"It was one quarter of play.
Less than that, actually, and it was in an exhibition opener.
But JaMarcus Russell looked like a leader. He carried himself with a certain swagger that belied his first two professional seasons of uncertainty. His passes were, well, let a two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback set the scene for you.
"He played better than he looked at practice the other day when I saw him," Jim Plunkett told me at halftime of the Raiders' 31-10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. "He was decisive, pretty much on target most of the time."
Sounds uplifting, I suggested.
Plunkett smiled.
"I don't know if it's uplifting," he said. "But it's a good feeling to see him do well out there. In a lot of respects, it's good for his confidence, and it's good for us (as an organization) to see that." Indeed."