Week 3 of the 2013 NFL season is officially in the books with the Oakland Raiders falling short against the division rival Denver Broncos. Even though the Raiders put up a valiant effort against the Broncos on Monday night, Terrelle Pryor and company were clearly outmatched and didn’t stand much of a chance against arguably the best team in the AFC.
Along with falling to the Broncos on the road, the Raiders may have lost Pryor for at least a week due to a concussion suffered in the loss. Wesley Woodyard made a crushing hit on Pryor while the Raiders were heading toward the red zone.
Apparently, Pryor doesn’t recall much after the hit by Woodyard. Pryor headed to the locker room shortly after the hit and Matt Flynn came in to replace him for his first snaps as a Raider.
Despite the Raiders putting up a fight against an elite team in Week 4, ESPN wasn’t all that impressed giving dropping the team one spot in their weekly NFL Power Rankings:
No. 32 – Jacksonville Jaguars (0-3)
No. 31 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-3)
No. 30 – Oakland Raiders (1-2)
No. 29 – New York Giants (0-3)
No. 28 – Pittsburgh Steelers (0-3)
Here’s the rankings for the rest of the AFC West via ESPN:
No. 2 – Denver Broncos (3-0)
No. 8 – Kansas City Chiefs (3-0)
No. 19 – San Diego Chargers (1-2)
It’d be safe to say at this point in time that the Chiefs are the most surprising team within the division. Alex Smith and company are firing on all cylinders right now and might compete with the Broncos for the division title. The Chargers dropped the ball once again, literally, letting another win slip through their fingers.
As for the Raiders, the team has played better than expected with Pryor under center, but this team is still trying to find an identity. There’s no question there’s a lot of potential for this team to turn things around as long as Pryor can stay healthy and players on both sides of the football continue to develop moving forward.
