Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
When symptoms of his concussions crept back up on Saturday, Terrelle Pryor was forced to sit out the Oakland Raiders’ Sunday showdown with the Washington Redskins. Backup Matt Flynn took the reins, and proceeded to lead the silver and black to a 24-14 loss.
While the rest of the roster played well, Flynn showed the 1-3 Raiders exactly why not having Pryor in the lineup is a real problem.
In his first opportunity of the season, Flynn was far from impressive. After his early touchdown toss to rookie Mychal Rivera, the overpaid passer struggled to get anything going on offense. He completed 65 percent of his passes for 227 yards, the one touchdown and an interception.
While the stat line wasn’t horrid, the actual on-field impact did little to help the Raiders. Six of his completions were behind the line of scrimmage and 10 others were within 0-9 yards down the field. According to Pro Football Focus, he earned a -4.0 overall rating, the worst of any player (offensive or defensive) for the game.
Even head coach Dennis Allen didn’t hesitate to throw his underwhelming quarterback under the bus.
“Look,” Allen said. “Matt didn’t play well, and we’ve gotta move on. We’ve got to get better than that.”
The worst part of the whole performance? It was against the Redskins, who have arguably the worst defense in the NFL through the first four weeks of the regular season. Flynn could only muster one touchdown on the game – the other seven points came off a blocked punt – and needs to take his rightful place back on the bench.
The Raiders are expecting to have Pryor back in the driver’s seat once their Week 5 game against the San Diego Chargers rolls around. Unfortunately, the only way that will happen is if the third-year quarterback can pass the battery of tests that come with suffering a concussion.
If the Raiders have any hope of winning against the Chargers on Sunday, Pryor needs to be starting. They already wasted millions on Flynn, and now are just crossing their fingers that he’ll ride the pine for the remainder of the year.
Pryor is Oakland’s best bet to win. If he’s not under center, expect the Raiders to earn another notch in the loss column.
Gil Alcaraz IV is the Content Planner for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @GilAlcarazIV, like him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
Related Links
