Pryor, not McGloin to start home finale against Broncos

 

photos via San Jose Mercury

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — Terrelle Pryor will start over Matt McGloin in the Raiders’ final home game of the season against the Denver Broncos Sunday, head coach Dennis Allen announced Monday during his weekly press conference per CSNBayArea.com’s Raiders Insider, Scott Bair.

Both Pryor and McGloin were notified of Allen’s decision earlier Monday morning.

“We got a chance to see Matt McGloin for six games,” Allen said. “I liked a lot of things that I saw in Matt. It’s been a while since we’ve gotten an opportunity to see Terrelle in a game and I want to get him in the game and get another opportunity to evaluate him.”

McGloin’s three-touchdown performance in a 28-23 victory over the Houston Texans in Week 11 gave Oakland a glimpse of a possible answer at the quarterback position, but McGloin played up-and-down to a 1-5 record while Oakland (4-11) lost five straight games including a 56-31 home drubbing to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 15 in which he threw four interceptions.

McGloin finished 20-for-36 for 206 yards and an interception in Oakland’s 26-13 loss in San Diego Sunday and it was clear that Oakland had seen enough.

Pryor goes back under center and should get a long look against the Broncos. Pryor played well against Denver back in Week 3, completing 19-for-28 passes for 281 yards, a touchdown with a career-high, 112.4 passer rating.

Denver (12-3) is coming into Oakland looking to wrap up the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye in the AFC Playoffs. Denver wrapped up the AFC West with their 37-13 victory in Houston, coupled with Kansas City’s 23-7 loss to Indianapolis at Arrowhead.

Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning threw for 400 yards and four touchdowns, while breaking Tom Brady’s NFL-record 50 touchdown passes set in 2007, sending the down-trodden Texans to their 13th straight loss in the process. Manning threw the record-breaking touchdown to tight end Julius Thomas on a 25-yard pass in the fourth quarter, his third touchdown pass of the quarter.

In a season where he most likely collect his fifth league MVP award, Manning has a chance to set another record Sunday.

With a league-leading 5,211 yards passing this year, Manning needs 265 yards to surpass New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees’ NFL-record 5,476 set in 2011.

Manning loves to spread the ball around and with four targets with at least 10 touchdowns  like wide receivers Demaryius Thomas (86 catches, 1,377 yards, 12 TDs), Eric Decker (83 catches, 1,261 yards, 10 TDs), Wes Welker (73 catches, 778 yards, 10 TDs), and the previously mentioned tight end Thomas (60 catches, 752 yards, 12 TDs), its almost a safe bet that Manning breaks the record against the Raiders.

Raiders return home for Week 15 tilt with Chiefs

By. Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — Home is where the heart is and the Oakland Raiders are in dire need of some good fortune.

After a two game road trip, Oakland return to the familiar surroundings of O.co Coliseum when they’ll host their bitter rival the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 15 Sunday. Kansas City nipped Oakland, 24-7 at Arrowhead in Week 6 behind a ferocious defense that forced three second-half interceptions and sacked then starting quarterback Terrelle Pryor 10 times.

Oakland (4-9) was dropped by the New York Jets, 37-27, in New York last week.

With running backs Rashad Jennings (concussion) and Darren McFadden (ankle),  fullback Marcel Reece supplied the ground game for Oakland rushing for a career-high 123 yards on 19 carries, including a career-long 63-yard touchdown run on the second play of the third quarter.

Quarterback Matt McGloin finished the game 18 of 31 for 245 yards passing, two touchdowns and an interception, while wide receiver Rod Streater had a career-high 130 yards receiving and a touchdown.

Kansas City (10-3) throttled hapless Washington, 45-10, last week in the Nation’s Capital.

The Chiefs jumped on Washington from the start, building a 31-0 lead in the second quarter behind two special teams touchdowns and their running game. Running back Jamaal Charles racked up 151 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.

Charles leads the AFC in rushing with 1,161 yards and 10 touchdowns, and is third overall in the NFL in rushing yards behind Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson (1,221), and Philadelphia running back LeSean McCoy (1,3o5).

Another loss for Silver and Black

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – DECEMBER 8: Terrelle Pryor #2 hands off to Marcel Reece #45 of the Oakland Raiders during their game against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on December 8, 2013 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

By Jeremy Kahn

Charles Woodson compared this latest loss for the Oakland Raiders to the baseball team in the 1976 classic movie Bad News Bears.

