Stupid Mario

I have been a Mario Henderson apologist for most of the last 12 months. In that span of time I have offered up the following excuses for his horrible play at left tackle: "He's better than Kwame Harris." "If you throw out the game where Orakpo got 4 sacks against him, he had a fairly decent year." "He's better than Barry Sims." "I didn't hear his name called, so that must be a good sign." "It's not his fault JaMarcus is a retard." "It's not his fault Gradkowski's bones are made out of balsa wood." "It's not his fault that Charlie Frye is incapable of breaking out of the grasp of 5 men." The truth is, Mario Henderson sucks and just *might* be the worst starting left tackle in the NFL. In spite of Mario's inability to protect the QB, Tom Cable has the steaming undies for him. Of course, Tom Cable is the same genius who thinks that Cooper Carlisle is a good option at right guard and starting a 6'7 rookie tackle who basically played at a community college at center is wise idea. Is it Mario's fault that Chris Johnson single handedly outscored the Raiders? No. Is it his fault that Jason Campbell has bad pocket awareness? No, but it IS his fault that the pocket collapsed every single time Jason dropped back to pass. He is slow footed, and, quite possibly, mentally deficient. As Sandra Bullock taught us, you don't have to be a card carrying member of MENSA to play o-line in the NFL. You just have to be big, strong and fast. Well, Mario has big and strong down pat, it's the whole foot speed thing that continues to elude him. He isn't going to get any better, and it's time for the Raiders to try something else. Anything else. Except Kwame Harris.