Raiders quarterback Matt McGloin will start a fifth consecutive game on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs. Coach Dennis Allen made the obvious official on Monday afternoon. While he wouldn’t go beyond that, it’s safe to say that, barring an unforeseen setback, McGloin will start the rest of the season.
Terrelle Pryor’s single-series cameo did nothing to change that. It was a designed change of pace, nothing more.
That’s what he’ll be over the next three games, used as the coaching staff sees fit.
[RELATED: Pryor's cameo has adverse effect on McGloin]
“We’ll look at each game plan and see how we can utilize Terrelle and what skills we can use we can use to take advantage of what the defense is doing,” Allen said. “…That’s something that we’ll game plan on a week in, week out basis, where we can use him and how we can use him.”
Allen liked how Pryor was able to add a dimension to the running game with the read option. He liked that Pryor was able to drive downfield, help score points and catch the Jets defense off guard.
“We wanted to make the Jets have to make some adjustments to how they were going to defend him,” Allen said. “I thought that opened up some things in the running game. I thought we were able to move the ball down the field. We got three points out of that drive. When we got to the second half we were doing some good things offensively (with McGloin) and Ididn’t want to do anything to change that.”
McGloin played well in the second half, and continues to function well. He’s made costly mistakes – a pair of interceptions and a fumbled snap inside his own 20-yard line – but the passing game is more efficient without losing anything in the base running game.
Pryor showed his own strengths in eight starts, but his struggles and McGloin’s emergence prompted what seems to be a permanent switch. McGloin plans to take Sunday’s second-half effort and build on it against the Chiefs.
“I liked the way we continued to fight and do everything we could to keep it close in the end,” McGloin said. “That was a good thing to see. We just have to keep improving.”