Lately that is exactly how the Raiders have been playing, and their latest loss against the New York Jets shows just that.

Geno Smith broke Mark Sanchez’s rookie record in a season, as he threw for 219 yards and the Jets defeated the Raiders 37-27 at MetLife Stadium.

On the season, the rookie out of the University of Missouri has thrown for 2,475 yards, breaking Sanchez’s record of 2,444.

Chris Ivory scored on a touchdown run, Nick Folk kicked three field goals and Antonio Allen blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown, as the Jets put a stop to their three-game losing streak.

Matt McGloin threw three touchdown passes, and Marcel Reece scored on a 63-yard touchdown run.

McGloin went 18-for-31 for 245 yards passing.

Reese was forced to start at running back for the Raiders, as they were down three running backs.

This was the third consecutive loss for the Raiders, who fall to 4-9 on the season and this was the 13th consecutive loss in the Eastern Zone.

Sebastian Janikowski continues to have kicking problems, as the veteran missed a 52-yard field goal after the Raiders were able to get a huge interception by Kevin Burnett with the Raiders trailing 3-0 in the first quarter.

With the Raiders trailing by 17 entering the third quarter, Reece gave them a little light, as he took a handoff from McGloin and ran 63 yards for a touchdown.

On the afternoon, Reece finished with 19 carries for 123 yards and that long touchdown run through the Jets defense.

Rod Streater continues to get better each week, as the free agent out of Temple pulled down seven catches for 130 yards and a touchdown.

Oakland heads East for date with Jets

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — For the second time this season, the Raiders will visit MetLife Stadium this time, will take on the New York Jets Sunday. Oakland lost to the New York Giants, 24-20 in Week 10. The Raiders are playing their fourth road game in five games and have won two of the last three against the Jets, the last being a 34-24 victory in September 2011.

Oakland (4-8) is coming off a close 31-24 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day, delivering the kill shot to their playoff dreams.

Quarterback Matt McGloin played decent in his third-career start, finishing 18 of 30 for 255 yards passing, but throw a crucial interception in the end zone to Cowboys cornerback Brandon Carr in the fourth quarter that iced the game of Dallas.

Second-year wide receiver Andre Holmes had a marvelous day filling in for the injured Denarius Moore. Holmes posted career-highs in catches (seven) and receiving yardage (136). Even though Holmes did have a breakout game, Holmes still runs questionable routes and misplayed a back-shoulder pass from McGloin.

Running back Rashad Jennings rushed for 35 yards on 17 carries, scoring two touchdowns. Darren McFadden (hamstring) played for the first time in four games, carrying the ball five times for 13 yards, before leaving the game with an ankle injury. McFadden never returned to the game.

New York (5-7) has lost four of their last five games, including last week’s 23-3 lost to their AFC East rivals, the Miami Dolphins.

Quarterback Geno Smith has come under fire in New York for his up-and-down play this season. Smith completed just 4 of 10 passes for 29 yards and interception before being replaced by Matt Simms. Smith is expected to start for the Jets.

Former New Orleans Saints running back Chris Ivory paced the Jets with 61 rushing yards on 21 carries.

Raiders Report: Raiders good enough to hang but can’t finish

by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA–The Raiders had a good start and were actually leading at the half 21-14 but the Cowboys kicked into gear and the Raiders weren’t able to stop them on the other side of the ball and the Raiders offense couldn’t get anything going in the second half. It was a tale of two halves in this one the Raiders looked pretty solid in the first half in fact one of the drives in the second quarter.

One of the Raiders scoring drives they basically held the ball for 12 minutes out of 15 minutes the entire second quarter. They didn’t even let Dallas get the ball but Dallas marched down the field really quickly at the end of the half to score a touchdown with ten seconds left from that point on Dallas seemed to get their second wind and the Cowboys dominated the rest of the way.

The Raiders has some great plays on special teams to start this one out with the return as the Raiders recovered a fumble on the opening kick off and returned it for a touchdown and that set the tone early on it kind of stunned the Cowboys more than anything and for the next quarter and a half the Raiders were really playing really well. When the Cowboys scored at the end of the first half it just kind of rolled into the second half. The Raiders defense wasn’t able to stop them and the Raiders know that the Cowboys have a pretty solid offense.

Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo threw for 220 yards, the Cowboys rushed for 140 yards and it was one of those situations where the Raiders defense wasn’t able to stop anybody and while Raider quarterback Matt McGloin looked pretty solid in the first half completing some really solid passes and making some plays here and there he just couldn’t do anything in the second half and McGloin just didn’t seem to be able to do anything in the second half.

So you look at McGloin’s stats and he was 18-30 for 255 yards with one interception and no touchdowns and it’s really tough to gage how he played in this one he really looked good in the first half and made some tough throws and in the second half he just wasn’t hitting any of those and it wasn’t just the receivers who were dropping passes though that did happen on occasion and he wasn’t as accurate in that second half and part of that were the adjustments on the part of Dallas.

Dallas is still a better team and the Raiders defense is okay this year but teams are starting to catch up and injuries are up and down with this team on offense and defense and their starting to take their toll and it was great that the Raiders were able to hand in this one especially on a short week on Thanksgiving day on the road but that’s a tough game to play. You kind of feel for the Raiders because that’s just a tough situation to be in and it’s unfortunate that they had to be the team that had to be the sacrificial lamb on Thanksgiving.

The simple fact is that you got to win those games and Dallas isn’t such a good team that the Raiders weren’t able to beat them and the Raiders certainly can hang with them the bottom line is they come away with a loss that just puts them further behind heading into next week’s game against the New York Jets and we’ll see how the Raiders can do in that one.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for Sportstalk Radio

Murray scores three touchdowns in win

By Jeremy Kahn

After scoring on a fumble return on the opening kickoff, everything looked to be going the Oakland Raiders way.

Unfortunately, the game is four quarters and not first team to score points in the game and the game continued from that point.

DeMarco Murray ran for three touchdowns, and his backup running back Lance Dunbar ran for a career-high 82 yards, as the Dallas Cowboys overcame a 14-point deficit to defeat the a Raiders 31-24 at AT&T Stadium.

Tony Romo overcame a virus to throw for 225 yards on a 23-for-32 day and a touchdown, as the Cowboys moved into first place in the NFC East.

The Raiders scored on the opening kickoff after rookie kickoff returner Terrance Williams, who replaced an injured Dwayne Harris fumbled the ball and rookie Greg Jennings picked up the ball and scored just 12 into the game.

Rashad Jennings carried the ball 17 times for just 35 yards, and Darren McFadden returned after missing the last three games with a hamstring injury and carried the ball five times for 13 yards.

Rookie Matt McGloin started for the third consecutive week, and went 18-for-30 for 255 yards and finished off five consecutive third down drives on two scoring drives for the Raiders.

Former Cowboys receiver Andre Holmes hauled in seven catches for a career-high 136 yards, breaking his previous high of 33 yards.

Murray tied up the game in the final minute of the first quarter, as he scored from two yards out.

Jennings then scored two touchdowns in the second quarter, the second coming in the final two minutes of the half.

Murray got the Cowboys within seven points with just 10 seconds remaining before the end of the half, as he scored on a four-yard run.

Romo connected with Dez Bryant for a four-yard touchdown pass to tie up the game in the third quarter.

Murray scored his third and final touchdown of the day on a seven-yard run just 40 seconds into the final quarter to give the Cowboys the lead for good.

Dan Bailey closed out the scoring for the Cowboys, as he hit a 19-yard field goal with just 1:56 remaining in the game.

Sebastian Janikowski got the Raiders within seven points, as he hit a 45-yarder with 35 seconds remaining.

Janikowski’s onside kick was recovered by the Cowboys and Romo kneeled for the final play, as the Cowboys comeback was complete.

McGloin, Raiders head to Big D for Thanksgiving Day Showdown

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — Following a heart-breaking 23-19 loss to the Tennessee Titans Sunday at O.co Coliseum, the 4-7 Raiders travels to Dallas on a short week for a Thanksgiving Day game against the 6-5 Cowboys Thursday. Oakland watched the Titans come from behind twice and score the go-ahead touchdown with 10 seconds left to go in the game.

After starting the game a little shaky (one interception and four batted balls), quarterback Matt McGloin finished the game 19 of 32 for 260 yards passing and one touchdown.

McGloin was on fire in the second half, completing 11 of 15 passes for 155 yards, and went 4 of 4 for 74 yards culminating into a 27-yard touchdown pass to Pro Bowl fullback Marcel Reece that gave Oakland the lead 19-16 late in the fourth quarter.

