Why Raiders’ Matt Flynn is a backup

By Art Spander 

OAKLAND — He’s a backup, and there’s a reason. Matt Flynn has been an NFL quarterback more than five seasons now — this is his sixth — and through a varying set of circumstances, he rarely has been first-string.

Maybe wrong team, wrong place. Green Bay behind Aaron Rodgers, Seattle behind Russell Wilson.

More likely an inability to take control, to win games.

Going from nowhere to stardom is fantasy. If you can do the job in the NFL, you’ll get the job. The GMs and managers know who can play the most important position in football, and if they don’t they learn quickly enough.

What we learned, or relearned, is that Flynn doesn’t have the right stuff, although Raiders management didn’t realize that until acquiring him in a trade from the Seahawks.

Flynn works hard. Flynn is cooperative in interviews, including painful ones such as the one he had to undergo Sunday when, given the opportunity to lead the Raiders to a win, he couldn’t.

It began so well for Flynn and Oakland, a quick 14-0 lead, in part because of a rare blocked punt, in part because of an 18-yard Flynn pass to Mychal Rivera. Then the jolt back to reality, an interception returned 45 yards for a touchdown — the sequence known euphemistically as a “pick six” — and the seven sacks.

Before Sunday was over at the O.co Coliseum, the Washington Redskins had beaten the Raiders, 24-14.

A day and a half earlier, Terrelle Pryor was listed as the Raiders quarterback. Sure, he had incurred a concussion Monday night at Denver. And sure, Flynn, who had started only two other games in five years, had been preparing himself just in case. But as the week progressed so, we were told, had Pryor progressed.

“Pryor will start . . . according to league sources,” said one printed report Sunday morning.

Pryor, whose mobility and speed give the Raiders another dimension, another weapon.

Pryor, who Oakland coach Dennis Allen called upon out of desperation in the last preseason game when it became apparent Flynn could not perform behind a less-than-effective offensive line.

But a man’s health is more important than the result of any game. Saturday night, the Raiders told Flynn he would start. “We didn’t feel good about letting (Pryor) play,” Allen explained. “We were ready to go with him, but the doctors saw him one more time. We felt it wasn’t the right thing to do. ”

Good for the Raiders. Take no chances with concussions. The Raiders’ diligence seemed to have been rewarded, when with fewer than five minutes gone Rashad Jennings blocked a Washington punt and Jeremy Stewart grabbed the ball in the end zone. Not long later, Flynn hit Rivera for another touchdown.

“We were executing,” said Flynn, “doing the things we needed to do. They made some adjustments on defense. After that we just weren’t converting on third downs, and that obviously was the big issue.”

So was the interception, which came in the second quarter with the Raiders in front, 14-3. Flynn fired to Denarius Moore, but David Amerson popped into view — if not Flynn’s view — and after the pick and 45-yard return, it was 14-10.

The Raiders were headed to a 1-3 record. So were the Redskins.

“I thought we had a good play,” Flynn would say later. “They were in man-to-man coverage. We have to clean up the execution of that, all 11 of us.”

It was Flynn who threw the ball.

Flynn didn’t have a great deal of help. Running back Darren McFadden, who’s always getting hurt, pulled a hamstring early on and never returned. Fullback Marcel Reece hurt his knee, also before the half. That meant, with Pryor missing, the entire backfield was substitutes.

“No question,” Flynn said afterward, “those two guys (Reece, McFadden) are the heart and soul of the offense.”

So, we now comprehend, is Terrelle Pryor.

“I don’t think (Flynn) saw the field very well,” said Allen, the coach. “I think he was obviously part of the sacks we gave up in the game. It was a tough situation for him to come into, and obviously with the loss of McFadden and Reece, that didn’t help. Offensively we didn’t get it done, and that’s the bottom line.”

In the fourth quarter, the Raiders gained 28 yards total. In the final three quarters, the Raiders scored zero points total.

“Really it’s about seeing the field,” said Allen when asked about Flynn’s pocket presence, “and what I talk about is seeing coverage and being able to deliver the ball. So some of those sacks are partly on him and partly on protection.”

And about that interception turned into a touchdown?

“We had the momentum in the game,” Allen insisted, “and they were able to snatch it from us a little bit.”

With Matt Flynn, perennial backup as quarterback, the Raiders unfortunately never could snatch it back.

These Raiders may have a future

By Art Spander

OAKLAND — The other team is awful. Really awful. That’s not the Raiders' fault. They’ve been there, been the foil, been the butt of jokes, the zingers by Jay Leno on national TV. There’s no sympathy, no apologies — just, for a few hours, satisfaction.

