ALAMEDA - Bruce Gradkowski has seen this all before - from both sides.

In starting 12 of the 20 NFL games in which he's appeared since his rookie season in 2006, and riding the bench in 31 others, Gradkowski has a certain perspective on what JaMarcus Russell is enduring.

Cheered one minute, jeered the next.

The toast of the town one crisp fall afternoon, being told "you stink" by a chanting crowd of thousands a few afternoons later.

Indeed, there is no more popular guy in the room - be it locker rooms or chat rooms - than the No. 2 quarterback when the starter is struggling.

Even if simply pulling the plug is not the be-all and end-all answer.

"The fans, you gotta love them, because they just want to win," Gradkowski said with a smile Wednesday morning. "That just goes with the position. Any starter in the league is always going to (face) that."

In recent franchise lore, Raider Nation called loudly for rookie Todd Marinovich to supplant Jay Schroeder when the big-armed but scatter-shot Schroeder was losing games, and his teammates' confidence, in 1991.

In 2005, fans summoned Marques Tuiasosopo to relieve a shell-shocked Kerry Collins.

Two years later, Russell himself had to wave the crowd quiet on his first pro snap when he replaced whipping boy Josh McCown.

Rarely, if ever, does replacing an ineffective starter so soon in a season produce immediate and Super Bowl-style results, unless your name is Kurt Warner and the guy you replace goes by the name of Matt Leinart.

Then again, Russell has been so bad - league lows in passer rating (39.8) and completion percentage (41.3) - you long for the laughable blink-and-its-over training camp tenure of Jeff Garcia as Russell's backup/mentor.

Yes, Russell has been that terrible. Brutal enough to elicit the catcalls. Atrocious enough to think the Raiders would be 3-0 with Gradkowski, Charlie Frye or even Garcia under center.

Sorry, but Garcia is not coming back, not even with him being cut by Philadelphia on Tuesday.

To re-sign him would mean the Raiders admitting they made a mistake in going all in with Russell to start the season, even if Garcia asked Oakland for his release. And yet, where is the limit on a lost season? Cable was strangely soft Wednesday when asked about potential interest in the suddenly available Garcia.

"We haven't talked about it at this point," Cable said. "That's all I can say right now."

So Raider Nation, hoarse from booing Russell, is left with voraciously campaigning for Gradkowski.

"The fans only see the plays going on; they don't know what goes into it, what happened on that exact play, so it's a tough situation," Gradkowski said. "That's why we have JaMarcus' back right now.

"We could be doing better, we know that, but there's also some good things out there. We just have to build on that. We have to be more consistent, and JaMarcus will be. It's huge for his confidence to know that this is his team and we're going to move forward with him, and me and Charlie are going to do everything we can to help him and help our team win some games."

There are 60 million reasons Russell keeps his job for now. This is the bed the Raiders made. It's the bed their fans have to sleep in.

Call The Bee's Paul Gutierrez, (916) 326-5556, and read his Raiders blog and more on the team at www.sacbee. com/raiders.