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  • Sunday Spotlight: Nnamdi vs. Ocho

    While most of the cornerback/receiver battle talk will focus on Randy Moss and Darrelle Revis today, there's another interesting matchup of top talents in the Bay Area when Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco goes up against Oakland cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha. Ochocinco has been one of the prime instigators in the Bengals' resurgence this year, proving to be nearly impossible to cover on middle-to-long perimeter routes. The stats tell the tale -- Ocho's been targeted 80 times and has caught 46 balls, giving him a 58 percent catch rate consistent with other deep threats like Atlanta's Roddy White and Dallas' Miles Austin.

    He's helped Cincy's new power running game as much as he's benefited from it, as his ability to get downfield prevents defenses from committing too much to what's going on in the backfield. Chad caught 10 passes against the Bears a month ago, but he only grabbed seven passes combined against the Ravens and Steelers since, and the Steelers doubled him as much as possible. You'd think he'd go off against the pathetic Raiders, but there's the small matter of one Nnamdi Asomugha on the other side of the ball.

    For those in the know, Asomugha's been regarded as perhaps the best at his position in the game -- about the closest we've seen to a (wait for it!) shutdown corner since Deion Sanders turned his side of the Cowboys' defensive backfield into a vacant lot in the mid-90s. For the 2008 season, Football Outsiders charted Asomugha as the primary target 32 times, which ranked 96th -- an incredible number for a cornerback who started 15 games. When Asomugha did allow a catch, opposing receivers gained an average of 0.7 yards after catch, making him the only DB with 15 or more targets to allow less than a yard after catch on average.

    These two last faced off on December 10, 2006 in Cincinnati, and it'd probably be fair to say that Nnamdi won a split decision on points. Chad caught five balls for 101 yards (including a 42-yarder), but Nnamdi brought in two interceptions in a 27-10 Bengals win. When asked about his adversary this week, Chad told the media that Nnamdi doesn't trash-talk -- he just locks down.

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  • On JaMarcus Russell and his rapidly dimming future

    A man who threw two interceptions in just nine pass attempts against the Chiefs on Sunday has just been named the starter for the Oakland Raiders, and that only begins to tell the story of how bad JaMarcus Russell(notes) has been this year. And yet, it still took until Week 11 for Russell to finally get the hook.

    So why now? Who knows? At this point, the season is already lost. Other non-competitive teams are now in the mode where they're switching to their younger quarterbacks so they can evaluate them for the future. The Raiders are doing the opposite. Bruce Gradkowski(notes) is the older, more experienced guy and clearly is not the future of the franchise, while Russell, some believe, still might be.

    It made sense to make the move in Week 4 or 5, when there might have been a season to salvage. It makes less sense now, but still, I guess there's never a bad time to bench the worst starting quarterback in the league.

    My theory on the timing is that owner Al Davis calls most of the shots in Oakland, he's in love with Russell's size, strong arm and athleticism, and it took this long for him to finally say, "Okay, maybe we should try something else." I do not believe that Tom Cable -- or any other NFL head coach who is allowed to make decisions for himself -- would've stuck with Russell for this long, had it been his call.

    Cable says that's not the case, and it's been up to him all along. I don't buy it. I think he's a better coach than that. I also think that he sees it as part of his job to cover for the owner in public. It's the only scenario that makes sense. No quarterback with Russell's numbers survives as a starter for that long unless it's someone other than a coach making the decision.

    What does it mean for the long-term future of JaMarcus Russell? There's some speculation that it means the Raiders are done with Russell, and are finally ready to give up on him. I doubt that's the case. All along, he's been Al Davis' pet project, and really, there's no reason for that to change now. Russell is still young and still gifted. Guys like that seem to have an endless string of second chances.

    It might mean, though, that his days of being handed playing time are over. From now on, he's going to have to earn it by being the better quarterback, and that should have been the case a long, long time ago.

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