It may be a tad premature to write this given that he’s only in his third year, but it’s getting harder and harder not to tab JaMarcus Russell as one of the worst No. 1 overall picks in NFL history.

Al Davis was blinded by Russell’s arm strength three years ago. Russell might be able to throw the ball the length of the field, but his pocket presence his atrocious and his work ethic is abysmal. When he drops back to pass, it’s clear he doesn’t know where to go with the ball and how to read a defense.

In the Raiders’ 44-7 loss to the Giants on Sunday, Russell completed just 8 of his 13 pass attempts for 100 yards, was sacked six times and lost three fumbles. He simply cannot function in an NFL offense and relies too much on his natural ability to get by. If he doesn’t start putting in the work and learning how to read defenses, he’s never going to succeed and he’ll be out of the league in a couple of years.

Russell is a prime example of why it’s so important for teams to evaluate the intelligence of players. That will never happen with Davis because he’ll always put talent above all else, but draft evaluators are dreaming if they think they can teach work ethic and football smarts. Russell can make all the throws, but he doesn’t have the awareness to get the ball out on time or to deliver it to the right spot. One would think that he would compensate for that by working harder, but he doesn’t.

If Russell doesn’t show vast improvement this season, the Raiders can’t wait to start developing another quarterback. He’s regressed every year he’s been in the league and he’s not going to start succeeding overnight. I realize the Giants have a great defense and make a lot of quarterbacks look bad on Sundays, but Russell can’t even accomplish basic functions. It doesn’t matter if he’s playing the Giants or Rams, if he doesn’t understand the basics the Raiders will continue to spiral into football purgatory.

The New York Daily News reports that Eli Manning showed no limp while jogging and walking through drills at practice on Friday.

Manning, who hasn’t practiced all week, did have his injured right heel tightly wrapped under his sock and shoe, but he did not appear to be favoring it as he jogged and high-stepped through the pre-practice warmup. He also showed no ill-effects from the injury as he took part in the first-team offense’s walkthrough against the scout team. He was able to take snaps, drop back, hop in the pocket and throw with no obvious signs of pain or discomfort.

Of course, the media was positioned about 60 or so yards away from Manning, and we are only permitted to watch the first 20 or so minutes of practice. The Giants did little in that time that would truly indicate whether Manning will be able to play on Sunday against the Oakland Raiders.

Perhaps the only hint came when he took some snaps with the first-team offense, indicating there’s at least a chance. However, it should be noted that when the walkthrough drills began, David Carr took the first snaps with the starters.

The doctors have already told Manning that he won’t hurt foot anymore by playing on it, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be affected by the injury on game day.

Carr can turn around and hand the ball to Brandon Jacobs if need be to get the Giants a win over the Raiders this Sunday. But if the Giants need him to throw the ball to win, they could be in trouble.

It’ll be interesting to see what Tom Coughlin and the Giants decide to do with Manning over the weekend. He’ll likely be a game time decision.