Just call Gradkowski the 'People's Quarterback'

By Paul Gutierrez
pgutierrez@sacbee.com

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ALAMEDA -- The week after Bruce Gradkowski made his Raiders debut, in that 38-0 embarrassment courtesy of the New York Jets, the journeyman was forced to rub shoulders with the unwashed masses.

The People's Quarterback liked it.

Gradkowski had just moved into his San Francisco apartment and, with the Bay Bridge shut down after a cable snapped (no, not the Raiders' coach), he was on a BART train at the break of dawn.

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Was he recognized as he rode through the heart of Raider Nation?

"Nah," he said with a laugh. "I had my hood up over my head."

Good luck pulling off that trick now.

In replacing the ineffective and infuriating JaMarcus Russell against Cincinnati today, and for the foreseeable future, Gradkowski is the most popular man in Raider Nation. And not just because he's not JaMarcus Russell.

Because while there's always a spark that comes with a quarterback switch, Gradkowski's energy in the huddle and in team meetings has his teammates singing his praises. They love the vigor the 6-foot-1, 220-pound Gradkowski brings, as opposed to the laid-back approach employed by the 6-6, 270-pound No. 1 overall pick from LSU.

So much so that their compliments of Gradkowski have started to come across as jabs at Russell.

Asked what gives him confidence that Gradkowski can get the job done, running back Justin Fargas was effusive.

"One, a passion for the game, a love for the game that he shows in the way he plays, the way he calls plays," Fargas said. "The way he works on details of plays with players. That's the main thing I'm seeing with him. It's just, he's a get-after-it type of guy.

"You want to make a play for your quarterback, but when he shows that type of passion for the game, obviously guys are going to feed off it and try to give him that same effort."

Then this from tight end Zach Miller, Russell's favorite target: "Bruce gives us the best chance to win right now," Miller said. "He's obviously a pretty smart guy, reads things well, throws a real good ball. We feel like we'll be able to throw it around better now. He's a great quarterback. He goes through all his reads.

"He's been making the right decisions."

Those are major props for a guy who's just 3-9 in 12 career starts, and has started just once since his rookie season of 2006. And in that last start, for Cleveland on Dec. 28 in Pittsburgh, Gradkowski had a 1.0 passer rating. Ouch.

Well, the bar is low with Russell completing just 46.8 percent of his passes and his 47.7 passer rating, ranking 30th of 31 qualifying quarterbacks. The Raiders' offense, ranked 31st overall in averaging 222 yards, has scored a league-low seven touchdowns while committing 21 turnovers.

So does the switch mean a better-looking, more effective attack?

"I hope so," said running back Michael Bush.

"Kind of hard to simulate a game," added wide receiver Chaz Schilens. "But in practice, we had good tempo, good chemistry.

"I guess the game will tell. Looks good out there to me."

What's that about providing a spark, again?

"I think they have respect for me," Gradkowski said of his teammates. "The important thing is they know I'm going to prepare and work hard. If you do that, you just have to go out on game day and play hard and let the chips fall into place."

And if they settle into an upset win over the Bengals? Imagine the scene the People's Quarterback will create on his next BART ride.