Running back Rashad Jennings has been a big boost to the Raiders ground attack since taking over for the oft-injured Darren McFadden.

Jennings surpassed his career high for total yards in a season in the second quarter, finishing with 16 carries for 73 yards and four catches for 49 yards for the game to give him 790 total yards for the season.

Another bright spot from the crushing loss to the Titans was the play of linebacker Nick Roach.

Roach finished the game with 10 tackles and 1.5 sacks. Roach, a free agent signee from the Chicago Bears in the off season, surpassed the 100 tackle mark for the first time in his career, and set a career high with 102 tackles this season.

Oakland may have their hands with a Cowboys team that are coming off a big 24-21 NFC East divisional win in New York against the Giants Sunday.

Dallas (6-5), are lead by quarterback Tony Romo.

Romo engineered a 14-play game-winning drive by converting two critical third down passes in the fourth quarter.  The Cowboys’ quarterback leads the NFL’s fifth ranked offense, placing fourth in touchdown passes (23) and eighth in passing yards (2,915) and will pose a challenge for the Raiders’ 25th ranked passing defense.

For the season, Oakland’s defense has only surrendered four touchdowns in the first quarter.

Wide receiver Dez Bryant is unquestionably Dallas’ biggest deep threat and trusted big-playmaker. Bryant has 61 catches for 835 yards (13.7 yards per catch), and eight touchdowns. Expect Raiders’ cornerback Tracy Porter to follow Bryant for most of the afternoon.

Dallas sports the NFL’s worst defense, ranked 32nd overall, giving up 432 total yards per game this season.

McGloin to start Sunday’s home tilt against Tennessee

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — Matt McGloin will have a chance to add a second win to his career total when he (not Terrelle Pryor), leads the Raiders into battle against the Tennessee Titans Sunday at O.co Coliseum, head coach Dennis Allen said after practice Wednesday.

“This is a production business,” Allen said. “One of the things we’ve tried to create here is an atmosphere of competition. If you go out and you perform and you make plays, you get opportunities to continue to go out and perform and make plays. Matt did that last week. He’s going to get another opportunity this week. We’ll see how it goes.”

There is no question that McGloin earned a second start over Pryor for the Raiders (4-6)with his performance in the Raiders 28-23 victory on the road against the Houston Texans last Sunday, not because Pryor is nursing a Grade 2 sprain of his right MCL. Pryor took snaps with the second team and could serve as McGloin’s backup on Sunday.

McGloin completed 18 of 32 passes for 197 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. The undrafted rookie quarterback out of Penn State appeared poised, confident and collected in his first career start and looked to be on the same page with his receivers all day. He also finished with a quarterback rating of 105.9, sending Houston (2-8), to its eighth straight loss of the season.

It didn’t hurt that running back Rashad Jennings had a career-day against the Texans, too.

Jennings finished the game with a career-high 150 yards rushing on 22 carries. His 80-yard touchdown run came out of the Wildcat formation, which is his career-long. Jennings has proven to be the healthy workhorse running back that Oakland has needed this year, with Darren McFadden in and out of the line up this season.

Oakland’s defense continued its strong play against Houston, forcing three fumbles (two by free safety Charles Woodson), two sacks and one interception. Cornerback Mike Jenkins led the team with 10 tackles.

The Tennessee Titans (4-6), are a coming off a 30-27 home loss to their AFC South foe, the Indianapolis Colts.

Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick will make his fourth start of the season for the Titans in place of franchise quarterback, Jake Locker, who is done for the season with a Lisfranc injury.

In three starts this season, the Harvard graduate has thrown for 1,012 yards, five touchdowns and four interceptions. Fitzpatrick is a pure pocket passer and can get the ball out quick.

McGloin could have his work cut out for him when he faces Tennessee’s 10th ranked defense, led by cornerback Alterraun Verner.

Verner may not be a household name like Seattle’s Richard Sherman or Tampa’s Darrelle Revis, but is quickly making a name for himself. Verner is tied for the league lead with five interceptions (one returned for a touchdown).

Overall, the Titans’ defense is giving up 22.6 points, 213.1 passing yards, and 117 rushing yards per game.

Even though both teams are entering Sunday’s game with identical 4-6 records, this could be one a very competitive game.

