NO MATTER how it turns out today when the Oakland Raiders unveil their latest new era, there are two certainties every member of the Raider Nation can take to bed tonight.

The first is the opponent is the perennially pathetic Detroit Lions. The Lions, it can be argued, are the only team in the NFL that can challenge Oakland's recent run of mind-blowing wretchedness.

The second, and infinitely more important one, is that whatever the Oakland Raiders did on offense was temporary. Some of it was downright irrelevant.

For if the Oakland Raiders have the football and JaMarcus Russell is not involved, it's little more than a rehearsal without the star.

The Oakland offense as seen this afternoon — and for at least the next several weeks — is not long for your eyes. What lies ahead is an early-version test model, with a head coach making this walk for the very first time and an offensive line on week-to-week notice.

The Oakland Raiders' running back of the moment, Dominic Rhodes, is on suspension. The running back projectedfor the future, Michael Bush, is rehabbing his knee. The quarterback of their dreams, JaMarcus Russell, is unavailable, indefinitely.

If it seems the Oakland Raiders are in over their heads with any NFL team, well, that's where Detroit comes in. The Lions are proof that league's schedule-makers are capable of mercy. Can any team other than Detroit come into Oakland, into the house of a squad coming off a 2-14 season, and still be the underdog?

For the odds to play

out, the Oakland Raiders will have to avoid turnovers, score at least 24 points and minimize breakdowns in a secondary sure to be tested by Lions receivers Roy Williams, Mike Furrey and heralded rookie Calvin Johnson.

Still, the Oakland Raiders should consider this an opportunity. The kind of opportunity not often presented.

Today's exercise provides a chance for coach Lane Kiffin and his offensive staff to test their schemes, learn how to use their timeouts, face the challenge of clock management and try to avoid gazing into a future that includes JaMarcus Russell.

It will be about guard Robert Gallery's latest attempt to shed the "bust" label, about center Jeremy Newberry's spirited effort to stay upright, about receivers Jerry Porter and Ronald Curry trying to catch passes from quarterbacks not named JaMarcus.

It will be about fans watching Josh McCown or Daunte Culpepper or, once again, Andrew Walter. All the while, awaiting JaMarcus Russell.

Like watching a rehearsal without the star.

Nothing against McCown, who is expected to start today. Or against Culpepper, should he still be on the roster at kickoff. Or against Walter, for whom it is too late to start bringing apples to Kiffin. All three are NFL quarterbacks of varying ability and their own attributes.

But they may as well be stunt men or crash-test bodies, for none offers the absurd promise of JaMarcus Russell. He is the most exciting youngster to join the Oakland Raiders since Charles Woodson and his Heisman Trophy arrived nine years ago. C-Wood could be brilliant one minute and ordinary the next. By all accounts, that's the least we can expect from JaMarcus.

The 6-foot-6, 255-pound passer with the platinum right arm has dropped jaws at every level. The mention of JaMarcus Russell's name lights up the eyes of Oakland's receivers. They grin a knowing grin, similar to those who glimpsed a teenager named Tiger Woods.

Indeed, JaMarcus Russell is in their hearts, even though they haven't been on the field with him in two months.

"He's ... wow ... whew," Jerry Porter said. "He has a lot, whole lot, to offer."

Which explains the fascination among sports fans and the anticipation/frustration of the Raider Nation. The drafting of JaMarcus Russell lit a fire under a franchise in need of buzz. In need of pizzazz. In need of a quarterback, too.

Teammates love his talent, and most accept the business reasons for JaMarcus Russell's absence from training camp. Even the true company men among Oakland Raiders must realize there is a shared blame. As holders of the first overall pick, Oakland could have wrapped up the details before the selecting JaMarcus Russell. Or surrendered the pick and moved down in the draft.

That neither happened is how a team ends up trying to plot its future without its most essential piece.

Thus, many of those lining up on offense for Oakland today are short-timers. Substitutes. Like whomever takes snaps from Newberry, 31 and most assuredly not the team's center of the future, or Jake Grove, who can't seem to hold what the organization has tried to place in his hands.

Until JaMarcus Russell is on the field, Rhodes is reinstated and Michael Bush is fully healthy, we can't know how high this offense can fly.

Until questions are answered about Gallery and Grove, we can't know how much rebuilding this line needs.

Meanwhile, today and for the next few weeks, Oakland rehearses without its leading man. If the Oakland Raiders can get through the first month without an ambulance, while introducing parts of the playbook not written specifically for JaMarcus Russell, it can't be as bad as it might look.