Tag: Oakland Raiders

Raiders report: McGloin can prove himself versus Tennessee on Sunday

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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

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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.

Raiders look for a win in Houston Sunday

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — With quarterback Terrelle Pryor still dealing with a knee issue, undrafted rookie quarterback Matt McGloin could be under center when the Raiders hit the field against the Houston Texas at Reliant Stadium Sunday.

Both Pryor and McGloin has taken snaps with the first team offense, but Oakland (3-6) should be prepared for the worst. Pryor didn’t have the explosiveness that we’ve been accoustomed of seeing in last Sunday’s 24-20 loss against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium.

Pryor finished the game 11 of 26 passing for 122 yards and no touchdowns, including the interception that setup the Giants game-winning touchdown.

Whomever is at quarterback for Oakland, they will have running back Rashard Jennings in the backfield starting his second game for the injured Darren McFadden (hamstring). Jennings finished with 88 yards on 20 carries against the Giants and looks more and more like the featured back in Oakland.

Jennings has 520 total yards from scrimmage this season, while McFadden has only 437 totals from scrimmage. Jennings is averaging two more yards per attempt than McFadden and with the quarterback position being unsettled, its imperative that Jennings is fed the ball a lot.

Houston is having a season to forget.

The Texans (2-7), most experts trendy Super Bowl pick out of the AFC heading into this season, have lost seven straight games after starting the season 2-0.

Quarterback Matt Schaub (8 TDs, 9 INTs) struggled the first six games, particularly getting the ball to wide receiver Andre Johnson (0 TDs), was replaced by rookie and Texas native, Case Keenum. Since Keenum (7 TDs, 0 INTs) took over at quarterback from Schaub in Week 6 at Kansas City, he’s thrown five touchdowns to Johnson. Oakland must know where No. 80 is at all times because Keenum loves to get the ball to one of the more dominant wide receivers in the league.

Johnson isn’t even the player that Oakland must key on in order to snap their two game losing streak.

That is defensive end, the terrorizing J.J. Watt.

Watt plays ferocious and loves to get after the quarterback. Watt has 6.5 sacks on the season with 42 tackles and no matter if it is McGloin or Pryor starting at quarterback, Watt will have his chances at making it a rough day for Oakland.

Oakland has a chance to win, but Houston looks like the better pick.

Raiders don’t have a lot of margin for error

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Photo Courtesy Raiders.com

by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA–The Raiders have not won in the eastern time zone in something like seven or eight games they’ve had a rough go of it. That cross country trip for the west coast teams is always a difficult one and with the Raiders not being very good that makes it even more difficult. This is a game that the Raiders probably should have won.

They had their chances there certainly was no lack of opportunity in this one they could have won on a lack of occasions but you just can’t turn the ball over in these kinds of games. If your going to win on the road you have to protect the football and the Raiders didn’t. Quarterback Terrelle Pryor fumbled the ball he had an interception and Pryor wasn’t able to make a whole lot of plays in the passing game.

If your going to return an interception for a touchdown and make a couple plays on defense your offense has to support you and Pryor in the last couple of games has not done that. Against the Giants he was 11-26 for only 122 yards with no touchdown passes and really on the ground he wasn’t anymore effective he was only five rushes for 19 yards.

So when Pryor had been effective when he’s been running the ball and that’s opened up things for the pass and that’s made the Raiders successful as a whole. The last two games none of that has happened it might be the team that’s catching up to them. They’ve seen enough tape they know some of their tendencies, they know they’re going to protect against the run.

The Giants forced Pryor to run, they feel like if he’s going to pass the ball he’s not going to win he’s just not accurate anymore. It also didn’t help at the Meadowlands which is a tough place to throw the football because the winds are pretty crazy out there. I don’t think that was any help out there, with the Raiders they have to be successful.

