For the past few weeks, it has seemed like the Las Vegas Raiders have been leaning towards moving away from starting quarterback Gardner Minshew. And on Wednesday, the announcement finally came from head coach Antonio Pierce on a new starter that he hopes will be his starter for the remainder of the season.
Minshew’s struggles have been evident this year, averaging just over 200 passing yards per game with more interceptions on the year than passing touchdowns. This has led to several in-game changes at starting quarterback, including last week where second-year quarterback Aidan O’Connell came in to relieve Minshew of his duties.
The constant flip-flopping at a position as valuable as quarterback is certainly a bit worrying. And on Wednesday, Antonio Pierce publically announced that Aidan O’Connell will be the new starter over Minshew in a move that Pierce hopes is his last at quarterback this year.
“It was a quarterback battle early on. [Minshew] started five games, and at this point, I think it’s best to go with Aidan (O’Connell) going forward,” Pierce said during his press conference on Wednesday.
Pierce went on to explain his decision, saying that O’Connell has shown a different level of confidence in his second season.
“Confidence,” Pierce added. “Out of that shell, not looking like a rookie no more. Not acting like a rookie no more. He has a certain presence about himself. And it’s not so outgoing where you’ll just notice it. But if you’ve been around him enough, he’s definitely speaking up a lot more.
“I love how he walks around the building. Really, what I respected the most is when we named Gardner the starter, he said, alright, I’m going to be the best scout-team quarterback possible. And he was lighting our ass up. And every day he gave us the best look. And he walked around with a smile on his face. And if you remember the Baltimore game, he and Jackson Powers were sitting there rallying the troops and pumping them up and he was just a great teammate. So, all those things factor into the decisions.”
When asked if he will continue to make in-game changes if O’Connell struggles this week, Pierce said that he does not plan any more switches in the future.
“I don’t plan on making switches any time,” Pierce said. “When it’s time to make a switch, we’ll make a switch.”
For the time being, O’Connell is the new guy in Las Vegas. And it will be interesting to see if he can make a good first impression on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
