On Saturday, the Raiders’ Connor Cook will be the first quarterback to make his starting debut in a playoff game in the Super Bowl era.
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Having his first career National Football League start come in a playoff game is a tall order of a rookie quarterback, though it may have been even tougher to have him starting early in the season when he’d only had the offseason and training camp under his belt.
Clowney has taken more time to develop into a star with the Texans as injuries limited him to four games as a rookie, his season was cut short a year ago by another injury that kept him out of the Texans’ playoff game and he has delivered only 10 1/2 sacks in 31 career games – fewer than Mack has had in each of the past two seasons. We have one team that was very good all season, but now has a rookie quarterback making his first start.
While Houston has decided on its starter, the Raiders are still dealing with questions at quarterback after Matt McGloin left with a shoulder injury in his first start since Derek Carr broke his leg the previous week. He was also sacked twice, fumbling both times.
Cook threw for 150 yards and a touchdown in relief duty Sunday against the Broncos. It hasn’t mattered most of the time though, because of the ability on offense to put points up in a hurry, however they will have to tighten that up with Carr on the shelf. But it’s a learning experience.
Osweiler said anything said during the game “stays between us” and whatever was said preceded a half that saw Osweiler lead three scoring drives without turning the ball over.
“I thought Connor was pretty solid”, Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio told reporters Sunday.
The 35-year-old Wilfork says: Ive been thinking about it. Im not saying I will do it, and Im not saying that I wont do it. “When I was inactive, I was still watching film and still studying the game plan and going over everything – my reads, my hots and all that”. “With hard circumstances just going in there and stuff, I felt like I was confident and I know the offense well”. Savage went on to start the final two games of the year, but he suffered a concussion in Week 17.
How about a little history to spice up Saturday’s AFC Wildcard playoff game? If Pittsburgh wins, the Patriots will draw the victor of the Raiders/Texans in the divisional round. Lunsford played at Liberty in college and was an undrafted rookie with the 49ers last summer before being cut in the preseason.
Garrett Celek (TE, San Francisco 49ers): Recorded one catch for nine yards and a touchdown in San Francisco’s 25-23 loss to Seattle.
Sherels would have earned a $100,000 contract bonus had he finished the season as the NFL’s leading punt returner.
The New York Jets announced that offensive coordinator Chan Gailey is retiring. Prior to this season, he hadn’t started since 2011. Osweiler has a chance to write a positive ending to a awful season. Entering the last week of the regular season, the Raiders (12-4) had an opportunity to clinch the division and more importantly, a first-round bye, but they fell to Denver 24-6. I doubt it! The one quality unit in this matchup – when you consider the QB’s – is the Houston defense and that should be the difference in this game. The Raiders gave up five carries of 40 yards or more, the second-most in the NFL.
The thing to keep in mind on the Raiders’ past performance chart is to throw out their latest – the 24-6 loss to the Broncos.
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The Texans’ best chance to get the offense going will be with Lamar Miller. He was particularly ordinary away from MetLife Stadium, managing just 1,788 yards through the air with 10 TDs and seven INTs. The good free-agent acquisition quietly posted 1,073 rushing yards this season.
