The last few days have been tough for the Oakland Raiders and their fans, as less than a week ago it looked as if the Raiders could be poised to make a Super Bowl run under quarterback Derek Carr who was playing MVP caliber football.
But in Saturday’s win over the Indianapolis Colts Carr went down with a broken fibula, effectively ending his season and leaving the Raiders with backup quarterback Matt McGloin to run their offense.
McGloin has not started a game since his rookie year in 2013, and is 1-5 in six career starts.
The Raiders team that he quarterbacked in 2013 is a lot different than this Raiders team though, so McGloin is in a much better position to succeed this time around.
Oakland has the fifth ranked running game in football, led by running back Latavius Murray along with rookies DeAndre Washington and Jalen Richard.
Murray recently commented on the team’s quarterback situation, saying that they need to continue to run the ball effectively to be successful no matter who is playing quarterback, via Raiders.com:
“We know we need to run the ball, that’s regardless of who’s taking the snaps, and so we’re going to continue getting better there, be better. Especially now, more than ever.”
Murray also believes that this week of practice is a big one for the offense ahead of their Week 17 matchup with the Denver Broncos on the road:
“It’s going to come down getting the reps in practice, but us executing our game plan during the week, coming out working hard, and just going out there and just putting together a good game on offense.”
A win over the Broncos, or the Kansas City Chiefs losing to the San Diego Chargers on Sunday would clinch the AFC Wets title for the Raiders and earn them a first round bye in the postseason, which would greatly help out McGloin as he would have more time to prepare for their first postseason game.
