One day into the NFL’s freshest quarterback controversy, and the Oakland Raiders refuse to say who's going to be playing quarterback this Sunday against the Cardinals.
Coming off a 16-14 win over the Rams in which Bruce Gradkowski unexpectedly saved the day, Raider Nation and Raider haters alike are dying to know whether Gradkowski now has the gig or if the team will stick with prized free agent acquisition Jason Campbell.
The question was put to Tom Cable straight up in a Monday afternoon press conference. He went into a punt formation.
Cable would not name a starter for Sunday's game, the Oakland Tribune reports. But coach Cable told the Tribune's Jerry McDonald, "I have a pretty good idea what we're going to do."
The San Francisco Chronicle's Vittorio Tafur reports that Cable will announce his starter Wednesday.
Both Jason Campbell and Bruce Gradkowski are being hushed up. The Sacramento Bee’s Paul Gutierrez tweets that both Bruce Almighty and Jason Alright-y were not made available to reporters during media sessions Monday.
There has been general speculation -- without proof -- that the Raiders' falsifying of Tom Cable's post-game remarks to sound more favorable to Campbell indicated that Al Davis prefers Campbell. "Cable will want to go with Gradkowski," Tim Kawakami writes on his Mercury News blog. "He’ll be under pressure from Al to go back to Campbell."
Sports
Cable was also asked point-blank whether this was actually his decision to make. "It has to be," Cable replied.
That was neither a “yes” or a “no,” by the way.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who thinks the Raiders' quarterback decision should be made by this kid.
