One of the questions coming into the game for me was whether the Raiders have a worthy backup quarterback. That question may not have been answered tonight.
“The battle for us is who’s behind Derek [Carr],” said Jon Gruden, who pulled his starting QB after just one drive.
Coming in for Carr was Connor Cook. The third year pro was a pleasant surprise in the team’s first preseason game against the Lions, but since then he has looked absolutely dreadful.
In this, the third preseason game, against backups, he played the rest of the first half following Carr’s quick departure. In that time, Cook went 6 for 15 for 72 yards with no touchdowns and an interception to give him a pathetic 27.6 passer rating.
EJ Manuel would play the entire second half and he wouldn’t fare much better, going 8 for 12 for 87 yards and a(nother) fumble. This against mostly players who won’t be on the roster in a couple weeks.
Whether Manuel and Cook are on the Raiders roster in a couple weeks is apparently still up in the air. When Gruden was asked if the backup quarterback is on this roster, he said “I don’t know.”
“We’re going to continue to work, continue to see who’s available,” Gruden said of the quarterback position, suggesting there is a pretty decent chance he will be taking a good hard look at the waiver wire.
“I thought there were some good moments tonight and there were some moments tonight that weren’t good. . . we’re going to continue to evaluate it.”
Up until recently, it seemed like they would just go with Cook and Manuel behind Carr, just as they did last season. Mainly because that’s who they’ve got. You just kind of assumed on would separate himself and be the primary backup. But that may not be the case anymore.
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