Dennis Allen was playing coy before week 1 about who he was going to start at quarterback. After Pryor's impressive performance against the Colts the mind games wont be needed anymore, we know who the starter is. The argument could be made that the mind games were never needed, but at least they are over with now! Dennis Allen officially named Pryor the starter at his Monday press conference today.
“Yeah. (Terrelle) Pryor is going to start for us.”
Well, there you have it! Dennis Allen has finally named Pryor as the starter, thus confirming the worst kept secret in NFL history. Pryor had already started the first game and played very well so even bothering to ask if DA was going to name a starter was redundant but finally Allen has officially announced Terrelle Pryor as the starter for the Oakland Raiders.
After the performance by Pryor there would have been a riot had Allen not finally backed him as the starter. Luckily, no helmets and shields will have to be handed out now after the mind games have ended. If you took Pryor's own critique of his work into account their may have been a competition still at hand, but thankfully the entire world outside of TP knows how well he performed. Here is what TP had to say about his performance after the game:
“I did awful, I thought. Two interceptions, could have won the game, had them on the ropes down there and that’s all that matters. The record is all that matters to me, being 1-0, or whatever the record may be. That number on the win column, that’s all that matters to me. It’s not about me, it doesn’t matter how I play. I just want to do well for the team so we can have success.”
During the press conference today Dennis Allen was asked specifically about Pryor's post game interview where he valiantly fell on the sword for the team by taking the blame for the loss. DA understands that there were mistakes in the game but awful is not the word he would choose for it.
“Well that shows you a little bit of what his competitiveness is and what his nature is. I saw where he said he was awful in the game. I wouldn’t go so far as to say he was awful, but I think he understands that there were some critical mistakes in the game that we’ve got to get corrected because we can’t have those.”
This is clearly just the start to the Terrelle Pryor era. He made some costly mistakes in his breakout performance but both he and DA know that he needs to work on them. The way that Pryor has handled himself the entire time he has been a Raider has been commendable and it is no surprise that he has continued holding himself to the highest level. Even the way he talks about winning the starting position over QB Matt Flynn shows the type of young and motivated player the Raiders have in Pryor.
“It’s surely not about that. Being Matt’s (Flynn) teammate, all the guys that are competing and at the end of the day we are all for the same goal to win and that’s all I want to do. Does it feel better that it’s me that won? Absolutely. I am not going to sit here and act like I’m not happy about it, but now it’s time to go to work. Today was unacceptable.”
Go to work you will young sir. Terrelle Pryor has absolutely earned the chance to run with this Raiders squad this season. Hopefully he will continue to get better as he has throughout his time in the Silver and Black. Dennis Allen believes in Pryor despite his mistakes and thinks he will only get better, just as most fans believe as well.
“There were some good and some bad. He had a third-and-10 completion, a fourth-and-nine completion where he made the right read, got the ball out and made a good play. There were some other plays in the game where you wish he would have made a better position. That’s part of what you do with a young quarterback. My anticipation is that he’s going to continue to grow, learn from those things and get better from those things.”
Hopefully that anticipation comes to fruition. This is just one game and all these good feelings could easily disappear just as quickly as they have arrived. Pryor absolutely needs to continue to grow as a player and make better decisions even if he did perform very well for a grand opening. If he can continue to grow as a player he very well could be the Raiders QB for years to come. Raider Nation can only wait and watch how it all unfolds, hoping and dreaming that we have finally found our franchise quarterback.
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