strong finish of the 2008 season.  It seemed he was headed towards where we needed him to be.  Like I said at the beginning of the article, Russell just didn't seem to have "it" last season.  Let's all hope he can get back to being the QB that showed some promise by finishing very strong in 2008. 

He needs to make the most out of the situation he's in now.  He has the opportunity to sit back and learn for a season or two.  If he puts in the work, and that is a HUGE if, he could once again be the starting QB for our Oakland Raiders.