Holy McGloin! Oakland Raiders v Houston Texans recap

Matthew McGloin #14 of the Oakland Raiders completes a pass against the Houston Texans

Holy McGloin! Matt McGloin (Penn State) came through in his first start with three touchdown passes and almost two hundred yards in the Oakland Raiders 28-23 victory over the Houston Texans (now 2-8). McGloin, previously an undrafted rookie who fought up the depth chart, passing fourth round pick Tyler Wilson (Arkansas) and Matt Flynn (LSU), went 18-32 passing on the day, even though he was heavily pressured (sacked twice) by the tenacious Texans’ defense.

In my preview of the game, I said that, for the Raiders to win, McGloin needed to get the offense going. Three touchdown passes, to three different players [Denarius Moore (Tennessee) , Rod Streater (Temple), and Mychal Rivera (Tennessee)] is certainly “getting it going.” And he has his 105.9 QBR (quarterback rating) to prove it.

Further, I said they’d need to get a good game out of Rashad Jennings (Liberty), who showed up and showed off. Jennings’ 22 carries for 150 yards were highlighted by his touchdown run of eighty yards, his career long. Jennings long scamper was off of a wildcat formation, meaning he was truly filling in for the injured Darren McFadden (Arkansas), a wildcat expert. Jennings showed us that the beat- up Texans really were missing middle linebacker Brian Cushing (Southern Cal), because he consistently got positive yards up the middle.

I know I said that they had to bottle up Andre Johnson (Miami), who had 10 catches for 116 yards even while battling double teams a lot of the game. But, they did keep him out of the end zone and that was important. Johnson had five touchdowns in the previous two games, so the “bend but don’t break” play by the secondary did the trick. The defense forced an early turnover, and later picked off Case Keenum (University of Houston) for the first time in 168 pass attempts. Oakland’s defense clearly took the recent embarrassment from the Eagles seriously, because they were flying all over the field, laying hard hits and giving Keenum serious pressure in the pocket. When you win the turnover battle, as Oakland did 2-0, it’s a good indicator that you will win the game.

Matt Schaub (Virginia) came in for Keenum near the game’s end, and there was a little bit of heat between he and Andre Johnson after a missed touchdown opportunity in the back of the end zone. In the Quarterback’s defense, everyone wearing white, black, and silver knew where Houston wanted to go with the ball.

Positives for Houston start on special teams. Houston’s Keshawn Martin (Michigan State) had a punt return touchdown, Randy Bullock (Texas A&M) made all 3 of his field goals (including his new career long from 51 yards), and Shane Lechler (Texas A&M) averaged almost 50 yards per punt. For Texans fans, while this season has been a disappointment, Martin and Bullock are clearly improving, while Lechler continues to be a rock.

Unfortunately for Houston, they did get a good day out of J.J. Watt (Wisconsin) but couldn’t get much else out of the pass rush. “Megawatt” is only one man, and the rest of the defense was clearly worried about the run because their pressure wasn’t what it’s been in years past. I’d give credit to the Raiders offensive line, but Watt got two sacks and a few pressures.

Keenum vs Schaub

Replacing Case Keenum. Keenum did struggle in the second half, no doubt about it. But, Coach Gary Kubiak’s decision to switch mid-game to the previously injured Schaub. While Keenum did initially only replace Schaub because he was injured, it looked as if Keenum had earned the spot when Schaub began suiting up again and was still benched. In what may have been his last serious game for a while, Schaub only managed to lead the Texans to a pair of field goals. Some may speculate that Keenum potentially could’ve scored more points down the stretch, but that is certainly just a guess. I once had a football coach that always told us, “potential means you ain’t done it yet,” and Keenum certainly hadn’t done a lot to indicate he’d score more. But, to be fair to Keenum’s camp, Matt Schaub is known for throwing TD’s… for the other team (Schaub has the NFL record for most consecutive games with a “pick 6”).

Rashad Jennings Hits the “Truck Stick”

Jennings 80 yard touchdown was not just a highlight because he took the wildcat snap, ran the play action, and then hit the hole hard. Jennings went through the hole untouched for the first two levels until he met Safety D.J. Swearinger (South Carolina), and proceeded to level him. The “Truck Stick” is a reference to the videogame Madden in which, when running with the ball, you can flip the right analog stick in an attempt to truck a would-be tackler. When you hear that phrase at work tomorrow, don’t be too surprised. Jennings lowered his shoulder and crumpled Swearinger about 10 yards into the 80 yard run, but it was the only real opportunity the Texans had to bring him down.

Is there a QB controversy in Oakland?

McGloin had a phenomenal day through the air against the Texans. But, he came in to replace Terrelle Pryor (Ohio State) who led the team in passing and rushing before suffering a knee injury. Pryor played a game in a brace last week, but was unable to go this week. The controversy is inevitable, as the rest will mean Pryor is likely available for next week. Pryor had lead an explosive Oakland offense, but McGloin’s arm is now NFL proven. There will certainly be arguments on both sides. Some will say one game against a two win Texans team is not enough to prove himself, others will say that Pryor has had 15 turnovers in 8 games, and McGloin had zero while getting the ball spread around and deep.

The Texans next contest is a very winnable game. They host the Jacksonville Jaguars next Sunday at 1:00 ET. At the beginning of the year Houston certainly had this on the calendar as a W, but with the way the year’s gone, they know the saying “Any Given Sunday” as well as anyone.

Oakland heads to Tennessee (4-6) to take on the Titans next Sunday at 4:25 ET. Tennessee has a losing record and is coming off a tough loss to Indianapolis in which starting QB Jake Locker (Washington) was lost for the rest of the season. Whichever QB is taking the snaps for the Raiders, they will be facing the NFL’s 9th ranked defense in passing yards per game.