The Las Vegas Raiders have completed two exhibitions this preseason and head coach Antonio Pierce has more snaps to review in his choice of who will start under center this season after the recent 27-12 loss versus the Dallas Cowboys.
Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell both went out last night to make their bids for the spot. Minshew is notable for having taken over for an injured Nick Foles playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars his rookie year and carrying the team while their starting QB was out. O’Connell is returning to the Raiders for his second year, after being pushed up to the starting slot midseason as a rookie, and Minshew was likely added this season to provide Las Vegas an alternative to the young but talented QB.
In last night’s tilt against the Cowboys, Minshew went out first and had a tough time but managed to gain some yards. After the switch out in the second quarter, O’Connell had a fairly similar performance. Both QBs made a couple of highlight plays but found difficulty scoring on drives.
After the Cowboys match, Pierce stated in the press conference, “Yeah, we’ve seen enough reps. Two games, like we talked about. Our guys are not playing in the third preseason game, our starters, so we’ll sleep on it and make a decision in the next couple days.”