In case you missed it, the Raiders have benched Jason Campbell in favor of Bruce Gradkowski, who entered the Rams game at halftime and led Oakland to a much needed win. He threw for 162 yards with one TD and one interception in two quarters of play.
In his last four starts of the 2009 season, he averaged 211 yards, 1.5 TDs and 0.3 INT against Cincinnati, at Dallas, at Pittsburgh and at home against the Redskins. Those four teams ranked 6th, 20th, 16th and 8th against the pass, respectively, so it wasn’t an easy schedule to throw against. He also added an average of 19 rushing yards, so he has the ability to take off with the ball when necessary.
Gradkowski has the Cardinals this week, and if you’re in a pinch, or if you need a second QB for your two-QB league, you could do worse. His schedule — HOU, SD, @ SF, @ DEN, SEA and KC — is pretty favorable over the next seven weeks. Given the way Campbell was playing, I suspect the insertion of Gradkowski is an upgrade for the entire passing game, but most importantly for Louis Murphy and Zach Miller, who were floundering with Campbell under center. Murphy caught five of his six passes after halftime last week, while Miller was targeted three times by Gradkowski over the same span, catching one pass for 24-yards.
It’s important to temper expectations anytime the Raiders are involved because the franchise is so dysfunctional. When was the last time Oakland had a consistent fantasy stud? Just when you start to count on them, they find a way to screw up whatever good mojo they had going. Is that still the case?
I guess we’ll find out over the next month or so, but for now I’m reasonably optimistic that Gradkowski will be a capable QB2 in the short term.
Mike Vick has another favorable matchup this week against the Jags, who rank 29th in the league against the pass…Carson Palmer has numerous weapons to throw to, and he’ll have a chance to utilize all of them this week against the Panthers, who have yielded 218 yards and 2.5 TDs per game through the first two weeks…Brett Favre hasn’t looked very good this season, and he may be without Percy Harvin, who is battling a hip injury and migraines. But he faces the Lions (305 yards, 2.0 TD per game), so if he can’t post good numbers this week, things are very bad in Minnesota…Need a deep sleeper? Ryan Fitzpatrick takes over as the Bills starter, and he’ll likely have to throw a ton too keep up with the Pats, who have showed quite a bit of vulnerability against the pass…I think David Garrard will have a bounce-back game against the Eagles (at home, where he plays well). Philly figures to score well, so Garrard will have to pass to keep up.
