I'm very excited to unveil a new feature of the QB Corner called "Film Study." We kick it off by taking a look at what's left of the Raiders QB situation.
Probably this season's most disappointing story was Derek Carr's injury at the end of an MVP-caliber year that saw Oakland rise to the status of AFC contenders. Week 17 proved to be a sobering experience as the Raiders were decimated by the Broncos in Gary Kubiak's goodbye game. Second stringer Matt McGloin was injured and Connor Cook took the reigns and will start in the Wild Card game at Houston.
My initial impressions (through the Red Zone Channel) of the two Raiders QBs were extremely bleak. But reviewing the tape softened my outlook. First let's take a look at the veteran backup Matt McGloin's performance.
His first significant attempt was a third down dime dropped by the sure-handed Michael Crabtree. The Broncos had already scored on the opening possession of the game and McGloin did his job in attempting to strike back.
On his second possession, McGloin delivered this nice little third down pass into a tight area. Two runs for one yard and a false start penalty stalled the drive. Ineffective running stalled the following drive as well.
By the time McGloin got another chance, it was already deep into the second quarter and Oakland was down ten. For some strange reason, the wheels came off the bus at this point, as McGloin missed this wide open touchdown to Amari Cooper. He followed it up with another high and wild throw to Michael Crabtree. Then this happened:
He was once again high and wild on the proceeding play and was hit hard and injured in the process. It was ruled roughing the passer, but McGloin was clearly not right after this point and couldn't capitalize on the free first down.
Enter Connor Cook, who made his first professional appearance in the game.
He got off to a decent start, completing his first attempt and later delivering this good throw that was dropped by Clive Walford.
But the inexperience showed early in the third quarter, as Cook failed to protect the ball and had a weak fumble on the Raiders' first play of the game in Denver territory.
He got back on track on the next drive ending in this pretty touch throw that allowed Amari Cooper to make a spectacular play to the pylon. At this point, Cook had completed seven of his first eight pass attempts.
Similar to Matt McGloin's first half performance, the wheels came off the bus rather quickly for Cook in the fourth quarter. After a very nice sideline throw for a first down, he air-mailed this one to an absolutely wide open Mychal Rivera. The pass was intercepted in a second and short situation with other first down options also wide open.
On Oakland's final drive, Cook made this unfortunate throw before being strip sacked once again. It was an inauspicious ending to a promising start for the rookie.
I will point to this play as one of several low-impact reads he made during the course of the game that showed his ability to cycle through his progressions, his comfort in the pocket and decent footwork (although his feet were at other times very sloppy). In the end, I was a lot more comfortable with his performance on tape than I was on Sunday. He showed some arm, some touch, some poise and some toughness in the face of Denver's defensive onslaught. He also made several mistakes that are absolute killers when it comes to playoff football.
However the biggest thing that the film revealed to me is that, contrary to popular perception, quarterback play was not the chief culprit in the blowout loss. From the first drive, the Raiders defense was overwhelmed by Denver's offense. On the other side of the ball, Oakland was unable to establish anything consistent on the ground, rushing 16 times for 57 yards for the game. As you saw above, there were several disappointing drops in key spots. The team was also a disaster in the penalty department, racking up 13 flags for 125 yards. Simply put, the Raiders were a mess from front to back in Week 17.
Earlier in the week, I tweeted that I would start McGloin in the Wild Card game against the Texans. At the time I was operating under the initial information that McGloin would be healthy for the contest. If this was the case, I would probably be sticking by my assessment, mostly due to experience. But Jack Del Rio admitted later in the week that McGloin was questionable to even be healthy enough to back up Connor Cook and that health was a major factor in the decision to start the rookie. Under these circumstances, it's a no-brainer to play the healthy QB.
This does not necessarily mean the Raiders are doomed as Cook showed me enough on Sunday to provide some hope that he can be successful on a day where the rest of the team shows up. In fact, I'm not sure that I can anticipate Brock Osweiler looking any less shaky for the Texans in this game. And lack of film on Cook is sure to be an advantage for the Raiders. Oakland fans should be more concerned about whether the defense can put out an improved effort and whether star left tackle Donald Penn (who hasn't practiced all week) will be able to suit up.