On the ground with Pryor and through the air with Pryor they weren’t either of those and Raiders running back Rashad Jennings had a decent enough game with 20 rushes for 88 yards. That’s not a dynamic offense for the Raiders. They’re looking for playmakers they don’t have a lot of them in fact their biggest playmaker is Pryor if he doesn’t make any plays the offense is really in a tough spot.

The turnovers and the lack of play on offense really hurt them and if the Raiders are going to win these games they don’t have a lot of margin for error and they had a lot of errors so they lost this one to the  Giants.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for Sportstalk Radio

Tough loss in the Big Apple

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By Jeremy Kahn

One day very soon the Oakland Raiders will get back on track and prove to everyone that they are a good football team, and they will return to “The Greatness,” very soon.

Andre Brown scored on a one-yard run after Terrell Thomas returned a Terrelle Pryor interception 65 yards to setup Brown’s one-yard run, as the New York Giants defeated the Raiders 24-20 at MetLife Stadium.

The Giants, who lost their first six games of the season have now three straight, and are right back in the hunt in the NFC East.

Both Brown and Thomas are coming serious injuries to lead the Giants to the victory over the Raiders, who have dropped two in a row.

Pryor and the Raiders offense seemed grounded all day, as they gained only 213 yards of offense on the afternoon.

After a taking 7-0 lead just 53 seconds into the game, things got interesting after the Raiders could not convert on their next series.

Marquette King’s punt was blocked and Cooper Taylor returned it 21 yards for a touchdown to tie up the game.

This was the first blocked punt returned for a touchdown by the Giants since Tom Flynn in 1988.

Sebastian Janikowski gave the Raiders the lead after he connected for a 33–yard field goal, but the lead was short lived.

Ruben Randle caught a five-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning to give the Giants their first lead the afternoon.

Manning made a huge mistake, as he threw an interception that Tracy Porter returned 43 yards to the end zone, giving the Raiders a 17-14 lead at the half.

Janikowski extended the lead up to six points at 20-14 in the third quarter, as he nailed a 24-yard field goal.

Brown then scored what proved to be the game-winning touchdown with 2:15 remaining in the third quarter.

Josh Brown kicked a 23-yard field goal with just over eight minutes left in the game for the final points of the game.

In the absence of Darren McFadden, who sat out the game while nursing an injured hamstring, Rashad Jennings led the Raiders on the ground with 88 yards on 20 carries.

Pryor, who scored the Raiders first touchdown of the game carried the ball five times and gained just 19 yards.

In the air, Pryor went just 11-for-26 for 122 yards and that costly interception that eventually cost the Raiders the game.

Will the Raiders ground game help the offense against Giants?

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Raiders Report

by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA– I don’t think you could look at the Raiders and say they’re going to win any particular game I know that the Giants have had a tough season so far they’re only 2-6.The Raiders are just 2-5 this is a long road trip, it’s a cross country game at the Meadowlands for this Sunday it’ll be a tough one.

While New York is not having a good season the Raiders are not in a position to take anyone for granted the Giants might not be the best team in the league but they still have quarterback Eli Manning whose a two time Super Bowl winner. They still have some very good skilled position players most notably Victor Cruz. This is not a team the Raiders can take lightly no matter what their record is.

The Raiders are going to especially feel a little embarrassed by what happened last week by the Eagles at the Oakland Coliseum losing 49-20 you have to feel bad about it. You got to forget about it, you can’t let that carry over to the following week. The Raiders have to take this one as it comes and take their opponents that is in front of them and play those guys.

The Raiders go into this game and try to regroup, they’re perfectly capable of hanging with this Giants team and New York doesn’t have a great offensive line right now. The Raiders on defense have been pretty solid last week not withstanding. So the Raiders can take advantage of the Giants offensive line they could make some headway in this game this coming Sunday.

What got the Giants into trouble all year is Manning was forced into throwing bad passes and giving up interceptions. Last time I looked Manning had ten touchdown passes on the year but 15 interceptions which is just awful especially for a guy of his pedigree. So the Raiders can go into the Meadowlands and make some noise but a win is not guaranteed by any stretch.