It’s not the Raiders’ fault the Jacksonville Jaguars are so bad. “We won a football game,” said Dennis Allen, the second-year head coach. “That’s all we can do week in and week out, and play the schedule.”

This week, this coming Sunday, it will be the Denver Broncos, who are the polar opposite of the Jaguars, the team the Raiders on Sunday figured to beat, and because of a defense that has improved and a kicker, Sebastian Janikowski, who doesn’t have to improve, defeated Jacksonville, 19-9.

Ninety percent of America didn’t see the Raiders’ first win of the season. At the same hour, starting at 1:25 p.m. Pacific or 4:25 p.m. Eastern, the Broncos were facing the New York Giants at Met Life Stadium in New Jersey, Peyton Manning against younger brother Eli, the so-called Manning bowl.

CBS-TV is in business to draw viewers. You think anyone wanted to watch the 0-1 Raiders against the 0-1 Jags? Even in Orlando, that was an easy answer, “No,” but by regulations, contractual agreements, Orlando — with the local station begging for forgiveness — showed Jacksonville-Oakland.

Showed the so-called hometown team (140 miles away), which scored only 2 points a week ago and this game had just 3 points until the final 2 minutes 53 seconds. You think Dennis Allen cared? Not a chance.

Allen and the Raiders are a socially acceptable 1-1 for the next few days, which is the same as the Green Bay Packers and better than the Washington Redskins.

Nobody around the O.co Coliseum, where the crowd was announced as 49,400, is complaining about that. Or the competent performance of Oakland quarterback Terrelle Pryor.

“I’m excited and happy we won,” said Allen. “I thought we did some good things.”

One of them was controlling the football, 31 minutes 48 seconds out of 60. Another was holding Jacksonville to 34 yards net rushing, a total to which one can add the footnote, “Hey when you’re in a hole, you’re not climbing out on fullback plunge. You’re throwing.”

More touchdowns would have been acceptable for Oakland, which was limited to one. The man known as Seabass was obligated to end drives with field goals, and he hit on fielders of 46, 30, 29 and 29, while missing a 35-yarder. That’s usually not the way to win football games, unless you’re facing the Jaguars.

The Raiders, behind in last week’s opener at Indianapolis and in all the four preseason games, scored early, if not often against Jax. They were playing downhill, as the cliché goes. They were in front at the virtual start, less than five minutes after kickoff, and they stayed there.

“I thought it was huge,” said Allen, a man of few words, about Oakland scoring on its first possession. “I think our defense going out there and stepping up and forcing a three-and-out on the first series of the game, and then we come back and get the punt return (30 yards by Phillip Adams) that set us up in good position.”

The Raiders got the runs from Darren McFadden they hoped to get when they drafted him fourth overall six seasons ago, bursts that gave him a total of 129 yards on 19 carries, one of those runs good for 30 yards. Too often the man called DMC has been injured, but now he is healthy, and now the Raiders are beneficiaries.

McFadden fumbled — “That’s something that can’t happen,” insisted Allen, after it did happen — yet Allen and everyone else knew McFadden was excellent. So was Pryor, the kid at quarterback who in his second start grew into a man.

He didn’t look like a runner who passes. He was a passer, poised, patient, who can run. The coach said he would have to look at the tape to analyze Pryor’s decision making, but the assessment could be determined from the final score. When a team wins, the quarterback is successful.

“Every snap,” reminded Allen of Pryor, “is a learning experience for him.” As it is for every quarterback, whether, as Pryor, he was chosen in the supplementary draft of August 2011 after leaving (fleeing?) Ohio State following accusations of improper benefits.

The man is great athlete, who was as fine a basketball player in high school as a football player. That he has the skills and leadership qualities is understood.

“I feel like I did my job,” Pryor said after doing his job. He was 15 of 24 passing for 126 yards. He carried 9 times for 50 yards. He very well could be the next Russell Wilson, Colin Kaepernick or RGIII. He very well could be better.

“I got us a W,” he affirmed.

He, McFadden and the defense. Maybe these Raiders have a future.

This Raider coach remembers the nasty days

By Art Spander
  
ALAMEDA, Calif. — The image survives, which is both a blessing and a curse. The Oakland Raiders were tough, evil but also wildly successful.
   
Al Davis said he relished playing on the road, in Kansas City or Denver, against division opponents the Raiders dominated, and, in his words sensing fear in the fans and the opponents. Pure Machiavellian joy.
   
But the new Raiders, the team unsure of its quarterback, the team down the list in defense, are feared by nobody. Memories don’t tackle. Recollections can’t block.
  
