Here we go again. Back to the Raiders being in limbo at the QB position. In the third quarter of Sunday’s game, looking at a 31-10 deficit, the Raiders pulled starter Gardner Minshew in favor of Desmond Ridder.
At the time, you could write it off as the Raiders just being down three scores and just pulling their starter. But if that were the case, Monday morning you’d expect to hear the head coach commit to Minshew as the starter. He didn’t do that.
“I’m using the bye week to look at everything.” Pierce said in response to a question about the team’s starting quarterback.
This controversy at the QB position has been going on almost weekly dating back to the beginning of the offseason.
First it was Aidan O’Connell taking all the first team reps. Then by minicamp, Minshew started getting some first team reps. By camp they shared first team reps equally. It wasn’t until two weeks prior to the start of the season that Pierce named Minshew the starter. And even then, he made it clear he wasn’t confident in his choice, saying he would give Minshew the first quarter of the season and re-evaluate at that time.
Just a week after Minshew led a come-from-behind win in Baltimore, struggles at home against the Panthers had Pierce putting in O’Connell late in the game and already waffling on Minshew as the starter.
Two weeks later, he made the switch, benching Minshew in favor of O’Connell. Then in just his second start, O’Connell left with a thumb injury and Minshew was back in as the starter.
The next day the team signed Desmond Ridder off the Cardinals practice squad and Sunday, after just two weeks with the team, he was in the game for Minshew.
Now, Pierce is saying he is using the coming week to decide whether Ridder will be the team’s starter or not. And you can bet, even if Ridder isn’t named the starter this week, the question will come up every single week if Minshew struggles.