The other problem the Raiders have is their offense is sputtering a bit Raider quarterback Terrelle Pryor had that great 93 yard run against the Steelers on October 27th at the Coliseum but the offense is struggling right now they have injuries up and down the offensive line. Running back Darren McFadden is injured, the receiving core has really not come together.

So it’s really Pryor, Running back Rod Streater and occasionally Denarius Moore shows up, that’s about it there’s really been no kind of offense and Rashad Jennings had a decent game last week but that was mostly garbage time. So a running game without McFadden is a question mark as to if Pryor continues to go to the playbook.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for Sportstalk Radio

Foles ties NFL record in blowout win

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By Jeremy Kahn

OAKLAND – Terrelle Pryor set a record on the opening play from scrimmage in his last game, but Nick Foles ties a longstanding record at the end of the game.

Foles threw seven touchdowns, while 22-for-28 with 406 yards passing and seven touchdowns, as the Philadelphia Eagles simply destroyed the Oakland Raiders 49-20 before a crowd of 51,751 at the Coliseum.

“Really, listen, there’s not a whole lot you can tell them. At the end of the day, that was an old-fashioned butt-whopping. We have to move from it. We have to learn from it. We have to be better next week,” said Raiders head coach Dennis Allen.

The seven touchdowns thrown by Foles tied the record that was set by Sid Luckman, former Eagles quarterback Adrian Burk, who threw his seven touchdowns for the Eagles against the Washington Redskins in Washington on October 17, 1954, George Blanda, Joe Kapp, Y.A. Tittle and Peyton Manning, who turned the trick against the defending Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Ravens on September 5, 2013 at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

Foles found Riley Cooper three times on the afternoon, DeSean Jackson, former Stanford tight end Zach Ertz, LeSean McCoy and Brent Celek each caught one in the 29-point victory for the Eagles.

“He (Nick Foles) had an unreal game. I’m extremely proud of him. He’s a great friend of mine; a great teammate and I’m proud of him,” said Cooper.

Despite the loss, the Raiders gained a whopping 560 yards in offense, their most in a game since 1968, two years before joining the NFL and the third-most in a game since the Raiders were founded in 1960.

“It was big. It was big, and you get back on the winning side of things and everybody’s confidence is high right now. It’s a good feeling going into Green Bay next week,” said Eagles Strong Safety Nate Allen.

Pryor threw for 288 yards and gained 94 more on the ground, but they were unable to overcome the vaunted Eagles defense that was coming off a tough loss to the previously winless New York Giants at Lincoln Financial Field on October 27.

The third-year quarterback was forced to leave the game in the fourth quarter due to a knee injury.

“I really don’t know. We were going to go with (Matt) McGloin anyway there in the 4th quarter. I was really unaware that there was even an injury so I don’t know exactly the extent of it. Obviously we’ll take a look at it in more detail tomorrow,” said Allen.

Pryor was not the only Raiders player to be hit by injury in the game, as Darren McFadden left the game in the first half with a hamstring injury, linebacker Kaluka Maiava left the game with rib injuries and Rod Streater suffered a hip injury.

McFadden’s replacement Rashad Jennings carried the ball 15 times and gained 102 yards with a touchdown.

Pryor further proving himself with 93 yard keeper

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by David Zizmor

ALAMEDA–Every win is kind of kind of unexpected the way the Raiders started this season nobody thought the Raiders were going to be any good in fact a lot of us including myself thought the Raiders were going to be among the worst teams in the league and while their not amongst the best teams in the league they are not among the worst either.

We were wrong on that this is actually a pretty feisty squad it’s actually the Pittsburgh Steelers who are among the worst teams in the NFL their not the worst that honor goes to the Jacksonville Jaguars. This game between the Raiders and the Steelers was not a battle of titans, it certainly has a lot of history locked up in it the Raiders and the Steelers were among the two best teams in the 1970s and battled each other on a regular basis in the some of the most famous games in NFL history.

