Despite the lack of a winning record, the Oakland Raiders are hoping the third time is the charm when it comes to their search at finding a franchise quarterback. Matt Flynn failed to work out for the team. Terrelle Pryor looked like the guy, but an injury has kept him on the sidelines. Matt McGloin now appears to be the team's best option at a stable future.
McGloin continues to make progress as a starting quarterback in place of Pryor. In four games, the undrafted rookie has put up 799 yards and four touchdown passes. Against the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving, the quarterback looked impressive to the tune of 255 yards on a 60.0 completion percentage. As Pryor continues to get healthy from a knee injury, head coach Dennis Allen is content sticking with McGloin.
"I think we're going to continue to play that out," Allen said, via the Contra Costa Times. "I don't think [McGloin's] done anything to play himself out of that position. I think as Terrelle gets more and more healthy, to be able to see him more involved in the offense, is something that we'll continue to look at. I think Matt has gone in and handled himself pretty well. Really, in every game that he's been the starting quarterback, we've had an opportunity to win those football games. We've had leads in the fourth quarter of games; we just haven't been able to pull them out."
Pryor certainly did well in his time at starter. He electrified the Raiders offense like no other quarterback had done in a long time. He even set a franchise record with a 93-yard touchdown run. However, he has thrown eight interceptions since his last touchdown pass and has since been sidelined with the sprained MCL. Allen is not ready to fully commit to a quarterback for the future beyond the 2013 season, but he likes what he has seen so far out of the rookie.
"I definitely think that's something that we need to see," Allen said. "We need to have a good evaluation of what we have at the quarterback position as we move forward. These last four weeks will be instrumental in us being able to do that."
Allen stressed that Pryor will see playing time down the final stretch of the season. He believes that in order to fairly evaluate the position in the offseason, the quarterback will need to see more action. Depending on how things play out, Pryor could see a package of plays in the next few games, but McGloin will remain the starter.
