JaMarcus Russell: QB Bust Wrongly Blames Others for Career Failures

When life gives you hardship and troubles it’s easy to point your finger at other people as the reason of your misfortune. It’s easy to say, “You’re the reason why I don’t have more money, a better job, a girlfriend or wife, am in poor health or whatever.” 

That’s just the way that most of us are wired. We pass the buck onto someone else, hoping that they can or will fix our problems.  

For example, at your job, if you don’t mess up but your boss does, do they blame themselves or you? They point the finger at something that you did, instead of pointing the finger at themselves.  

This is exactly what former Raiders quarterback, JaMarcus Russell, is doing now during a round of interviews about why his career was such a failure.  

In the latest issue of Sports Illustrated, Russell points the finger at the former Raiders head coach Tom Cable, as to why he was a bust in the NFL.  

"I stuck my neck out for him," Russell says of Cable, "Didn't complain when he benched me as the starter. Didn't complain when he called the same plays five damn times. Didn't (badmouth) him to other coaches. When the (media) asks me, I say, 'He's a good coach, a good guy.' Then I hear he says I was the worst thing ever happened to the Raiders, if it weren't for him we'd be in the playoffs?

"It just got to where the game wasn't fun for me."



Never once in that quote does Russell blame himself for only winning seven of 25 starts. Absent is that fact that he completed 52.1 percent of his passes and threw only 18 touchdowns during his playing career.  

JaMarcus never blames himself for not living up to his monster contract that he signed when he was drafted by the Raiders with the first pick in the ’07 NFL Draft.  

"Things weren't going right, and it felt someti...