The Oakland Raiders lost to the Denver Broncos on Monday night to drop their record to 1-2 and while Terrelle Pryor was injured in the game and could miss his next start, the team has looked better with him at quarterback than many had expected.
Pryor made a start last season and he had two this year heading into the Broncos game, giving him four career starts at quarterback after being previously taken in the supplemental draft by Oakland. Many felt that Pryor would not get the chance to start after Matt Flynn was acquired in the offseason, but he was able to beat him out for the job and won a game in the process as well.
With the team playing the Broncos on Monday night football, the Raiders Blog at SFGate.com took a look back at a former quarterback for the team in Tim Tebow and how he stacked up to Pryor in his first few starts in the NFL. According to the Raiders Blog at SFGate.com, the two put up very similar stat lines over their first three starts, coming with the 1-2 record, as each was able to win one game and lose two over their first three starting games in the league.
The differences do not end there, as the website also compared their stats through those games, with the numbers not exactly matchup up, but coming pretty close. Amazingly enough, each had 81 pass attempts over their first three games, with Pryor doing a little better at 58 percent with 47 completions, while Tebow was at 49 and 40 in that area, which is expected based on what everyone knows about Tebow.
The rest of the numbers are eerily similar as well, with Pryor throwing for just under 500 passing yards, while Tebow threw for just over 650. While those numbers aren't exactly the same, they are about in the same wheelhouse and the point being that neither player went crazy in their first three games passing the ball, although Pryor had three passing TDs and Tebow had four. Each ended up with three picks over that span and the rushing was similar too.
Pryor was the leading rusher in the NFL after one week this season and after three starts he had 211 yards and one score, while Tebow had 199 yards and three touchdowns. Of course none of it is identical, or maybe even relevant, but with Tebow being out of the league, it's interesting to see the comparison.
Now no is saying that Pryor is Tebow or vice versa, or even that they are comparable as quarterbacks (they are not, as Tebow can't hack it in the league) but it is an interesting comparison, as both run a lot and both can be explosive with the ball in their hands.
