Gimme Fewell, gimme fire gimme...Ryan Fitzpatrick?

I used to think that Joey Harrington was the worst QB who somehow kept falling into starting jobs. First he was with Detroit, then Miami, then Atlanta, and he started for all of them at various times. He has now passed that torch to Ryan Fitzpatrick, who new Bills coach Perry Fewell has named his starting QB. This is, of course, insanity. Trent Edwards is no great shakes, but not even in an alternate universe is Fitzpatrick a better QB than Edwards. Fitzpatrick has started for the Rams back in 2005, the Bengals last year, and a couple games earlier this year for the Bills. I don't know how he does it, but he keeps falling into starting jobs.

And on the subject of completely worthless QBs now getting a chance to start...Bruce Gradkowski! I understand that JaMarcus Russell has been nothing short of awful this season, but let's be honest; does Gradkowski have any sort of future? I've posted before his stat line a year ago against Pittsburgh, and while it's fair to say he was playing for a horrible Browns team against the eventual Super Bowl champions, it's also fair to say that his stat line went beyond just your average everyday mediocrity. Russell has done nothing to actually earn the starting job, so I don't feel bad for him, and it may be in the Raiders' best interest to cut him in the offseason and move on. If they had a better replacement than Gradkowski, I'd be all for it. But I can't imagine him putting up much better numbers than Russell was.

Not to rub salt in this wound, but after the Raiders drafted Russell, Calvin Johnson came off the board, then Joe Thomas, then four picks later Adrian Peterson. Not to play the whole "Team X should have drafted this player" which everyone does in hindsight, but it's not like expecting good careers out of Johnson, Thomas and Peterson was out of line. That was actually a really strong draft featuring those players, plus Patrick Willis, Darrelle Revis and Jon Beason later on in the first round.

Okay, I have another Russell anecdote; at the press conference last season where Al Davis announced the firing of Lane Kiffin, I remember him saying something like, "You didn't wanna draft JaMarcus Russell. He's a great quarterback." I'm paraphrasing, but Davis was bashing Kiffin for allegedly not wanting Russell. If that's true...I mean, how prescient does Kiffin look?

And one more; in Bill Simmons' "The Book of Basketball," he relates a story in which then-Magic GM Pat Williams raved about Penny Hardaway's great workout before the draft, that prompted them to trade Chris Webber for him. Simmons laughs this off, saying that Penny would have to be doing some crazy shit to justify passing on Webber (in hindsight; how do you pass on a possible frontcourt of Shaq and Webber? Who passes up a big man for a guard, all things being equal? Well the Magic did). This reminds me of the pre-draft bullshit before Russell was drafted, in which he also allegedly had a great workout. Remember Yi Jianlian posting up chairs? Or Kyle Boller throwing the ball through goalposts from his knees from about 40 yards out? It's a damn shame this game is actually played on a field, and not like a game of H-O-R-S-E.

And that should be all I have to say about Russell. He'll probably get cut in the off-season, some team will pick him up, then he'll eventually wash out. As much fun as it is to make fun of him, it really is a damn shame how bad his career has turned out. I can remember seeing him playing as a freshman in college (he played the 4th quarter against Iowa in that bowl game, and led LSU back to take a late lead that they eventually blew), and you could tell he had talent then. And he does have talent; I just don't think he cares. I've always thought he looked overweight, and his inability to complete a damn pass is embarrassing. You really have to not be trying to complete only 9-24 against the freaking Kansas City Chiefs. This doesn't happen a lot in the NFL, but Russell's career is just like an NBA player getting paid, and then coasting forever (think Tim Thomas). NFL contracts aren't guaranteed, which perenially motivates players, but Russell got such a big payday right away that he's set for life regardless of what happens. He really does have similar physical abilities to John Elway, but he's not motivated at all to reach that potential. All I really need to know about Russell is his hair, which was in a mohawk earlier this year and I assume still is. That tells me right there this is player that's not taking the job seriously. I never want my starting QB to have hair like that; get serious and act like a professional. You're not a corner or a receiver, you're the leader of the team. When they write the obituary on his career (as of now, he goes down with Ryan Leaf as one of the worst picks ever, no exaggeration), I hope they mention he got benched for Bruce Gradkowski. There is nothing more embarrassing than that.