Raiders Starting Quarterback: Flynn or Pryor
The NFL preseason is winding down with just one game left next week, before the regular season begins the first week of September.
The Oakland Raiders have made a complete overhaul of both their offense and defense during the offseason.
That includes trading Carson Palmer, their starting quarterback of last season and bringing in Matt Flynn from Seattle and two or three others to fight for the starting job.
Dennis Allen the head coach of the Raiders is in a difficult situation as Flynn, who was projected from the start to be the team’s starting quarterback, played poorly on Friday against the Chicago Bears and Terrelle Pryor played just the opposite.
The question for many is will Allen stay with Flynn to open the season as the team’s starting quarterback or will he opt for Pryor and a different course for the offense.
One worry the coaching staff has about Flynn is will he remain healthy. The Raiders do not have a strong offensive line and Flynn is a pocket passer and could be sacked and or injured during the course of the season.
On the other hand, Pryor is more athletic, can scramble and elude the oncoming defensive line and linebackers.
On Friday, Flynn was flattened on one corner blitz and was intercepted twice, while Pryor hit 7 of his 9 passes and a touchdown. He also ran for a touchdown on a 25-yard scramble.
It does not take an expert in the NFL to see that Flynn was outplayed in the game by Pryor, but is that enough in the minds of the coaches to give him the starting quarterback job.
Both Head Coach Allen and his coaching staff much decide to stay the course and stick with Flynn or use Pryor. The sooner the better as the start of the season is just two weeks away and continuity of some sort is needed.
Both players are inexperienced. Flynn has played in the NFL for five seasons, but all as a backup to Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson. He has only started two games during the regular season, one more that has Pryor.
Energy was injected into the Raiders offense with Pryor on the field in Friday’s game, but looked dead while Flynn played.
After three games of preseason, Flynn is 19 for 26 and has 180 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Pryor is 14 for 24 and has 190 yards with two touchdown passes and a single interception.
On the ground, Flynn has 19 yards on four carries, but defenses have sacked him seven times. Pryor has 83 yards on 11 carries and one touchdown. He only has two sacks.
One big difference in all this is that Flynn has played against first team defenses for most of his snaps, while Pryor has not.
The Raiders coaches do not have an easy task ahead of them in choosing a quarterback, but suffice to say whomever they do choose, he will have a ton of pressure on his shoulders from the start.
