Oakland Raiders Coaches Play Rock/Paper/Scissor for Starting QB.

With the close of the NFL pre-season, it seems that most teams have their roster spot decisions solidified and are now ready to make the final cuts down to the mandated 53.

That is, unless you’re the Oakland Raiders and are still holding open tryouts at quarterback.

Thursday night’s pre-season game against the Super Bowl favorite Seahawks was supposed to be a homecoming of sorts for Matt Flynn, although his one season in Seattle was lackluster. Remember, he came to the Pacific Northwest from Green Bay as the odds-on successor to Matt Hasselbeck. Wrong. Flynn lost out to rookie Russell Wilson, and for good reason.

The ex-LSU quarterback hasn't earned the starting spot for Oakland this year either. You'd think the Raiders would take a hint about signing former Bayou Bengal quarterbacks by now!

Flynn's failings have become painfully obvious by the mere fact Oakland is starting Ohio State castoff Terrelle Pryor instead. Imagine, losing out to a Maurice Clarett wannabe!

After Pryor's performance, Flynn should be named the starter by default. It’s like picking the lesser of two evils, much like most presidential elections!

Pryor threw for 31 yards, one interception, and compiled a 9.9 passer rating. Now, I realize Seattle has one of the top defenses in the league, and Century Link Field is one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL, but this was just plain ugly. Is it too late to bring Rich Gannon back?

The Seahawks didn’t play much better but won the game, 22-6, on five Steven Hauschka field goals, including three over 50 yards. There’s my sleeper kicker for the upcoming Fantasy Football draft on Monday!

The highlight of the game seemed to be rapper Snoop Dogg -- errr ... Snoop Lion -- hanging out on the Seahawks sideline, decked out in a Marshawn Lynch jersey. Snoop was in town to perform a concert at the Showbox and found time to fraternize with the players beforehand. No word on if he was late to the show, but I’m sure he enjoyed hanging out with old friend Pete Carroll from his USC days. And like Carroll, Mr Dogg-Lion definitely has the Trojans in the rear-view mirror.

Needless to say, it’s going to be a long season in the East Bay. With the Raiders' QB situation still unsettled, it’s clear the disaster that was Jamarcus Russell still lingers in Oaktown. It’s probably not much consolation to play the What If game and imagine how things would be for Raider nation if they had drafted Adrian Peterson or Calvin Johnson that year instead. Both players would certainly be worth the No 1 overall pick in 2007. Anybody but Russell!

In fact, reviewing every draft all the way back to their last playoff appearance, where the Raiders got shellacked by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII, Oakland fans can see where it all went wrong.

2012:  Traded first-round pick to the Bengals for Carson Palmer in a draft that was loaded with QB’s and pretty much every other position. Oops!

2011:  Stefen Wisniewski #48 round 2  ... Why Oakland didn’t have a first-round pick is beyond me. Hoping to catch lightning in a bottle and stick with familiar bloodlines, they selected the nephew of former Raiders All-Pro guard Steve Wisniewski. They could’ve had Richard Sherman, but so could a lot of teams!

2010:  Rolando McLain #8 ... CJ Spiller/Dez Bryant/Demaryius Thomas/Earl Thomas/Rob Gronkowski

2009:  Darrius Heyward-Bey #7 ... Brian Cushing/Michael Crabtree/Jeremy Maclin/Percy Harvin/Hakeem Nicks/Clay Matthews III/LeSean McCoy)

2008:  Darren McFaddin #4 ... Probably the best pick they’ve made in the last 10 years. Still, they could’ve had Jerod Mayo/Ryan Clady/Chris Johnson/Joe Flacco/Matt Forte/Desean Jackon/Ray Rice/Jamaal Charles. Ouch!

2007:  Jamarcus Russell #1 ... Calvin Johnson/Joe Thomas/Adrian Peterson/Marshawn Lynch/Patrick Willis/Darrelle Revis

2006:  Michael Huff #7 ... Jay Cutler/Tamba Hali/Santonio Holmes/Chad Greenway/Greg Jennings/Devin Hester/Maurice Jones-Drew/Brandon Marshall

2005:  Fabian Washington #23 ... Aaron Rodgers was drafted one pick later. Had Oakland stopped him from sliding, they never would’ve gone down the Jamarcus Russell path!

2004:  Robert Gallery #2 ... Larry Fitzgerald/Philip Rivers/Ben Roethlisberger/Steven Jackson/Jonathan Vilma

2003:  Nnamdi Asomugha #31 (good!), Tyler Brayton #32 (bad!) ... Anquan Boldin/Osi Umenyiora/Jason Witten/Lance Briggs

What makes it worse is none of these players are even with the Raiders anymore, except McFadden and Wisniewski (simply because of his last name).

I suppose you could do the same hypothetical proposition for every team in the league, but passing up on this much talent is just astounding. You’d think by dumb, blind luck they would’ve taken one of these superstars, but no, nada, zip!

If ever there was a franchise that needed a mulligan, it’s the Raiders.

Time to pack up the silver and black equipment, fire up the moving vans, and head south on I-5 to sunny, southern California.  Do the sewers back up in the Coliseum?