When it comes to Gardner Minshew, it appears the Las Vegas Raiders have seen enough.
Following a sloppy start to Sunday’s matchup against the Denver Broncos, the Raiders benched Minshew in favor of Aidan O’Connell. Minshew had beaten the Purdue product out during a quarterback competition in training camp before leading Las Vegas to a 2-2 start through the first four weeks of the regular season.
Despite the Raiders being .500, Minshew’s play was far from impressive. He entered Sunday’s Week 5 AFC west matchup having completed 70.7 percent of his passes for 877 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions.
QB Aidan O’Connell takes the field for the Raiders.
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The Washington State product’s benching came after he opened Sunday’s game against Denver completing 12 of his 17 passes for 137 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, including a 100-yard pick-6 that was thrown to Patrick Surtain II. He was pulled in favor of O’Connell after throwing his second interception of the game with 4:16 remaining in the third quarter and the Raiders trailing the Broncos 20-10.
The move to O’Connell, however, has yet to pay dividends for the Raiders, with Denver extending its lead to 34-10 late in the fourth quarter.
With Las Vegas on the verge of falling to 2-3 on the season, it will be interesting to see whether the Raiders stick with O’Connell at quarterback moving forward. Las Vegas will return to action next Sunday when it hosts the Pittsburgh Steelers at Allegiant Stadium.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.