Russell trying to get past turmoil

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Oct 9, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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METAIRIE — It’s been a long, long 17 months since the Oakland Raiders, with the first pick of the 2007 NFL draft, chose former LSU star JaMarcus Russell to be the quarterback of their future.

A 6-foot-6, 260-pounder with a cannon for a right arm, Russell was going to be the centerpiece of the offense being put together by 31-year-old rookie coach Lane Kiffin that would take the Raiders out of the freefall the franchise had been in since reaching Super Bowl XXXVII.

But that’s about where everything went south in the land of Raiders owner Al Davis.

Russell didn’t sign until after the first regular-season game and wound up playing in just three games last season with no starts, the Raiders went 4-12 and the Davis-Kiffin relationship quickly soured.

A 1-3 start this season culminated in a permanent separation on Sept. 30, when Davis fired Kiffin after several contentious weeks and replaced him with offensive line coach Tom Cable.

Kiffin may be gone after being given the boot by Davis, but Russell remains the main building block for the once-proud franchise.

And after so much zaniness the last few weeks, Russell and the Raiders will be looking for a little normalcy Sunday — as much as they can — when they face the New Orleans Saints in the Superdome.

“For a lot of people on the outside looking in, you would think it’s crazy the way our plans have been thrown up in the air the last week or two,” Russell said Wednesday during a teleconference with Louisiana reporters.

While there was much speculation and conjecture about Kiffin’s future with the team for weeks, Russell said the team coped with the circus-like atmosphere as best it could.

“We haven’t seen any changes,” he said of working under Cable following Kiffin’s dismissal. “We just had a bump in the road and we have to move on from it.”

An end to all the turmoil is what Cable certainly hopes to see Sunday.

“I think everybody is surprised when something like this happens,” Cable said. “As I mentioned when it happened, it’s the business. It’s unfortunate, and you move on.

“The players have been great. The plan is in place to kind of keep this team moving, hopefully, in the right direction. We’re just kind of taking it day by day and not really worrying about too much — just sticking to the plan.”