Terrelle Pryor Distances Himself From Agent’s Rant; Is Damage Already Done?

Sep 23, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Oakland Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor (2) throws a pass against the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Oakland Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor took to social media Monday night to issue an apology for a rant aimed at coach Dennis Allen by his agent, Jerome Stanley.

Stanley told CSNBayArea.com on Monday that Allen was setting up Pryor to fail by naming him as the starting quarterback for Sunday’s season finale against the Denver Broncos.

"“I think they’re putting him in hopes that he fails,” Stanley said. “That’s what I think coach is doing. I think they’re putting him in hopes that he has a bad game, so he can then justify the Matt McGloin situation. I think that’s what’s going on, I do and it’s ridiculous. …“You have to understand the [situation] coach is putting him in, he doesn’t want him to look good. And you can write that. He doesn’t want him to look good because, if he looks good this week, it makes the past five weeks look like a bad decision. [Allen] doesn’t want [Pryor] to look good, he wants him to look bad. That is what is going on.”"

Pryor took to Twitter to distance himself from Stanley’s comments.

Ironically, Pryor had one of his strongest statistical performances when the Raiders met the Broncos in Denver on Sept. 23. He was 19-for-28 for 281 yards and a touchdown and ran for 36 yards on four carries. His 112.4 passer rating was his second-highest of the season, bettered only by the 135.7 he put up on Oct. 6 against San Diego.

The Raiders are 3-5 in games started by Pryor this season, lost Matt Flynn’s only start and are 1-5 in McGloin’s six starts.

For his part, Allen didn’t hold back about Stanley’s comments to CSNBayArea.com:

"“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Allen said. “This isn’t the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. This is football.”"

It’s still sort of hard to fathom how giving a player an opportunity to play is a bad thing, but it’s never good when a player’s agent blasts a coach or an organization.

It’s made even worse when that player is a quarterback, the player who has to lead the offense on the field. If Pryor does play poorly on Sunday, could there be a sense among some of his teammates that he played badly on purpose?

Stanley has put Pryor in the worst situation for any player—particularly a quarterback, the dreaded no-win scenario. If he plays well, then Pryor’s agent looks like an idiot. If he plays poorly, Stanley has put the wheels in motion to question the player’s motives.

Bleacher Report’s Christopher Hansen reported via Twitter that Pryor and his agent have spoken about the incident:

Sometimes the best thing to do is to do nothing. Jerome Stanley could have benefited from having someone point that out to him before he decided to go thermonuclear.