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Let’s just take a moment to thank baseball for interfering with our perfect Sunday routine this week. I understand it’s the playoffs and compromise is necessary, but an 11:35 EST kickoff?! Not cool, guys. For those of us who would normally like to be in bed before 2:30 in the morning, there will be a difficult decision ahead — stay up and then loathe the entire world for all of Monday, or get those eight hours of sleep and miss out on precious football. I suspect the deciding factor for many will be whether or not the game carries fantasy implications, although it won’t exactly be brimming with superstars. After all, we’re talking about the San Diego Chargers at the Oakland Raiders, not the Denver Broncos at the Dallas Cowboys. Still, there will certainly be one guy worth staying up to watch if you own him — Terrelle Pryor.
Pryor’s had a much better start to the season than most expected he would; eh’s averaging 208 passing yards per game to go along with a combined 198 yards on the ground in three appearances this season. He posted a 112.4 QB rating in an impressive effort against the Broncos in Week 3 before getting knocked out towards the end of the game. He suffered a concussion that held him out against the Washington Redskins last week, and some feared Matt Flynn would come in and steal his job. Luckily for Pryor, Flynn was terrible, and head coach Dennis Allen made it clear that the team has no plans to make a switch.
Pryor will indeed be starting this week, and he couldn’t ask for a better matchup at home. San Diego has been a ray of sunshine for opposing quarterbacks, allowing them to rack up fantasy points with ease. Matt Schaub, Michael Vick and Jake Locker all posted their highest fantasy totals of the season against the Chargers, who may as well stand aside and gesture Pryor towards their end zone, as if they were politely motioning him to walk through a door ahead of them. The Bolts will also be playing sans OLB Dwight Freeney, who was their only effective pass-rusher, so Pryor should have plenty of time to decide whether he’d rather beat them on the ground or through the air. I’m not saying it’ll amount to a victory, since the Raiders have obvious defensive issues of their own, but either way, Pryor will do his part.
If you own him and don’t have an elite QB on your roster (someone like that Peyton Manning guy), get Pryor in your lineup. He’ll pay fantasy dividends and you won’t want to miss the show.
Dan Freeman is a Fantasy football writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanFreeman88.
