Report from Raider Nation: Donovan couldn't hurt
ANOTHER FUN WEEK last week for Raider Nation. What did it all mean? Well, since you asked: Monday: Al Davis didn't show up for his overdue induction into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame. He was tending to his franchise, focusing on the NFL owners meetings and perhaps watching film of Donovan McNabb's greatest playoff defeats.
ANOTHER FUN WEEK last week for Raider Nation. What did it all mean? Well, since you asked:
Monday: Al Davis didn't show up for his overdue induction into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame. He was tending to his franchise, focusing on the NFL owners meetings and perhaps watching film of Donovan McNabb's greatest playoff defeats.
Tuesday: NFL owners revised the overtime policy - a decade too late. Revisionist Raiders immediately altered the Tuck Rule Game's outcome. (New version: A Rich Gannon touchdown pass would follow Adam Vinatieri's overtime field goal and keep alive the Raiders' fourth Super Bowl-winning campaign.)
Wednesday: Coach Tom Cable spoke of the unspeakable project that is JaMarcus Russell. The gist: Their multimillionaire, third-string quarterback actually showed up to work! He's working! Only a mere one or two steps left in his career makeover! Call in Tom Rinaldi and Kelly Tilghman for exclusives!
Thursday: Donovan McNabb trade talk. Wait, McNabb? The Raiders? Seriously? If the Raiders are in hot pursuit, commend them, praise them, pray for them. If they are standing pat, they are the East Bay version of the 49ers, and that isn't good.
Friday: Word leaked that McNabb prefers the Minnesota Vikings, who in turn will want to know Brett Favre's retirement plans, which in turn will have Green Bay cheeseheads in hysterics over that familiar shell game.
Any trade involving McNabb would be huge. The Raiders do huge: Richard Seymour (2009), DeAngelo Hall (2008), Randy Moss (2005).
Seymour cost the Raiders next year's first-round draft pick. McNabb can be had for less, perhaps the Raiders' second-round pick (39th overall) in next month's draft.
Or perhaps the Eagles really do want cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha in a rumor-mongering deal that is more appealing than appalling. It is worth doing, at the very least to break up the monotony that's accompanied seven straight seasons of at least 11 defeats. Asomugha should fetch more than a lame-duck quarterback on the last year of a contract, but, eh, let's see if the pot gets sweeter.
Or maybe the Raiders should just wait until next offseason, when McNabb, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning all hit the free- agent market, creating the largest buying spree in American sports history.
(Sidebar: It will never happen. Brady and Manning cannot escape their castle walls. They are prisoners of their own success with the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts, respectively. But how great would it be if they both go up for auction, in an uncapped league?)
That McNabb can be nabbed is beyond intriguing.
He is a top 10 quarterback, albeit No. 10 behind Manning, Brady, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Tony Romo and (pick 'em) Matt Schaub or Eli Manning.
The Raiders' Bruce Gradkowski and the 49ers' Alex Smith are on the cut line between the next 10 and bottom 10. McNabb would be an upgrade on either side of the Bay Bridge.
So many teams are in quarterback purgatory that online forums are blowing up across the land as fans envision McNabb on their side. The Raiders are being linked to this by FRMN (False Rumor Mongerer Network, a k a ESPN).
Predictions for a 9-7 season already are being spewed if D-Mac joins D-Mac (the latter being Darren McFadden, Cable's odds-on favorite to serve as the lead running back).
Gradkowski generated enough goodwill last season to warrant his status as front-runner in an open competition with Charlie Frye and JaMar . . . oh, we shouldn't even complete his name anymore as a fitting tribute to his accuracy and incomplete career.
Davis must be consumed with the thought that McNabb could be cast as the next Rich Gannon or Jim Plunkett and become the latest veteran castoff who triumphs over all odds as a Raider. And if McNabb doesn't come, it will be Russell who must triumph over those odds. Or it will have to be Gradkowski. Or who?
McNabb's quirky personality, alone, would be refreshing. Come, make your whimsical remarks, Donovan. Goof around with your teammates. Show your veteran leadership. We need that around here.
P.S. Bring Terrell Owens with you. That will keep our work weeks interesting.