What's that old saying? When you have two quarterbacks, you really have none.
The 4-8 Raiders hope they have at least one, and they should focus on determining who that is during these last four games, in addition to the traditional playing for pride that fans have dealt with the past 11 seasons.
Terrelle Pryor started eight games before getting injured and simultaneously losing his job to undrafted rookie Matt McGloin. (Matt Flynn started one game when Pryor had a concussion in September, but that name is not even whispered in Raidersville anymore.)
How has McGloin looked? Solid. He had that three-touchdown debut in Houston, and although his quarterback rating dropped in each of his next two starts, he has shown the ability to go through his reads and throw to spots where receivers can make a play.
In a loss to the Cowboys on Thursday, McGloin had a costly fumble and interception. He was sharp early but fizzled, and didn't take advantage of a Dallas defense that brought a safety down and crowded the line of scrimmage to stop the run. (The Raiders ran the ball 25 times for 50 yards.)
He will get another start next Sunday in New York.
"I think he's handled his role pretty well," Raiders head coach Dennis Allen said.
Allen won't say that McGloin is "the" starting quarterback and cites Pryor's knee injury even though Pryor has been active the past two games as a backup.
"I think as Terrelle gets more and more healthy, to be able to see him more involved in the offense is something that we'll continue to look at," Allen said.
He went on to say that "in every game that (McGloin's) been the starting quarterback, we've had an opportunity to win."
There is a sense in the locker room that the coaching staff has moved on from Pryor. There was the rough stretch in his last four starts where he had eight interceptions and one touchdown pass. The league may have just caught up with him, knowing Pryor would scramble to his right at the first sign of trouble.
But Allen said the coaching staff wants to see Pryor on the field again this season. Or, at least, Allen thinks it does.
"I think we want to try to see more of him at some point," Allen said. "Injuries are a tough thing. They're hard to account for. You don't know how things are going to respond and how quickly people are going to get back. ... But I think that's something we want to look at moving forward, but we'll see how that plays out."
Allen, earlier in the season, said Pryor's development and running skills were "exciting." Pryor has improved his throwing mechanics a lot from last season, but there's still a way to go, and it's obvious Allen and offensive coordinator Greg Olson prefer a more traditional pocket passer.
Here's Olson last week on McGloin's chemistry with the receivers:
"It's important ... that he understand when we're targeting certain players and why we're targeting certain players," Olson said, "and make sure you don't miss those alerts when those passes come up in the course of a game."
Pryor definitely missed seeing open receivers at times, and both tight end Mychal Rivera and fullback Marcel Reece have become more involved in the offense since McGloin took over.
But there are two big asterisks that we think warrant Pryor getting another look in the last four games:
-- Pryor played with a patchwork offensive line and took a beating when he was sacked nine times in Kansas City on Oct. 13. Now, starting tackles Jared Veldheer and Tony Pashos are back and center Stefen Wisniewski is healthy. Doesn't Pryor deserve a chance to play with those guys? Maybe he would stand in the pocket longer if he trusted his protection.
-- Pryor averaged 7.4 yards a carry, running for 504 yards in eight games, and was easily the Raiders' offensive MVP during the first half of the season. He is a playmaker on a team that has very few, offensively or defensively. That 93-yard touchdown run seems like a long time ago, but it has only been five weeks.
Even if all signs point to the Raiders drafting a quarterback high in 2014, they still need to get Pryor onto the field in 2013. Running read-option plays with McGloin or wildcat plays with Rashad Jennings or Reece is stubborn and not coaching to win.
Allen has grown a lot since his rookie season last year, when he and since-fired offensive coordinator Greg Knapp tried to force a productive offense into an ill-fitting zone-blocking scheme.
Allen is probably safe to come back for a third year, as the Raiders have overachieved and been competitive this season. Not forgetting about Pryor would be another good sign.
Different strokes
Terrelle Pryor and Matt McGloin in their first three starts:
Player Att Cmp Yds Pct TD Int Rush TD Pts Rec
Pryor 81 53 624 65 2 2 198 0 57 1-2
McGloin 94 55 712 59 4 2 2 0 71 1-2
