Second thoughts

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Raiders’ QB tries dousing agent’s fire

The agent for Oakland Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor might think his client is being set up to fail by being handed a Week 17 start after losing the job previously to Matt McGloin.

But in an unusual role-reversal, the player himself is now trying to douse the flames set by the agent, knowing he still has to work with these people at least for the moment.

“I think they’re putting him in hopes that he fails,” Pryor’s agent Jerome Stanley told CSNBayArea.

com. “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.”

On Tuesday morning, Pryor took to his Twitter account to distance himself from his agent’s comments and apologized for them. He then went on to say he’s looking forward to Sunday’s game against the Broncos.

“I apologize for the recent comments towards the Raiders organization,” he wrote. “That’s not what I’m about. I’m thankful for this opportunity given to me by this great organization and the phenomenal fans. I’m very excited to play with my teammates Sunday!We hope to make you [fans] proud!”

That’s swell and all, but it might be a one-week fix for the awkwardness to follow.

With Coach Dennis Allen’s future uncertain, every on-field job with the Raiders, including former Arkansas Razorback Darren McFadden’s, could be at stake, so Pryor could help himself a lot more by playing well.

Flea bitten

There’s no need to touch on Mike D’Antoni’s validity as an NBA coach, particularly his overall work since taking over the Los Angeles Lakers team over a year ago. That’s best left for when D’Antoni either leads the Lakers to a championship, or when he and the team decide to part ways.

D’Antoni, though, has lost the support of one of the Lakers’ most ardent fans - Red Hot Chili Peppers bass guitarist Flea. The four string-slapper has been a fixture at Laker games dating back to the 1980s and has been vocal recently about not getting special treatment in certain visiting NBA arenas.

Now, he’s complaining about his Lakers. His poor Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash-less Lakers. This was his Christmas Eve tweet to his nearly one million followers:

“I know he’s got a depleted roster. But even with a loaded one, his coaching concept is unsustainable and cannot win. Ever. Fire dantoni”

D’Antoni has shot back at Lakers fans in general, basically telling them to stuff it.

“Why would I be discouraged?” D’Antoni told Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles. “We’re fighting with a bunch of good guys that played well before, and they’ll play [well] again. If [the fans] are discouraged, then, you know, find another team to root for. I’m all right. We’re not going to give up.

Are you kidding me? Discouraged?

That’s not even fair to these guys.”

It’s hard to disagree with D’Antoni who has been coaching a beleaguered team missing its best player for a majority of the year and still hovering around the .500 mark.

It’s just a matter of time whether if Flea was on to something or if he and the other restless Lakers fans managed to turn D’Antoni into a sympathetic figure for the rest of the 2014 season.

Quote of the day

“I can fall back on my experience. I’ve played a lot of games in this league. I don’t feel I have to do too much with the ball, just get it to 29 [DeMarco Murray], 82 [Jason Witten] and 88 [Dez Bryant].” Dallas quarterback Kyle Orton on the possibility of starting against Philadelphia on Sunday.

Sports, Pages 20 on 12/26/2013