What Terrelle Pryor means for the Oakland Raiders
If this Raiders team is as bad as everyone is making them seem, than they need all the play-makers they can get. Terrelle Pryor gives them exactly that from the quarterback position. Pryor gives the Oakland Raiders the best chance to win, because defenses have to account for his arm and his legs, but defenses must respect his play-making ability. Pryor might not have the same accuracy or football I.Q as Matt Flynn, but Pryor’s god given instinct and ability make him the better choice for this Raider team.
Yes Terrelle Pryor is fast, strong, and athletic. In The Raider’s preseason games Pryor proved that he is capable of translating his athleticism at the next level. However, the most promising thing that can be taken away from those games is Pryor’s willingness to take on the big moment.
With all respect towards Flynn, the Raiders have no where near the amount of talent and play-makers that a game manager like Flynn would need to be successful. Instead, the Raiders need another play-maker that the defense must respect besides Darren Mcfadden. Forget the fact that the zone option with Mcfadden and Pryor is scary; Pryor any time on a bootleg is just as threatening. Then you add a shaky offensive line and the Raiders need a quarterback, like Pryor, who can move just to stay up right and keep drives alive. All offseason I’ve heard multiple sources talk about how Greg Olsen is willing to tailor his offense to his player.Well here is Olsen’s chance.
[Bold: What Pryor gives the Raiders on offense]
Pryor’s game changing ability will open things up for all of the players on the Raiders offense. Even though the Raiders do not have an every down, dominate player outside of Mcfadden they have plenty of guys who possess the versatility and explosiveness to be effective. Guys like Ausberry, Reese, Ford, Moore, Kasa, etc. all posses such unique skill sets that the Raiders would benefit from a more spread style offense were they can get the ball into various players hands and give them opportunities to make plays. Pryor, has experience with this type of offense as does Mcfadden, and we have seen other teams in the NFL with half the explosiveness, use this type of offense effectively. Pryor can then key on the various mismatches the Raiders create with all of the size and athleticism at the skill positions.
[Bold: Why Pryor is ready to be the starter]
Entering Ohio State as top recruit carries it’s own expectations, and Terrelle Pryor handled that well on the field. Off the field, Pryor had his own well documented issues with maturity and signs of that showed early in the pros. However, Pryor has matured and that is evident with this entire off-season. Terrelle knew that he was the dark horse to be the starting quarterback, but he said all the right things and when his opportunity came, he was was ready. Even with his struggles, he showed a resilience and a want to get better. All that aside, the fact that Pryor has put so much work into refining his game the past to seasons shows that he isn’t the same immature guy he was at OSU, instead showing he isn’t taking the opportunity for granted. Pryor didn’t show us anything we didn’t know in the preseason. We knew Pryor, was fast, big, and had a strong arm. However, he did remind us that he is gamer and competitor who has been playing on the biggest stages since high school. Further his advancement at making reads and audibles shows that Pryor is taking responsibility for maturing his game at the NFL level.
[Bold: Why the Raiders need Pryor to be successful}
Finally, the Raiders need Pryor to be successful, because every teams number one goal is to SELL TICKETS. Not only, is Pryor an explosive player who is fun to watch, but he is also a fan favorite. Pryor is going to get fans and people around the league excited for the Raiders again. Pryor is the hope for this fan-base and the organization, so the Raiders must play him just to exhaust every option.
Pryor has similar athleticism and accolades to Cam Newton and RG3 who are responsible for injected life into their respective franchises, as rookies. While Pryor may not be the same type of prospect these guys were, you can not convince me that Newton and Griffin as rookies were better than Pryor is now after three years of NFL experience. If those two can have such an impact as rookies than I think it is fair to have similar expectations for a third year Pryor.
Either way, even if Pryor fails, at-least then he leaves the door open for the number 1 pick next year. In that case, we won’t even have any debate about what position to draft with that #1 pick. In any event, playing Pryor at least makes it look like the Raiders aren’t tanking for #1 pick…