One of the bigger disappointments of the 2009 Oakland Raiders season thus far, the coach-punching scandal and the Rich Gannon thing notwithstanding, was Jeff Garcia being cut before even getting a chance to appear in one regular season game. Garcia is a Bay Area native, a San Jose State Spartan, and the pride of Gilroy, CA.
Well, the Philadelphia Eagles just released Garcia, and the scrappy veteran QB is available once again. Meanwhile, Raiders starter JaMarcus Russell is busy working on an astonishingly awful 39.8 quarterback rating -- the worst of any starting quarterback in the league.
Are the Raiders just too cool to admit they made a mistake and bring back a player they'd previously released? No, they are not. On Tuesday, the Raiders re-signed kick returner Justin Miller, whom they'd dumped in the off-season.
But Jeff Garcia is a different case. The web site Raider Beat spoke to an unnamed Raider official and reports, "A Raiders official said that the Raiders aren’t inclined to re-sign Garcia, for several reasons."
These reasons include Garcia's relentless desire to start, Tom Cable's perplexing level of comfort with Bruce Gradkowski, and the organization's unwavering commitment to developing JaMarcus Russell.
Coach Cable was asked whether he'd bench Russell, who has one touchdown and four interceptions, and told the San Francisco Chronicle, "You know, I haven't thought about that yet."
Until he does, he's not thinking about bringing back Jeff Garcia either.
Sports
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who thinks the Raiders should not only un-ban Rich Gannon, but then start him at quarterback as well.
