Position battles, especially at quarterback, are rarely decided in minicamp, but if they had option the Oakland Raiders would probably prefer to drop each of them into a black hole after what happened on the practice field Tuesday. According to NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal, Tuesday's practice has been described as one of the worst displays of quarterbacking in the forward pass era.
There are rumors that Matt Flynn could again be overtaken by another rookie and if true, these reports out of Oakland may explain why. If he can't separate himself from Tyler Wilson and Terrelle Pryor then that says more about his readiness than it does about their developmental signal callers. NSFW: These reports were among the more brutal you'll ever see.
Minicamp is mostly non-contact, but Bay Area reporters certainly bruised some egos.
From Steve Corkran of the Oakland Tribune: "In 19 years covering the NFL, today's showing by Matt Flynn, Tyler Wilson, Terrelle Pryor and Matt McGloin rates as one of the worst in memory."
An Associated Press reporter started an article with what he saw out of the Raiders' passing game: "Batted balls. Wounded ducks. Interceptions. Passes into the turf."
From Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle: "It was the opening of duck season, er, the Raiders three-day minicamp, on Tuesday as the team's top three quarterbacks picked up where they left off in the team's organized workouts the last month."
"On two straight throws, starter Matt Flynn lobbed two wounded ducks downfield — and they were the plays of the day," Tafur wrote.
It appeared the quarterbacks struggled equally, although the practice reports about Pryor were particularly negative. He had four passes batted down alone. Flynn said all the batted balls were "nerve-wracking."
