Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

When the Raiders brought Matt Leinart to the Bay the logic was to have a quarterback versed in Greg Knapp’s failed offense that could provide help as the team adjusted. However after finally seeing Leinart in extended action as a Raider then hearing the coaching staff is toying with the idea of simplifying the playbook one has to wonder what was the point of signing Leinart in the first place?

If this guy was supposed to know the offense already then why was he so unprepared to enter the game this past Sunday? I fully understand that it’s not an easy task to enter an NFL game as a backup quarterback. But Oakland had time to make in-game adjustments and Leinart has had some years in this system yet the end result was still one failed screen and check down pass after another.

If Leniart knows Knapp’s offense then why would the team supposedly be considering cutting the playbook down in size? Exactly what in the world has Leinart been doing with all his time with the clipboard this season if he needs the offense reduced to JaMarcus Russell size in order to digest?

But this is typical of everything that has defined Knapp’s second failed tenure as a coordinator in Oakland. Why Reggie McKenzie sat so passively and allowed an entire season of this mess to unfold is beyond troubling. We all know that this franchise needs more stability. But that can’t come at the expense of failure.

Knapp and everything he’s brought to this franchise has been a failure. And now we’re supposed to believe that a QB who was supposed to know the offense but clearly wasn’t prepared to play is going give this team the best chance at victory.

Laughable on all accounts. Embarrassing at best. Flawed from the start.

Congrats, Knapp. You’ve outdone yourself on this one.

Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

Who says there is no intensity in the preseason? Certainly not Matt Leinart who was roughed up in his unceremonious NFL homecoming last week in Arizona.

Leinart left the Raiders second preseason game with a finger injury but at the time that seemed the least of Oakland’s concerns for their backup QB. Cardinals’ defensive tackle Ricky Lumpkin laid a lick on Leinart that came far too close to the head leaving the former Trojan dazed. Leinart would be carted off the field seemingly suffering a concussion.

In the end it was a digit on Leinart’s non-throwing hand that got the worst of the collision. However it’s Lumpkin’s checkbook that took the biggest hit.

Having spent last season on the practice squad in Arizona, Lumpkin is no doubt hungry to make the 53-man. Perhaps a little too overzealous, Lumpkin’s shot on Leinart will cost him $21,000. That might be chump change to a lot of NFLers but for a guy trying to earn the league minimum it represents a large chunk of a check he doesn’t even have.

So next time you get on your high horse about how much money these guys make keep in mind that jobs are on the line in the preseason. They might be high paying jobs but we’re talking about a line of work for which there are a finite amount of opportunities. Lumpkin’s desire to earn a fulltime football gig might just have written a check his account can’t cash but it will be well worth it if he gets the job. At least until the league starts collection on what he owes it will be.

Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

Fans of college football had plenty of opportunities to see Terrelle Pryor do his thing at Ohio State. The highly recruited QB prospect was a fixture the moment he stepped foot on campus at Columbus.

Fans of the NFL, specifically Raider Nation, have seen next to nothing of Pryor the pro. To date he has but one snap in an NFL uniform, a forgettable QB sneak that never was no thanks to a false start penalty. Pryor’s debut as pro was about as anticlimactic as the ending of the Sopranos.

That’s why tonight’s Raiders-Cowboys preseason opener is filled with plenty of anticipation for a player entering his second season having never truly had a rookie year. Safe to say there has never been more interest in a third string QB playing for a team that finished .500 the last two years.

Pryor’s preseason debut marks the most extensive playing time he’s seen in the NFL. Aside from a few practices we’ve got nothing at all to critique Pryor on. By all accounts he’s been working hard at learning the pro game while refining some of his mechanical issues and decision making. Of course doing it on the practice field is one thing. Do it in an actual is quite another. Plenty of players shine in practice. Only a select few do it on a consistent basis on Sundays.

Even though the Raiders are playing their first contest of the preseason it seems pretty much like the job to backup Carson Palmer is a done deal with Matt Leinart taking the honors. Of course Leinart has a few advantages over Pryor such as actual game experience and intimate knowledge of Greg Knapp’s offense. But that doesn’t mean the preseason is meaningless for Pryor.

Let’s not forget how Palmer became a Raider in the first place or how T.J. Yates started a playoff game for the Houston Texans as a rookie. Injuries abound in the NFL and a guy like Pryor is a couple of unlucky breaks away from breaking into a starting job.

When Pryor enters the game tonight there will be a buzz unlike any other. How that buzz either grows or shrinks depends on how Pryor performs during his second chance at a first impression.