WHETHER HIS NFL career lasts five years or 15, JaMarcus Russell won't see many more opportunities like the one he glimpsed Sunday, so ripe with promise, so rich with possibility.

Russell was leading a Raiders offense coming off a game last week in which it gained a rumor of confidence. Oakland was at home, against a young and pliant Kansas City defense unfamiliar with the concept of sacks and allowing quarterbacks to complete two of every three passes. So delicious was this premise for Russell and the Raiders, that oddmakers, perhaps intoxicated by their 31-point outburst eight days ago in Denver, made them 3-point favorites.

Russell's very first throw, a perfect spiral to wideout Ashley Lelie, was dropped, a textbook example of a receiver disappointing his quarterback and his team.

After that, though, it was Russell's arm that disappointed him and everybody else.

"We didn't take advantage of some of the opportunities that were there," Russell said after a 20-13 loss that allowed the Chiefs to climb to 2-10.

The quarterback understates. He missed on 18 of 28 passes. After completing four of his first six attempts, he nailed six of his last 22. When receivers weren't dropping balls there were at least four outright whiffs they were watching passes fly over like military jets, fast and loud and completely out of reach.

"We needed to be a little more efficient," coach Tom Cable said. "A little more exact."

This was, for Russell, a game requiring little, if any, film study. He wasn't outmaneuvered or confused by exotic defenses. He rarely was rushed. He was a passer who generally failed to hit open targets.

Understand, the JaMarcus who carved up the Broncos last week his most impressive game as a pro would have thrown for three or four touchdowns. He would have lit up the Coliseum scoreboard.

Put another way, Oakland likely would have won this game if Russell had thrown at a level remotely close to satisfactory. His best play was a 20-yard scramble on fourth-and-seven with about five minutes left to play. His worst play? Take your pick.

He threw behind tight end Zach Miller, threw to the wrong side of Lelie on another play, underthrew wideout Ronald Curry on a third. Russell exposed his receivers to some frightening blindside hits.

By one count, Russell missed seven open receivers, the most obvious coming on a fourth-and-three play from the Chiefs 22 in the second quarter. Curry broke free off the line and raced through the secondary, getting behind everybody only to watch the ball sail hopelessly out of reach.

Cable was charitable in his assessment of the second-year quarterback. Which is not to say he failed to notice.

"When you look at it on film, accuracy is probably the number one (problem)," Cable conceded.

"It was one of those days,'' said running back Darren McFadden, who caught three passes for 50 yards. "You have good days and you have bad days. Today he had a bad day."

Yet Russell did not lose this game. This loss traces back to an array of blunders, physical and mental, the most conspicuous of which was Cable's decision to call a fake field goal attempt, relying on 250-pound Sebastian Janikowski to scamper the necessary 10 yards needed for the first down. The Raiders botched the execution of this horribly conceived play, essentially giving Kansas City a free touchdown.

Then, too, the Raiders failed to adequately cover Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez, and they were hurt by the scrambling of quarterback Tyler Thigpen.

So it wouldn't be fair to blame it all on Russell.

Yet this was a game JaMarcus could have won.

Instead, he ended up with a 51.5 rating, blaming the damp turf; he fell on two throws, slipped on several others. There were throws he acknowledged were in need of do-overs.

That's the thing about this game and this league. Do-overs are not allowed, even if you're making your 13th start, for your second head coach and your third play-caller.

For this wasn't a matter of a young man being overwhelmed with talent and schemes. On this day, Russell was a quarterback who too often threw straight when his receivers ran crooked and threw crooked when they ran straight.

He won't need to see the film. He'll remember this. At least he should.

Contact Monte Poole at mpoole@bayareanewsgroup.com