ESPN's Chris Mortensen is reporting that David Garrard told him he needs to have back surgery. The Raiders contacted him Monday morning and he looked to be high on their list.
Oakland will now have to look at other options. I’d say sticking with backup Kyle Boller as the starter while Jason Campbell is out may be the current most likely option.
Again, though, this story is moving fast.
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It’s unlikely that Terrelle Pryor will win an appeal of his NFL-mandated five-game suspension, but the Raiders rookie passer claims to have stumbled upon the key ingredient to a quick start upon his scheduled return in Week 6.
nfl.use('nfl-video', function (Y) { var video = new Y.NFL.Video.Player({ srcNode: "#video-player-09000d5d821a760e", align: "right", contentId: "09000d5d821a760e", related: "home", adSetting: "1", dartURL: "http://ad.doubleclick.net/pfadx/nfl.special/blog/home;s1=blog;s2=home;slot=inpage;nfl=ad;tile=3;sz=640x360;ord=?", playerName: "blog_embedded", render: true, size: "inline", uniqid: "09000d5d821a760e"});});“(I’m) focused,” he told WQAM-AM in Miami. “Without that, you can’t really do much at all. With a lot of focus, extreme focus actually, you don’t really think about the things you can’t control, you’ve got to think about the things that you can.”
Said Pryor: “I’m getting very used to (being in the NFL) now,” adding that he’s been fully won over by Raiders owner Al Davis, who (almost predictably) pursued the former Ohio State star in last month’s supplemental draft.
“(Davis is) a great guy. I can’t say enough about him, he’s just a great guy,” Pryor said. “He’s what brought football about and he … runs a hands-down program with the Oakland Raiders. … He had something to do with the merger of the NFL, you know. He’s one of the greats.”
While Pryor continued to educate listeners with his version of Davis’ accomplishments, he was asked about the owner’s age.
“He looks good. I’m not interested in that,” Pryor said, hinting that he might be wise beyond his years after all.
Despite the Buckeyes’ memorabilia-for-cash scandal that cost Pryor his final year of eligibility, the quarterback remains quintessential Raiders material — fast, freakishly athletic and a total wildcard. Jason Campbell appears to have finally settled into the starting role in Oakland, but that spot never seems occupied for long and we expect to see Pryor putting Davis’ greenbacks to work before Santa comes to town.
– Marc Sessler
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59-14. It’s there in front of everyone, the thorough whooping that the Oakland Raiders gave the Donkeys last time they played. It started the downfall of the Donkeys and their eventual firing of their head coach, and gave the Raiders momentum for their first 3 game winning streak in nearly a decade. The Raiders have already seen the Chargers win and will know if the Chiefs will have won or lost before they play. Will they meet expectation and steam roll the Donkeys, or continue their up-and-down season by playing down to the level of the Donkeys? Let’s review how they win…
Give DMC the Ball 25 times
He is 2nd behind Arian Foster for all purpose yards even though he missed 2 games. He ran all around the Donkeys the last time they played. If the Raiders are 8-5 instead of 6-7, he is in the MVP conversation. The Donkeys gave Tim Hightower a career game and did not play with any passion for their interim head coach. Get DMC the ball 25 times, screens, draws, wildcat, it doesn’t matter how. Let him touch and see him go.
Shut down Moreno
New coach is the RB coach. Think he’ll try to establish the run? With Orton hurting, Tebow possibly playing significant time, they are going to try to establish Knowshown Moreno all day. The Raiders run d gave up big plays last week (2 runs accounted for 100 of the Jaguars 234 rushing yards), they are going to have to play their lanes and control the line of scrimmage.
Leave the Champ Alone
A pick 6, any turnover at all, can quickly give the Donkeys momentum. Don’t tempt fate, get the run game going, use your FB and TE’s to get into the middle of the field, and then use play-action pass to get the ball down the field. But do not, do not, make it a point to test Champ Bailey. Let him rot in the Broncos secondary.
Get the Snowball Effect Going Quickly
Rain is on the horizon for the Sunday, so that means a game that didn’t sell out will most likely have even a few less fans. The Raiders have to go into this game right off the bat for the kill, because they will not have a large home-field advantage. Get on the Donkeys from the get go, if Captain Virgin (Tebow) starts, just go on the attack.
The Donkeys remember the 59 point thrashing and will come into this game motivated, but then again they have only won once since the Raiders game. The Raiders have dominated the AFC West, and I don’t see how the Donkeys win this game unless…as I said earlier this week, if Tom Cable loses this game, he won’t be back next year. So the unless… is if he doesn’t get them motivated to play this game. Will they?
Raiders 33 Broncos 17
Before we go from the euphoria of the overtime win at home to Kansas City two weeks ago to the dismay of Sunday’s blowout loss at Pittsburgh, keep in mind that this Raider team is an average team. Meaning, you win some, you lose some. In the AFC West, that may be enough to win a division, but let’s not get any delusions of grandeur: this is not a Super Bowl team. This is, more than likely, an 8-8 team.
I could be wrong. They could go in the tank, not rebound from this poor drubbing, and finish at 6-10, extending their NFL record of seasons with at least double-digit losses to eight.
I could be wrong the other way as well. They could put together another winning streak and finish at 10-6. Tom Cable could get the team to, once again, put on a miserable performance like the one against the Steelers behind them. Like the 49ers game a month ago, the Raiders looked lost and ready to throw in the towel on the 2010 season. Instead, they put together two dominating performances against Denver and Seattle, before the OT win against the Chiefs propelled them into a tie for the division lead.
More than likely, though, they’ll finish somewhere in between, and at this point that looks like 8-8—which, by definition, in the NFL, is average. That’s because, among other things, they still can’t get consistent play from the quarterback position, whether that be Jason Campbell or Bruce Gradkowski. Both, at times, can look like a bona fide #1 QB in the NFL. At other times, it appears as if they’ve never played the position past high school. Somewhere in between would be nice. Somewhere in between exceptional and poor play. Somewhere in between, which would be average.
Raider fans should be jumping for joy at being average. When you’ve been as bad as they’ve been the past seven seasons, average is the first step towards being good. And from good you take that next step to great. It’s a natural progression.
Am I saying it’s time to write off this season? Of course not. The Raiders have a very winnable game on Sunday vs. the Dolphins, and from there, who knows how the season will play out?
It’s just that before we can get back to a Commitment to Excellence, let’s admit to being average. For now, there’s nothing wrong with that.
