Just when you think the situation in the black hole of the NFL couldn’t get any worse, the Oakland Raiders shock the football world once again. On September 5, 2009, Jeff Garcia was officially cut from the Oakland Raiders after signing a one-year contract in April. That’s right folks. Head coach Tom Cable has decided that if the Oakland starting quarterback JaMarcus Russell cannot play, either Bruce Gradkowski or Charlie Frye will be there anxiously waiting…
This has been quite an offseason for a team already in disarray. First, Oakland shocked everyone with the seventh pick in the draft by choosing Darrius Heyward-Bey (who was not projected to go that high) instead of Michael Crabtree. Then Tom Cable allegedly took out his frustrations out on his assistant coach and knocked him out with a sucker punch. And now apparently there is no room on Oakland’s final roster for Jeff Garcia.
Are you kidding? Garcia has taken three different teams to the playoffs. Not only did he do that, but two of those teams were mediocre at best. And yet, Garcia still gets no respect or praise for what he has done in his career.
It’s simple. Where ever he has played in his career, he has won. When he was in San Francisco for five years, he led the 49ers to the playoffs two years in a row (2001 and 2002) and advanced to the second round in 2002. When Donovan McNabb went down in Philadelphia in week 11 of the 2006 season, Garcia came in and took over. The Eagles were a .500 team at the time and had their playoff hopes crushed along with McNabb’s knee, but Garcia did what he does best…win. The Eagles ended that season going 5-1 down the stretch and won two playoff games. And then in 2007, he took and even worse team at the time, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and led them to the playoffs. Of course, the Bucs lost to the eventual Super Bowl champions - the New York Giants.
I’m not saying he would have taken the Raiders to the playoffs. I’m not even saying he would ever have started for Oakland. But the Raiders would be a much better team with him as a backup QB instead of Frye and Gradkowski. He is a proven winner with 11 years of experience… and he is currently not on a team. With that said, I’m sure Jeff Garcia is overjoyed now that he doesn’t have to play in the black hole. - Michael Klopman
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