Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor says he learned the right way to throw a football this offseason, something that doesn’t look like it will help him grab the starting job but he may still get a chance to show off his improved mechanics once the regular season gets underway.
Pryor said this weekend that the team has been working on packages of plays to take advantage of his skills and it doesn’t come as much surprise to learn that those packages are part of the league-wide embrace of the pistol formation.
“The packages we’re talking about have a lot to do with our offense,” Pryor said, via Scott Bair of CSN Bay Area. “We’re still going down the field with the ball. We’re still throwing timing routes. It’s just a package to get me on the field, and run the same plays that Matt Flynn, Tyler Wilson and Matt McGloin are running. It’s the same stuff. It’s just me, that and some pistol stuff. Stuff like that.”
Pryor, like most of the quarterbacks playing for teams utilizing the formation, has the ability to make plays with his feet. The questions about him have to do with how many plays he’ll be able to make with his arm and how quickly he’ll be able to make the correct decisions on the field in any formation.
It does seem that he’ll be the backup in Oakland, however. Reports from Raiders practice have shown Wilson losing snaps to McGloin in practice and Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that coach Dennis Allen said Wilson is behind “from a mental standpoint” at the moment. Assuming that things continue to progress in a similar manner, it looks like Pryor will be in uniform each week with the potential to see more of the field than he saw in his first two seasons.