Raider Nation Civil War Peace Treaty

    Here on bleacher report, many fans have produced theories about why the Raiders have been so bad and what will save them.  Some fans want to see a GM hired, some want Tom Cable fired, some still support Tom Cable, some believe in JaMarcus Russell, many (myself included) want Bruce Gradkowski in the huddle.  It seems that Raiders fans are now more divided than Republicans and Democrats on health care reform. 

  The fans have become so divided that we might soon see Raiders fans fighting each other in the coliseum rather than fighting opponent fans.  Here are some of the topics that are dividing the Raider Nation and I give my best idea of a compromise.

  JaMarcus Russell vs. Bruce Gradkowski  The starting QB job was guarnteed to Russell in training camp with Jeff Garcia as a mentor.  Most fans were happy with Russell early in the season.  Although he had only one big play on opening night vs. S.D. that big play was a bomb to Louis Murphy on a 4th and long to put the Raiders ahead, the defense blew the lead. 

  Then Russell led a 2 minute drive to beat K.C. in week 2.  Since then he has been the worse QB in football.  The win over the Eagles was because of Louis Murphy's 2 key blocks for Zach Miller and the blitzing Raider defense.  Fast forward to week 10: Enter Bruce Gradkowski. 

  Bruce nearly beat the Chiefs from behind but a Heyward-Bey drop was picked.  Then Bruce led the Raiders to an upset over the Bengals and again vs. the Steelers.  He is 2-1 as the full-game QB.  Some Russell supporters say no QB can succeed in this offense, Gradkowski just did.  Russell hasn't made any fans like him more or hate him less with his comments in a Q&A last week.  He said he won't take a pay cut and he would be "a new JaMarcus" in his next action.  Well he lied about being a new JaMarcus so maybe he lied about not taking a pay cut.

  At the Raiders-Chiefs game in week 101 the coliseum chanted "Russell Sucks".  With Gradkowski the "boos" have become "Bruuuce".  He has the fire to lead this team and inspire players to play better around him.  How many people didn't feel the morale disappear when Russell entered the Redskins game.

  Compromise  A fair QB battle in training camp 2010.  May the better man win.  And I will admit I am bias in favor of Gradkowski because of his passion and fire.  Al Davis always reminds us that "the fire that burns brightest is the will to win."

  Al Davis  Since 1963 Al Davis has been a part of the Oakland Raiders.  He has been a coach, GM and owner.  He had a good run in the 70s and 80s but in the new millenium he has been the mastermind of some bad personnell decisions.  He has lost fan support from the new wave of Raiders fans who haven't yet seen the team win a Super Bowl or even make the playoffs while the fans who were around when Al Davis won 3 Super Bowls are showing their unshakable support now more than ever. 

  Compromise  I said it before, Al Davis will only leave the Raiders in a box.  Those who want him to leave are being unrealistic.  The best case scenario is Al gives roster control to the coaching staff and hires an GM who can build a contender.

  Tom Cable  He has been one of the most controversial figures to the Raiders.  He started as Lane Kiffin's O-line coach in 2007 and he took one of the worse O-lines from 2006 and made them a top 10 running team.  He is 8-17 after the Redskins game and that may sound bad but look at what he has to deal with.  Al Davis meddling in the game plan and enforcing Russell as the starter and man coverage on defense with little blitzing.  Cable said he got Al's permission to make the change at QB and his team looked good with Bruce.  He has had some play caller problems but some of the troubles have been execution more than the play call.  It has been a bad call by the ref or a ball dropped by a reciever.  Plus his abuse allegations have given him no help. 

  Compromise  I think Cable should get another season.  If Bruce starts from the start and Cable gets roster control and the team doesn't reach 8-8 then we can fire him but lets not pretend that he had control over Russell starting half the year.  I don't think we can judge him on these last 3 games with Bruce hurt.  Plus, most of the players have said they like Cable as a coach and want to play hard for him.  Namdi Asomugha wanted Cable to stay or he would have entered free agency last off season.  And the trend of firing coaches every other off-season has not helped this team with chemistry.

  If you can name any more splits among Raiders fans go ahead and leave them as comments on this article.