This game last Sunday was not necessarily one those all time memorable games although it did have a historic play involved the Steelers are just in a down cycle it’s pretty rare for Pittsburgh to be in such a rare situation but they have had a couple of lousy drafts and suffered through some bad injuries and had some misfires and now their sitting with a lousy team record at 2-5.

The Steelers have had some misfires and it all means their all bottoming out right now, the Raiders already bottomed out that was already that kind of last season with the Carson Palmer deal and just everything going on in the off season when they cleaned house and they got rid of everybody the Raiders while their not a great team they have a lot of young feisty players and their in that rebuild process.

So what ends up happening is you get all these young players who are really fighting and clawing and scratching and trying to get themselves into the league and try to get themselves on the roster and get a job and it makes for desperate play and sometimes these guys are playing some desperate football end up playing decent football and that’s what the Raiders have done they have found a decent mix of players who really want to be there who are really receptive to coaching and learning.

Then the Raiders have found a quarterback who knew that former owner Al Davis’ last draft pick quarterback Terrelle Pryor would end up being such a solid player. He has a deficiency and you don’t look on this guy the same way you look at 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick when he broke on the scene last year and Pryor can play.

That 93 yard touchdown run by Pryor last Sunday shows why you want this guy on the field that threat of a guy who can make that kind of a play is something defenses have to respect and it makes you play the game differently if your a defensive coordinator you just have to prepare differently. You see it now with the 49ers now that Colin Kaepernick is 100 percent healthy.

It’s the same thing when you have a quarterback who can run in such a way that he can break a long run just as easily as any running back you have to devote extra resources to cover that guy. You have to have a spy on him and simply having that one guy on him and follow the quarterback around can open things up elsewhere.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for Sportstalk Radio

Pryor goes for record run

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By Jeremy Kahn

OAKLAND-Terrelle Pryor grew up rooting for the Pittsburgh Steelers as a child growing up in Jeanette,PA and on his first play from scrimmage against his boyhood team, Pryor put himself in the record books.

Pryor went weaving and scampering through the Steelers all the way to the end zone for a 93-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and the Oakland Raiders hung on to defeat the Steelers 21-18 before 52,950 at the Coliseum.

The 93-yard touchdown run by Pryor was not only the longest run play in Raiders’ history, but it was the longest run by a quarterback in NFL history.

Despite a big day on the ground, as he carried the ball nine times for 106 yards, Pryor went just 10-for-19 for 88 yards in the air with two interceptions.

“Like coach said, we started fast, the defense was playing good, It’s a team win. Our defense had a phenomenal second half. At the end of the day it’s a team win, very proud, we got a ‘w’ and that’s really it,” said Pryor.

Darren McFadden carried the ball a whopping 24 for just 73 yards, but scored two touchdowns on the afternoon.

McFadden gave the Raiders a 14-0 lead halfway gone in the first quarter, as he ran through the Steelers defense for a seven-yard touchdown tun.

Shawn Suisham finally got the Steelers on the board with just 46 seconds off the clock in the second quarter, as he nailed a 47-yarder thru the uprights that cut the Raiders lead down to 14-3.

It was McFadden scoring on a four-yard run with 1:55 remaining in the first half, as he scored his second touchdown of the afternoon and gave the Raiders a 21-3 lead.

After the Steelers went three-and-out on the next series, Pryor and the Raiders got the ball back; however Pryor a huge mistake and Cortez Allen picked off the Pryor pass.

Ben Roethlisberger drove the Steelers all the way down to the Raiders 16-yard line, but Suisham missed a 34-yard field goal wide to the right.

The Steelers got the ball to open the second half, and with the help of a 15-yard facemask penalty on Mike Jenkins, the Steelers were in business.

