After last night’s terrible performance by Raiders quarterback Matt Flynn, many will be quick to jump on the Terrelle Pryor bandwagon. Sure Flynn played poorly. In fact, with a stats line featuring nearly as many completions to the defense as the offense, one can make the case that Flynn isn’t worthy of starting for anyone in the NFL, but let’s take a step back.
First off, it’s worth noting that Matt Flynn played primarily against a top-tier starting defense. The Bears’ defense will make it tough on any young quarterback to succeed.
Terrelle Pryor has a skillset that Matt Flynn lacks as well. Instead of being simply a pocket passer, Pryor is able to extend plays with his legs. That’s what he was able to do last night. Still, it wasn’t as if he blew the Bears out of the water with great play. His results came from a small sample size.
What would happen with a larger sample size? Well, chances are strong that Pryor’s lack of consistency would begin to shine through. Matt Flynn is by no means a finished product, but neither is Terrelle Pryor. The difference is that Flynn is more polished.
The calls to replace Matt Flynn with Terrelle Pryor are completely premature. The Raiders have a roster lacking in talent, and neither quarterback will be leading the team to the playoffs. Frankly, the Raiders feature one of the worst rosters in football, and the odds are stacked against any starting quarterback in Oakland.
It will be interesting to see how Carson Palmer does in Arizona. His success, or lack thereof, will give us a benchmark by which we can compare Flynn and Pryor’s success in Oakland. If they succeed where Palmer failed, there could be some hope for the team. If, however, Palmer succeeds and Oakland’s quarterbacks fall flat, it’ll be clear where the problem was a season ago.
Right now, it’s smart for Oakland to leave their quarterback battle open until the end of the preseason. There’s no clear starter, and without one, it’d be ludicrous to name one. The fourth preseason game is usually a meaningless affair, but for the Raiders, it could determine which quarterback is under center week one.