Raiders report: McGloin can prove himself versus Tennessee on Sunday

by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA–The Houston Texans are not a very good team they’ve lost eight in a row and they hosted the Oakland Raiders last Sunday. The Texans are going through a lot of problems with injuries and poor performance and a whole lot of other things the fact of the matter you got play whose in front of you. The Raiders are banged up as well their not the picture of perfect health, they put in quarterback Matt McGloin as the starter last Sunday for injured quarterback Terrelle Pryor.

McGloin is a undrafted rookie back there behind center and you know what he looked pretty good and he doesn’t have the arm strength of a lot of quarterbacks but he’s pretty accurate and that makes up for a lot of the problems the arm strength. As long he knows what throws he can and can not make he should be able to at least step in and be a decent back up.

We saw him come into this game last Sunday in Houston and go 18-32 for 197 yards, with three touchdowns passes. That’s as much as you could hope for from a guy like McGloin and he really is a work in progress by all accounts. He’s a guy who came on late in college to even get into the position to join the team and boom he’s in there filling in for Pryor and already your hearing on our talk shows and in the Bay Area “hey maybe McGloin should be the starter instead of Pryor.

Well it’s a little too soon to say that and going forward this year you have to put Pryor back there as long as he’s healthy because that’s the real purpose of the Raiders this season is to figure out whether Pryor is the future quarterback of this football team. You got a guy like McGloin there and he does well it makes you feel a little bit better you have something to build on. If Pryor doesn’t pan out then McGloin can step in and do some business and take care of things for the Raiders for at least a short time.

Now is McGloin a long term solution for the Raiders at a bare minimum they probably have a solid back up behind Pryor whether McGloin is a full time starting option is anybody’s guess. One game against a really bad Texans team doesn’t prove too much in that respect. McGloin has proven for a game or two at least he can step in and be of service to any team in league let alone the Oakland Raiders.

The other big development is the emergence of Rashad Jennings who had just a fantastic game he had 22 rushes for 150 yards 80 of those yards came on one long bruising touchdown run that was just fantastic. Jennings ran through the line and lowered his shoulder and knocked the Texans safety backwards before rumbling the rest of the way it was an eye opening run that kind of served notice to running back Darren McFadden that Jennings is not going to give up that position anytime soon.

McFadden certainly helps by never being on the field but McFadden is a free agent after this season and if Jennings keeps this up it already is a 50-50 proposition whether McFadden returns to the Raiders and the better Jennings. The less likely that McFadden remains a Raider going into 2014. Jennings is proving that he can be a starter in this league, that he should be the Raider guy the rest of the way and he’s the guy to key on.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for Sportrstalk Radio

McGloin leads Raiders to victory

By Jeremy Kahn

With Terrelle Pryor out with a knee injury, Oakland Raiders head coach Dennis Allen was forced to go with undrafted free agent Matt McGloin.

In his first NFL start, McGloin threw three touchdowns, as the Raiders defeated the Houston Texans 28-23 at Reliant Stadium.

McGloin went 18-for-32 for 197 yards, as the Raiders scored their most points in a game this season.

Things did get dicey in the waning moments of the game, as the Texans were able drive all the way down the field to the Raiders’ eight-yard line; however Matt Schaub was unable to get the Texans into the end zone on fourth-and-goal, giving the Raiders the win.

Schaub came on to replace Case Keenum in the third quarter, but was unable to put an end to the Texans five-game losing streak.

Rashad Jennings, who is getting playing time due to the injury of Darren McFadden made the most of his additional playing time as the number one running back.

Jennings took a direct snap out of the Wildcat and scampered 80 yards to give the Raiders a 28-17 lead in the third quarter.

Mychal Rivera was on the receiving end of what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown, as he caught a 26-yard touchdown pass from McGloin with just over eight minutes remaining in the third quarter.

McGloin got the Raiders on the board in the first quarter, as he found Denarius Moore for a five-yard touchdown pass to give the Raiders a 7-0 lead.

Just less than six minutes later, McGloin threw his second touchdown of the quarter, as he found Rod Streeter for a 16-yard touchdown to give the visitors a two-touchdown lead.

Unfortunately, that lead would eventually disappear, as Keenum led the Texans back into the game.

Keenum found Garrett Graham for a 42-yard touchdown pass to cut the Raiders lead in half in the second quarter.

Keshawn Martin took a Marquette King punt on the 13-yard line and took 87 yards to the end zone to tie up the game with 2:54 remaining in the third quarter.

Randy Bullock then gave the Texans their first lead of the game, as he nailed a 52-yard field goal with under a minute to go in the third quarter.