Raiders’ Terrell Pryor admits he kept knee injury secret

ALAMEDA -- Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor fessed up Wednesday afternoon, admitting he never told the coaching staff how much his sprained knee hurt during Sunday’s loss to the New York Giants. He told the media everything, from how a week’s practice made the knee worse to how it impacted his ability. Pryor made a conscious choice to keep Dennis Allen in the dark. “It was my competitive nature coming out,” Pryor said. “I thought I could just sit back in the pocket and win it. It fired back against me.

“I didn’t want to let my teammates down. I wanted to be out there with my guys. You know, it’s a lesson learned.”

Pryor realizes he should’ve been more honest, but he couldn’t hide the hitch in his giddy-up. That was plain for all to see. “A lot of football players, they try to tough it out, you know?” Pryor said. “I guess certain positions you can. But the way I move and the way I have to move, it didn't really help out.”

Pryor considers his knee no worse for in-game wear, but he and the Raiders chose to rest it and keep him from Wednesday’s practice.

Backup Matt McGloin took first team reps and practice squad quarterback Tyler Wilson ran the second team. If Pryor can’t play, McGloin would start and Wilson would get promoted to the 53-man roster.

That hasn’t been determined yet. In fact, Pryor is still expected to play Sunday against the Houston Texans.

Allen denied any disconnect between coach and quarterback during the practice week. He’s said several times that Pryor’s knee wasn’t the deciding factor in Sunday’s loss, but the quarterback believes he might have hurt his offense.

Pryor thought he could beat the Giants from the pocket. He couldn’t.

“When you're out there and you're letting your ego in the way and your competitive nature in the way,” Pryor said, “you tend to lose track of what the big picture is, and that's the team.”

The Raiders will keep an eye Pryor’s health throughout the week. If the Raiders’ starter remains unfit, and Allen will make a determination where a hampered Pryor or a healthy McGloin gives the team a better chance to beat Houston.

“You’ve got to battle through some things, and sometimes you can’t,” Allen said. “Sometimes the injury is of a nature where you just can’t battle through it. So we’ll have to again monitor Terrelle as we go through the week and see how he’s feeling as the week moves on.”

- Scott Bair, CSN Bay Area