Unfortunately, the 16 play 66 yard drive that took nine minutes and six seconds off the clock was all for naught, as Suisham missed a 32-yard field goal wide to the right.

“Look, it’s no secret, the impact my missed field goals had on the game. We’d have won the game if I made those field goals. It’s a tough one to swallow. No choice but to do it. I should have been better today and we lost because of it,” said Suisham.

Following a Jenkins interception in the beginning in the fourth quarter, Pryor threw a pass that Jacoby Ford caught, but on the play, the wide receiver fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Brett Keisel at the Raiders 11-yard line.

After a Roethlisberger touchdown pass to Heath Miller was overturned, the quarterback regrouped and two plays later, he found Emmanuel Sanders for a nine-yard touchdown pass to get the Steelers within 11 points.

Unfortunately, the Raiders were unable to put the game away, as they went three and out on their next three possessions, giving the Steelers a glitter of hope.

With just under two minutes remaining in the game, rookie Le’Veon Bell scored on a two-yard run and Sanders added the two-point conversion that got the Steelers within three.

Rashad Jennings was able to recover the onside kick, but like all their drives in the fourth quarter, the Raiders went three and out and the Steelers got the ball back with 18 seconds remaining on their own three-yard line and no timeouts.

Roethlisberger found Sanders down the middle for 33 yards, but the clock ran out before the Steelers could get lined up and the Raiders escaped with a three-point victory.

 

Raiders, Steelers set to battle in Oakland Sunday

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By. Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — Fresh off their bye week, the Oakland Raiders will look to get back on the winning track when they host the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday at O.co Coliseum.  The game is sold out and will be seen locally on CBS affiliate, KPIX Ch. 5. Kickoff is at 1:05 p.m.

Oakland (2-4), leads the all-time series, 11-9, and hold an 8-5 edge in home games over the Steelers. The Silver and Black have not lost to the Steelers at O.co Coliseum since 1995.

In last year’s meeting in Oakland, the Raiders dropped the Steelers 34-31 behind a 43-yard field goal by Sebastian Janikowski in the final seconds of a tough battle. Running back Darren McFadden had a great day, carrying the ball 18 times for 113 yards, including a 64-yard touchdown run.  Oakland will need a healthy McFadden against the sixth ranked Steelers defense.

Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor spent the bye week working with quarterbacks coach, Tom House refining his mechanics. Pryor worked with House during this past offseason, and House has worked with quarterbacks such as Tom Brady and Drew Brees.

Pittsburgh (2-4), started the season 0-4, but are coming along after winning their last two games, including a 19-16 victory over their AFC North foe, the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

It’s no secret that the Steelers will only go as far as the right arm of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger can take them.

Roethlisberger is coming into Sunday’s game completing 66-percent of his passes for 1,655 yards, seven touchdowns and five interceptions. Owner of two Super Bowl rings, Roethlisberger is a top-five quarterback in the NFL and the Raiders are going to have their hands full with him, but if Oakland is going to have any success, it will be on the defensive front.

Defensive ends Lamarr Houston (team leader with three sacks) and Jason Hunter (two sacks), will have their chances to get their hands on Roethlisberger, especially with the anchor of the offensive line, center Maurkice Pouncy, on injured reserve with a torn ACL.

Roethlisberger has been sacked 21 times this season (third behind New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith (25 times), and Miami Dolphins quarterback  Ryan Tannehill (26 times)). Oakland has been getting after the quarterback this season, sacking the opposing quarterback 16 times through six games.

In order for Oakland to have a chance at moving to 3-4, they will need to apply pressure on Roethlisberger and make him uncomfortable in the pocket. Defensive Coordinator Jason Tarver will need to be creative in concocting blitzes if Oakland is going to have chances at throwing Roethlisberger’s timing off to his wide receivers, Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders.

Sprinkle in a few timely plays by Pryor and the offense, Oakland has a legitimate shot at winning Sunday.