Apparently, Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell has mastered one aspect of life in the NFL.
He knows how to not tell the truth when necessary.
Tom Curran pointed out last night that Russell has denied being fined for things like missing meetings, showing up late for meetings, and being overweight.
And, of course, this implies that Russell doesn’t have a habit of missing meetings, showing up late for meetings, or being overweight.
“I don’t really play into that and I don’t have any truth to missing a lot of meetings because I’m the guy that needs to be in there and know what it takes for the guys around so I don’t really play into that,” Rusell said.
Sorry, JaMarcus, but as we reported earlier in the week, Esiason’s report was technically inaccurate only to the extent that it didn’t go far enough.
Russell, we’re told, has missed multiple meetings, and he has missed multiple other activities.
His behavior has been described as a “pattern not an aberration.”
Maybe the Raiders haven’t fined Russell for every (or any) transgression. (After all, they haven’t yet benched him.) But we’re convinced that he has engaged in more than enough conduct to justify more than a few fines.
So, no, Russell isn’t “the guy that needs to be in there and know what it takes.”
Whatever that means.