Las Vegas Raiders Thread

Matt Flynn started all three pre-season games and his performances have been underwhelming so far, even though he started the pre-season as strong favourite to be starting QB on opening day and most statements from the team have suggested that there had been no change in this.

This, however, could be set to change, as Terrelle Pryor outperformed Flynn against the Bears and seemed a greater threat to score. Head coach Dennis Allen was asked post match whether Pryor could now be the starter and he answered "I think obviously we’ve got to look at it. I don’t think Matt played well in this game. Obviously I felt Terrelle came in, gave us a spark and played well.", he also added later "What I’m going to look at…. who gives us the best chance to move the ball down field and score points? And what combination of things give us the best chance to move the ball down the field and score points? All right? Obviously, I’m not going to look at one night and base any type of decision on one night. I’m going to go back and look at it, see where we go from here."

Teams traditionally play their starters either sparingly or not at all in the final pre-season game, so it will be interesting to see who starts next week, but looking at the pre-season performances, Pryor may now have a real chance of starting in Week One.

Personally, given the abysmal performances by the defence and the O -line in the pre-season, even allowing for Pryor's inexperience, I think he offers the only real chance to chalk up a few wins, as the O-line are probably incapable of protecting a pocket passer like Flynn and the defence may conceed a mountain of scores. In any case, if they persist with Flynn, he'll probably be out injured early on, as he is relentlessly punished by the opposition pass rush(he was sacked 5 times last week against the Saints in the first half.)

Well, we're still in this game and Pryor is looking good!!

Matt Flynn Released today http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000258558/article/matt-flynn-released-by-oakland-raiders-what-now- bit of a surprise, I know He didn't play well against the Redskins but in fairness that was without DMC and Marcel Reese for the majority of the game.

Pryor is playing well but is one hit away from missing more game time.

Its definitely a good season so far, we appear to have a defence, even without Tyvon Branch. Pryor, well I'm not ashamed to say I was wrong about him. He's still a work in progress but we havent had a potential Franchise Quarterback like this in years. The O-Line needs to improve which should help the running game and by degree, the passing game. And I still believe that McKenzie and Allen are what this Franchise needs. The coaching staff they have put together seem to be doing a good job. Whether the likes of Olsen or Sparano stick around after this season is anyone's guess, but if things keep going like this, I will be very happy with the progress made by the Franchise.

Now who starts at QB going forward? Interesting times for us!

JaMarcus Hustle wrote: »

Thomas Howard died today in a car crash. Such a shame. He was a superstar on my infamous Raiders team in Madden 2007 (or whichever one had Favre on the front).

RIP

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Another season done with not much to be happy about. Looks like Allen is staying on as well. Huge off-season for the team, with 70m in cap space we really should be able to attract so good players and with the #5 pick in the draft we should really be able to improve for next year.

Critical decision to be made between now and April, Is McGloin/Pryor their QB for the future or do they need to use that #5 pick to take a QB. Allen said in his season wrap-up press conference, that their future QB might not be on the roster.

Current speculation is that Allen will be given one more year, (this time with money to sign the players they really want) and that the owner wants to put the entire coaching staff on one year contracts. If that's true, then Allen, with his job on the line might prefer to enter the season with an experienced QB rather than risk another season with a rookie at the position, but maybe McKenzie might prefer to grab a marquee QB in the draft if the right player is available, so it might come down to who's available when their pick comes around. If they opt to pick a QB and the right one is gone, I could see Reggie trading down a few spots and gaining an extra pick or two like last year and then maybe picking up a WR or pass rusher(both of which they need badly)

I dont want to draft QB at #5. I'd much prefer it to be used on Defense. We dont draft QB's. We do a much better job picking up a retread. I'm glad Allen is back for another crack at it, the last two seasons were unavoidable and very few head coaches would have done much better. With some cap space, we can finally start building a decent roster. The roster last year had the right attitude but no depth, which is hopefully what we will be able to develop this offseason. We need help all over the place, and one way or another,this offseason is going to make or break McKenzie/Allen.