Please Help-- Need Picture Of JaMarcus Russell in Mummy Costume

That is, I need a picture of him in the outfit he was wearing on the sidelines on Sunday. I hope people who saw the game know what I'm talking about-- Russell was so over-swaddled in clothing the only visible part of his body was his eyes. I know Mr. First-Pick-Of-The-Draft is from Louisiana, but what a sissy. As ESPN's TMQ might say, the football gods were not pleased with this sad lack of toughness. Bad karma, JaMarcus.

Speaking of whom, the woman and I were having an amusing time this weekend thinking of variants on JaMarcus's name. That means anything replacing the first letters of each "part" of JaMarcus's unique name. Some favorites were CaTarcus Mussell, MaNarcus Bussell, and, of course, QuParcus Zussell.

More making fun of Russell from Bay Area columnist Tim Kawakami (still no picture though!):

"Anyway, the quintessential scene of the day, for me, was watching rookie JaMarcus Russell slowly and reluctantly peel off his parka, then his ski mask, then his wool cap, when there was a thought to get him into the game late in the fourth quarter. I don't mean to pick on Russell, since I do believe he represents most of what's fascinating and optimistic about this franchise's future and he'd never been in cold weather before this trip. But . . . at that moment in the blowout, Russell talked to a coach, bent his legs stiffly and very unconvincingly, then - by my read - very happily retreated to the mask, the cap and the parka once he got word that he wouldn't be coming in. Ever been in cold like that, JaMarcus? 'Not that cold - damn it was cold,' Russell said later. 'It was all right though. If you have to play in it, you have to play in it.' Kiffin said he contemplated putting Russell into the game after giving Andrew Walter a series after taking out the banged up and sick Josh McCown. But Kiffin considered the score, the weather and the pass protection issues, and reconsidered. I wonder if he also looked into Russell's eyes - if he could see them through the mask and the glaze."

Los Championes del Norte!

On a weekend when the state was divided between scripture and secularism, it was good to see everyone put Saturday behind us, come together and remember how much they used to hate Warren Sapp. Yes, the Packers delivered a solid smackdown of the semi-improving Oakland Raiders, with a 38-7 victory that clinched the NFC North with three games left.

The main lines of commentary will likely be Ryan Grant having another big day (over 150 yards rushing and a touch), and Will Blackmon's return from injury-nowhere land to special teams stardom. Both were excellent developments. However, Grant's big day came against the 30th worst rush D in the league according to the raw stats (Football Outsiders actually had them as the worst rush D in the entire league through last week), so it wasn't all that surprising, especially given his other performances in the past six weeks. Blackmon's returns were great, and it's wonderful to see a guy get on the field and produce after struggling with so many injuries in his short career.

What I found interesting was the strategy. The Packers went right at the Raiders' defensive weakness- stopping the run. They ran and ran until Oakland committed a safety closer to the line, and then started throwing the ball. And when they threw, since the Oakland pass defense is quite good, the Packers didn't challenge it directly, it seemed, instead throwing screens and to the tight ends, and looking for holes in the zone rather than going right at individuals, especially the Raiders' Nnamdi Asomugha, who is a top-flight corner. The Packers only threw at his man twice. That somewhat short-armed bomb that Jennings came down with was thrown away from Asomugha, and off a play-action where Favre got time, and the Oakland safeties had come up towards the line of scrimmage. A pretty smart-strategy, especially with an injured Favre-- attack their run defense until they overcommit, then take further advantage.

On defense, besides the lack of sacks and the bomb to Curry and the touchdown that Porter ripped away from Al, I thought the team played very well. Fargas is a good running back, and the Oakland line has been blocking solidly in recent weeks. One play that sticks out in my mind is Nick Collins' tackle on Fargas on Oakland's 4th and one try in the first half. The game was still close, the Raiders had fourth and one right around midfield. Oakland fakes an inside run, then flips back to Fargas who runs wide left, away from the pile of bodies in the middle. It looks like he has the first down. Then Collins comes flying down, takes a great angle, and makes an excellent smart tackle-- going for Fargas's ankles instead of trying to engage him up high. Fargas trips and falls for a short loss. Packer ball. I guess that's why Collins immediately jumped back into the starting line-up once he got healthy-- he's just a great athlete. The team made a lot of excellent plays in the running game today, and it showed up on the bottom line. The Raiders gained only 233 total yards. That's the smallest amount allowed the defense has allowed the entire season. And it did this against a team that had won two straight. To me, that was the most impressive aspect of Sunday's game.