ALAMEDA — Sensing that he might be ignored in the 2013 draft, quarterback Matt McGloin wrote an open letter to the NFL community.

This was no diplomatic plea, no polite request from a plucky dreamer. Instead, McGloin’s street-tough message landed somewhere between a warning and a veiled threat.

“To those saying to me now ‘You’ll never make it,’ all I have to say is this: ‘Watch me,”’ wrote McGloin, who went undrafted anyway. “You’re damn right I live my life and play football with a chip on my shoulder, because there is honor and worthy achievement in proving wrong the myth of ‘impossibility.”’

McGloin, now 27, might as well dust off his laptop and thesaurus again. There’s a whole new audience waiting for him to fail.

When star quarterback Derek Carr sustained a broken fibula during a Christmas Eve game, that sickening snap could just as well have applied to the Raiders’ hopes of winning a championship.

Las Vegas oddsmaker Bovada listed Oakland as 12-to-1 shots to win the Super Bowl before Carr’s injury. The mere idea of McGloin as the main man sent the stock tumbling to 28-to-1.

It’s easy to see the logic: The Raiders are losing not only their talented MVP candidate but also their emotional leader. And they’re replacing him with … well, what, exactly?

Even the quarterback’s father, Paul McGloin, felt briefly overwhelmed in the aftermath of Carr’s injury.

Paul, who lives in Scranton, Pennsylvania, calls his three sons each night to tell them that he loves them. But during a conversation with Matt last week, Paul let his guard down.

“I’m nervous,” the father said.

“Why?” the son replied evenly.

And with that one-word answer, Paul McGloin snapped back to his senses. It was as if he’d forgotten that Matt has spent his lifetime taking your worries and sticking them in your ear.

“People are saying, ‘Oh, the Raiders are doomed now,”’ Paul said in phone interview Monday. “I know my son. He just never quits. Never gives up. The bigger the game, the greater the chances he’ll succeed.” Related Articles Former NFL GM on Matt McGloin: ‘Guy is capable of winning games’

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Vegas and other outsiders might view this as a tumultuous time for the Raiders.

But those who know the quarterback best say McGloin is living his life to the letter.

“When the world crashed down on Penn State in an ugly, horrifying cloud, the world around our team seemed to panic. ‘Penn State football will never be the same,’ is what everyone outside our locker room said. No way. Not as long as I was wearing the blue and white uniform.” — Matt McGloin in his pre-draft letter to StateCollege.Com on March 11, 2013

McGloin was Penn State’s first quarterback in the wake of the Joe Paterno scandal. He was also the most unlikely passer there in more than a half-century.

The Nittany Lions had no interest in recruiting the kid from West Scranton High. McGloin’s best offer out of high school came from Lehigh University, a Division I-AA school.

As McGloin’s college decision neared, dad tried to give him a reality check. Paul McGloin never doubted his son’s ability or resolve, but he spelled out the equation: Matt could go to Lehigh and dominate or to Penn State, where he could vanish into obscurity.

“He said, ‘I don’t care. I’ll compete. I want to play on the big stage,”’ his dad said.

McGloin chose Penn State, where, he would later write, Paterno “handed me nothing but expected everything. He made me work, scratch and claw for anything I ever achieved.”

McGloin pushed his way into the conversation and became the first walk-on to start at quarterback for the Nittany Lions in over 60 years.

As the full-fledged starter under new head coach Bill O’Brien in 2012, McGloin had a passer rating of at least 100.0 in all 12 games.

He left as Penn State’s all-time leader in touchdown passes.

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By the time he was done, Rep. Marty Flynn honored the quarterback on the floor of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, citing McGloin’s “daily demonstration of grit and tenacity.”

Reached by phone this week, Flynn doubled down on his endorsement. A former professional boxer (he went 10-2, five knockouts), Flynn said he has an affinity for “scrappers.”

“This is one of the great sports stories of all time,” Flynn said. “He wasn’t supposed to see the field at Penn State, but he becomes the starter and sets all kinds of records. They made a movie after ‘Rudy’ — and he was only on the field for one play!

“He wasn’t supposed to make the NFL, either, but he works his way into the league and he’s still there.

“This (starting Raiders job) is a huge, huge weight. Nine out of 10 guys would fold. But this guy is made for these moments. He lives for it.”

“My parents own a small business — a flower shop in Scranton. Life isn’t easy for them, either. I watched how they dealt with challenges, and every time the world set them back, they just worked a little harder. In struggle, failure and setback, I learned strength, honor and determination. Just like everyone else in my town.”

