In a career that has already been defined by his ability to overcome the odds, Matt McGloin has made another step toward reaching his dream on Wednesday when Oakland Raiders head coach Dennis Allen named him as the team’s starter this weekend. McGloin made his NFL debut as a starting quarterback last Sunday against the Houston Texans, in place of injured Terrelle Pryor, and threw three touchdowns and no interceptions, leading Oakland to a victory.

The circumstances are different this week as Pryor is healthy and participating in practice, taking second-team reps behind McGloin as the team prepares for a matchup with the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. We will see this weekend if McGloin can keep up the pace he set against the NFL’s best-rated pass defense last week as he went 18-of-32 for 197 yards, keeping the now 4-6 Raiders in the race for a wildcard playoff spot.

With McGloin at least temporarily earning himself a job as a starting NFL quarterback after starting the offseason fourth on the pecking order behind Pryor, Matt Flynn, and Tyler Wilson, it’s hard not to think about the open letter that McGloin wrote to his naysayers before the NFL Draft, in which he went unselected.

“The conventional wisdom is that I don’t have the measurables,” McGloin wrote. “Well I’d argue that victories under more pressure than any other program in America is measurable enough to earn a chance to prove what I can do. Hard work isn’t new to me because ‘you’ll never make it’ is what I’ve faced for as long as I can remember. Same for my family, my hometown and Penn State football last year.

“To those saying to me now ‘you’ll never make it’ all I have to say is this: Watch me. 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.’ ”

In the eight months since that letter was published, McGloin went undrafted, found a spot with the Raiders in training camp, and jumped three quarterbacks on the depth chart to reach this milestone in his career. The nickname might be a bit overdone, but I’ll be damned if Matt McGloin doesn’t have determination, drive, and yes, you guessed it, a whole lot of moxie.