Following Sunday's beat down in New Orleans, Raiders coach Tom Cable had an awakening of sorts when he realized his quarterback, JaMarcus Russell, is still developing. He also came to the conclusion that his receivers can't catch, which tends to be a problem for young (and experienced) quarterbacks. Here's what he had to say then:
"But I do know this. We've got to catch the ball when it's thrown to us and we've got to run the right routes that we're supposed to and be where we need to be on time."
Cable claims there were eight dropped passes in the loss to the Saints, though, I'm not sure if he was counting dropped balls by the Raiders receivers, or dropped balls by the Saints secondary. But Cable is correct, the receivers have to catch the ball, and thus far, nobody is catching the ball.
Having said that, there's going to be a few changes on Sunday when the Raiders host the New York Jets. Ronald Curry is going to be grabbing a seat on the bench, while rookie seventh-round pick Chaz Schilenswill be making his first NFL start.
From Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee:
Curry will still play, but expect to see him more in the slot on third downs, where he's excelled in the past. Here's what Cable likes about Schilens: "I think his competitiveness for the football when it's in the air. You look at a couple of the plays he's made, some tough catches, having to get it in traffic, or having to get a high ball up in the air. Something that maybe wasn't quite on target, he's been able to go get those things out of the air, and the fact that he's really starting to develop. And it shows every day at practice."
According to the numbers over at Football Outsiders, Curry has only caught 32% of the passes thrown his direction this year, which is simply awful, though, not as awful as the 23% Ashley Lelie is currently carrying around. All the more reason to get the ball in the hands of Darren McFadden.