Paul and Catherine McGloin are florists. But they’re not delicate flowers. They put in ridiculous hours to establish their mom-and-pop business as a local institution, sometimes leaning on their three sons (Paul, John and Matt) to pitch in.

The client list for McGloin’s Florist includes Hillary Clinton. Her father, Hugh Rodham, died shortly after Bill Clinton took office in 1993 and Paul McGloin has tended to the gravesite since.

Notable actors Martin Sheen and Richard Harris have also placed an order.

Mostly, though, the McGloins’ clients are their fellow working stiffs. Michael DeAntona, still the coach at West Scranton High, said Matt’s upbringing is part of the reason the quarterback blossomed.

“We believe in getting your butt out of bed in the morning and going out and earning a living,” DeAntona said.

“That’s kind of what’s being instilled in our kids, after our parents instilled it in us. The way we go about our daily life in Northeastern Pennsylvania.”

DeAntona loves to tell the story of McGloin’s first big game: West Scranton High had a returning senior in line to start at quarterback, but McGloin came in as a sophomore and won an open competition. Then, in his first varsity start, McGloin threw three touchdown passes, including the game-winner in overtime, to knock off one of Pennsylvania’s top high school teams.

“Matt doesn’t feel pressure,” DeAntona said. “And I mean that as a very positive thing. Because in any kind of sport, when you work hard and you prepare yourself, there really isn’t pressure: You’re ready.”

So McGloin’s been trying to buck the odds since high school?

“He’s been doing it since midget football,” DeAntona said.

“Apparently, none of this was good enough to receive an invitation to the NFL Combine, the most important showcase before the draft. The conventional wisdom is that I don’t have the ‘measurables.’ … I’m not blind to the fact that history hasn’t been kind to quarterbacks my size in the NFL draft. Who cares? That’s been true my entire life.”

People talk about McGloin (6-foot-1, 210 pounds) playing with a chip on his shoulder so often he ought to get an endorsement from Pringles.

But grit can’t elude a pass rush. Heart can’t rifle a throw into double coverage. That’s why, with the notable exceptions of players like Tom Brady (sixth-round) and Kurt Warner (undrafted), the NFL playoffs tend to be the province of first-rounders and future Hall of Famers.

(Consider that the most recent Super Bowl featured a showdown between two former No. 1 overall picks: Peyton Manning and Cam Newton.)

So amid all this talk about McGloin’s resolve, it must also be asked: Can he play? Or is he chum for the postseason sharks?

McGloin’s coaches point out that for all the talk about his guile, it was his arm that got him this job in the first place.

After the draft, where 254 players went, including 11 quarterbacks, McGloin got a tryout with the Raiders. Working out in front of General Manager Reggie McKenzie, Director of Player Personnel Joey Clinkscales and then-offensive coordinator Greg Olson, the quarterback impressed with his accuracy and arm strength.

By the time he was done, all three men were in unison.

“It was an easy decision on the day we brought him in, just on his ability to throw from Point A to Point B. Extremely accurate player,” Olson said in a Sports Illustrated podcast this week.

“It was arm talent, No. 1. You can have the most intelligent player in the world, but if you can’t put the ball into tight windows, you’re not going to have an opportunity to play.”

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Pressed into starting duty late in his rookie season of 2013, McGloin held his own over six games. He had 8 touchdown passes, 8 interceptions, and a 76.1 passer-rating. He went 1-5 as the starter for a crummy team en route to a 4-12 season.

He hasn’t started since.

Now, McGloin inherits a 12-3 juggernaut that can clinch the AFC West division title and a first-round bye with a victory Sunday against the Denver Broncos.

This time, he’ll be playing behind an offensive line that has allowed an NFL-low 16 sacks and with a receiving duo of Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree that averages 10.8 catches and 137.7 yards per game.

Though this is McGloin’s first start in years, Raiders quarterbacks coach Todd Downing has no plans to use training wheels.

“He has the arm talent to attack all parts of the field. People don’t realize that about him,” Downing said. “He has a very strong arm. There aren’t any throws that he can’t make that Derek can make.

“I tell you, those receivers better have their gloves on, cause it’s coming in hot.”

While the Raiders coaches have full confidence in McGloin, they have little company these days. Skeptics have them outnumbered.

That’s fine with the quarterback. He’s so accustomed to being written off that he eventually wrote back.

“My entire life has been defined by the words, ‘You’ll never make it.’ … Some people play football with a ‘chip on their shoulder’ — I live life that way because I have to.”

Staff writers Jimmy Durkin and Jerry McDonald contributed to this report.