Raiders QB Pryor (knee) could miss time
ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Oakland Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor could require rest to recover from a knee injury that limited his ability to run in a 24-20 loss to the New York Giants Sunday.
"It was obvious there wasn't that explosiveness that we had seen out him," coach Dennis Allen said. "I will sit down and visit with Terrelle a little bit more and find out exactly where he is physically."
The Raiders play at Houston on Sunday.
Pryor left a one-sided loss to the Philadelphia Eagles the week before with a knee strain that was considered no big deal. Allen said Pryor was coming out of the game anyway, and he practiced without limitations during the week.
Pryor's ability to run was clearly compromised from the outset. He was good enough to evade pressure on occasion but the burst that makes him special in the open field was missing.
"When I woke up this morning, I knew I was going to have trouble," Pryor said afterward. "It was definitely confirmed in the game. It was confirmed in warm-up sessions."
Pryor finished 11 of 26 for 122 yards. He had some dropped passes but also failed to see open receivers. His 19 yards rushing on five carries was his low output for the season.
It was something the Raiders didn't see coming during the week of practice, and whatever issues Pryor had during warm-ups weren't relayed to Allen.
"That was never expressed to me," Allen said Monday. "But listen, I watched the game. You could tell he wasn't totally 100 percent. So we've got to talk about it. We've got to make sure that if he's healthy enough to go, then he's up and can go and be effective for us."
The underlying concern is that shorn of the super-charged mobility, Pryor is something less than extraordinary. As it is, he has completed less than 54 passes in each of his last four games and has one touchdown pass and eight interceptions.
Allen said he didn't believe Pryor's knee to be the biggest issue in the game, the translation being there were plays to be made in the passing game and the Raiders didn't make them.
Not all of which is Pryor's fault, Allen said.
"We've got to continue to work to improve in our passing game," Allen said. "Everybody is involved in that. Protection is involved in that. Routes are involved in that. The quarterback is involved in that.
"That's something we've got to continue to work on to improve because we've got to be able to throw the ball effectively to have success offensively in this league."
