The Oakland Raiders got off to a hot start to the 2013 NFL season by playing surprising well against a potential playoff team in the Indianapolis Colts during their Week 1 showdown.
Quarterback Terrelle Pryor put on a show on the road with an impressive skill set that the Colts’ defense found incredible difficult to defend.Despite the impressive performance by Pryor and company, the Raiders’ coaching staff believes there’s a lot of room for improvement.
The emphasis for the coaching staff heading into Week 2 against the Jacksonville Jaguars has been the tempo of the game. Head coach Dennis Allen wants Pryor to get things moving quicker rather than having the play clock reach zero as it did twice last week via Jerry McDonald of the Contra Costa Times:
Tempo will be foremost in the mind of both teams, with the Raiders hoping to get Pryor going before a sellout crowd and get off to a fast start.
For all the good things Pryor did against Indianapolis, completing 19 of 29 passes for 217 yards and a touchdown and rushing 13 times for 112 yards, he twice had delay of game penalties and two times the Raiders had to call timeouts because they weren’t going to get a play off in time.
With the tempo of the offense being the key to success for Allen and company, Pryor will be faced with a daunting task of replicating last week’s performances while speeding things up for this offense. Although the Raiders played well offensively last week against the Colts, it was far from perfect with Pryor throwing to costly interceptions in the red zone and the team ultimately losing, 21-17.
Pryor promises the team will be better at picking up the pace this week against the Jaguars via McDonald:
“I think I’m just so psyched up in the game and in the moment, and I’m huffing and puffing and trying to get the way out. I’ve got to get better at that, and we will be better at that this week. I can promise that.”
Before Week 1, expectations for this team at the beginning of a rebuilding process were low to say the least. No one believed this team had the pieces to compete this season leading many to dub the Raiders as one of the worst teams in the NFL. After taking the Colts to the limit, those expectations have changed slightly with some light at the end of the tunnel for this team led by a promising young quarterback in Pryor.
Week 2 will be the true test for Pryor as he will be going up against the lowly Jaguars in his first start in Oakland at O.co Coliseum. Despite the low expectations for the season, the Raiders are expected to come out on top in this matchup with another solid performance from the Ohio State alum.