For defensive coordinator Jason Tarver, however, they do provide a link from past to present. “I grew up a Raider fan,” Tarver said Tuesday. “I’ve been watching. I sat in the Black Hole.
  
“It’s one of the reasons I took the job. I know what that black jersey means. Nasty. The Raiders, Ted Hendricks, played with stuff hanging from their arms. That’s my image of defense.”
   
Tarver, who turns 39 Wednesday, is from Pleasanton, Raider country indeed. He has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Santa Clara, a master’s in biochemistry and molecular biology from UCLA. No remarks that you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to stop the San Diego Chargers. What you do need are defensive linemen.
  
“You got to want to knock someone around,” said Tarver. “Nasty, swarming, getting the ball back on downs.”
  
The focus has been on the other side of the ball for a reason. The Raiders are starting Terrelle Pryor at quarterback against Seattle in their last preseason game. You don’t have a chance in the NFL without a quarterback.
  
Or without a defense, because if you can’t stop the other team, your quarterback rarely handles the ball. Either, in the case of Darren McFadden, does your prize running back.
    
“Let’s see McFadden run,” said Tarver, “not the other team.”
    
The Raiders were 4-12 in 2012, the first year in the reign of GM Reggie McKenzie and head coach Dennis Allen. No fear, but perhaps some progress. Perhaps.
   
Oakland was in a 27-3 hole Friday night against the Chicago Bears in the third preseason game before losing 34-26. “We’ve got to play better defense,” agreed Allen. But he also said the Raiders were holding back on tactics, not wishing to show what they could. “Vanilla,” he phrased it.
   
Across the Bay, the 49ers, who made it to the Super Bowl, are a known entity. They are set. The Raiders are still using figurative training wheels.
  
Does Pryor replace Matt Flynn and give Oakland the read-option QB that the Niners have in Colin Kaepernick? Does rookie cornerback D.J. Hayden reach the potential that so many say he has?
   
No less importantly, when will the Raiders once more be respectable?
  
They’re still Oakland’s team, San Leandro’s team, Contra Costa’s team, the team of the working man. That familiar black shield decal, with the player in the eye patch and the twin pirate cutlasses, is pasted on so many back windows of pickup trucks and vans. It’s a symbol of individual pride.
   
So many changes in the organization, the death of Davis, the departure of his longtime chief executive Amy Trask, the assumption of power by Al’s son, Mark. Where does the franchise go? How long does it take to get there?
   
Pro football is a sport of adaptation, in the front office and on the field. “It’s a copycat league,” said Greg Olson, the Raiders’ offensive coordinator. Absolutely. If something works, give it a try. If it doesn’t, give a new head coach a try.
   
The long-held belief in the NFL was that quarterbacks who run are quarterbacks who, because of injuries, have short careers. And Redskins rookie Robert Griffin III did undergo surgery after he incurred a serious knee injury late last season. But Olson said that the trend has begun.
   
“These collegiate quarterbacks are coming out ready to shoulder the load,” he explained. “I heard RGIII will be more careful this year. He’ll slide when he has to and choose when to take his hits.
  
“Terrelle’s got kind of a dual role: be an athletic quarterback as well as a passer. But for any quarterback, you’re always talking about lessening the free hits, the ones (when offensive linemen) get beat.”
    
Olson defended Matt Flynn, who had a mediocre game against the Bears, saying, “There were different reasons he struggled. Some of it was bad luck, an illegal formation, that took away a first down. Some of it was protection. Maybe his confidence got rattled.”
   
Pryor is not easily rattled nor easily tackled.
   
“Just his speed,” Olson said of Pryor. “He just looks faster. He has the ability to make plays, and right now we’re looking for playmakers.”

On defense and offense.

SF Chronicle: Running woes doom Raiders' Carson Palmer

By Art Spander
Special to the San Francisco Chronicle

It wasn't the old Raiders, it was the newly revised old Raiders, unable to stop the run and thus unable to stop the bleeding; out of running backs and, when Carson Palmer missed Denarius Moore, out of luck.

You know the adage, the only stat that matters is the final score, which Sunday at O.co Coliseum was Tampa Bay 42, Oakland 32.

Read the full story here.

© 2012 Hearst Communications Inc.

RealClearSports: Leinart's Role as Raider: Advise, Back Up

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

ALAMEDA, Calif. — A Matt Leinart bobblehead, with the likeness attired in an Arizona Cardinals uniform, can be found on the Internet at prices ranging from $28 to $80. Leinart may have been a disappointment — the word "bust'' is simply too harsh — but he has not gone unrecognized.

Or, once more, unwanted.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012