Tag: Aidan O’Connell

Raiders QB Gardner Minshew lost for season, who starts in his place?

Raiders QB Gardner Minshew has a shoulder injury. Here are the latest updates.

Late in the fourth quarter of the Raiders week 12 game against the Broncos, Gardner Minshew ran out right and was tackled hard. He was slow to get up and when he did was holding his left arm and taken straight to the locker room.

QB Gardner Minshew injury update

Following the game, head coach Antonio Pierce said Minshew had a left shoulder injury and that “It doesn’t look good.”

How long will Gardner Minshew be out?

According to multiple reports, X-rays reveal a broken collarbone which means Minshew is out for the rest of the season.

Raiders QB depth chart

Desmond Ridder came in for Minshew in the fourth quarter, playing the remainder of the game.

Ridder has been with the team for about a month. I asked Antonio Pierce if he’d seen enough from Ridder to have him in the mix, and he said quickly no. Adding that Ridder hasn’t had nearly enough reps either in practice or in games to be handed the job on a short week.

“It’s not enough reps,” Pierce said. “When Gardner was in there we gave him all the reps. He did some stuff in seven-on-sevens, but to sit there and say we’ve seen enough? No. We’ve seen film, he’s played in this league and obviously today was tough. Sitting on the bench the last 55 minutes and now you’re throwing him in the ball game, but he did the best he could.”

Aidan O’Connell is eligible to return from partial season injured reserve this week and, if he’s indeed ready to return, he is expected to step back into the starting job. It would certainly be good timing for his return. Ridder would back him up.

Raiders worst in NFL in every turnover statistic after Week 7

Every one of the primary turnover statistics has the Raiders dead last. In some cases by a wide margin.

I don’t know how rare this is, but the Raiders are sitting in quite a spot in terms of turnovers. Seven weeks in, the Raiders are the worst is every turnover statistic. Some by a wide margin.

Here are the bottom five in each of the turnover stats for this season:

Interceptions:

28. Chiefs 8
28. Packers 8
28. Titans 8
31. Panthers 9
32. Raiders 10

Gardner Minshew 8
Aidan O’Connell 2

Fumbles lost:

27. Patriots 5
27. Vikings 5
27. Broncos 5
27. Saints 5
31. Cardinals 6
31. Raiders 6

Gardner Minshew 2
Zamir White 2
Ameer Abdullah 1
Dylan Laube 1

Turnovers:

26. Packers 11
26. 49ers 11
26. Cowboys 11
26. Saints 11
30. Panthers 12
30. Titans 12
32. Raiders 16

Turnover differential

28. Eagles -6
28. Cowboys -6
28. Panthers -6
31. Titans -9
32. Raiders -13

Robert Spillane 1 INT
Tre’von Moehrig 1 INT
Nate Hobbs 1 INT

To make matters worse, they have yet to recover a single forced a fumble this season. So, they’re tied for the worst in that category as well.

These stats are why their turnover differential is twice that of the teams just two spots ahead of them.

Four times this season the Raiders have turned the ball over at least three times. Sunday against the Rams they turned it over four times. The first three turned in to touchdowns. The fourth ended the game.

Injury update: Raiders send QB Aidan O’Connell to injured reserve with broken thumb

O’Connell’s injury is a broken thumb just as was feared. He is expected to miss 6-7 weeks.

Initial speculation on Aidan O’Connell’s injury during Sunday’s game against the Rams was that he had broken his thumb. That speculation turned out to be true as revealed Monday morning and the team is sending the second year QB to injured reserve.

The expected timeline for O’Connell’s return is set at 4-6 weeks.

O’Connell broke the thumb on the follow-thru of a pass in which his hand hit the hand of an oncoming rusher. To add insult to the injury, the officials didn’t see it and flagged him for intentional grounding.

Gardner Minshew came in the game to replace O’Connell and will be the starter during his absence.

Minshew had been the starter for the first five games of the season until O’Connell was named the starter. This was just his second start this season.

Injury update: Gardner Minshew replaces Aidan O’Connell who leaves with injury

And injury to Aidan O’Connell had him leave the Raiders Week seven game against the Rams, ushering in Gardner Minshew at QB.

In the first quarter of the Raiders vs Rams game, Aidan O’Connell left the game with an injury and headed for the locker room. When the Raiders offense returned to the field, Gardner Minshew was in at quarterback.

Minshew had been the starter for the first five games of this season. O’Connell had replaced Minshew as the Raiders starter in Week six against the Steelers.

O’Connell injured his thumb on a pass in which he was flagged for intentional grounding. He was soon ruled Questionable to return. Antonio Pierce told the broadcast in his sideline interview that he doesn’t think O’Connell will be back today.

Minshew came in and led the Raiders on a scoring drive with Daniel Carlson connecting on a 38-yard field goal to put the Raiders up 3-0.

Update: Preliminary tests suggest O’Connell has a broken thumb, which could mean surgery and would threaten to end his season.

Busters for Raiders Week 6 loss vs Steelers

The poor performances that led to the Raiders collapse against the Steelers.

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. The Raiders did it time and time again in this game. So, as you can imagine, there were a lot of Busters for this one. Let’s get to it.

Busters

HC Antonio Pierce

Just like last week in Denver, one mistake and this team lost its way and went off the rails. Everything just fell apart. And kept falling apart. One thing after another. First it was randomly giving a rookie a carry and then that rookie fumbling the ball away. That seemed to be the mistake that sent the team into their spiral.

From there it was a roughing penalty that wiped away an interception (leading to a touchdown), a holding penalty that wiped away a long completion (leading to a punt), a blocked punt (leading to a field goal), another roughing the passer penalty that kept a drive alive (leading to a touchdown).

Those mistakes put the Steelers up 22-7. The Raiders would mount a drive that looked to have ended with a touchdown. Twice. The first time, a Mattison TD catch was wiped away by a highly questionable ineligible man downfield penalty on Jackson Powers-Johnson. That sucks, sure, but on the next play Ameer Abdullah ran toward the endzone, diving for the goal line and looked like he may have scored. He was ruled down at the one, but after further review, it looked like he may have gotten in. But rather than challenge it, Pierce rushed the offense to the line for another play. Abdullah got the ball again and fumbled it away.

That was as close as the Raiders would get to making a game of it. An interception on the next possession gave the Steelers first and goal and they put the game away with over eight minutes left. What a discombobulated mess this team is right now. It started in week three and has only gotten worse since then. The blame starts with the head coach.

QB Aidan O’Connell

Everything looked great on the opening drive! But once things went off script, all that ended. Two consecutive three-and-out possessions in which he went three of five for seven yards.

O’Connell was overthrowing his receivers a lot in this game. Either too high or too long. Four of the first five drives from the end of the second quarter to fourth quarter ended with passes that were too high. The final one led to the game sealing interception.

RB Dylan Laube

His fumble started the implosion. His first career carry was a fumble. That’s gotta hurt.

DT Matthew Butler

That fumble would have been largely forgotten had Deablo’s interception stood. It didn’t because Butler was flagged for roughing the passer. It was an iffy call, but Butler made it easy when, after he landed on top of Justin Fields, he stayed in his face for a few seconds taunting him.

S Chris Smith II

It was still a one score game to begin the third quarter. Then AJ Cole’s punt was blocked. And it was Smith who missed his block that caused it. The Steelers got the ball inside the ten and added a field goal to make it an eight point game.

DE K’Lavon Chaisson

Chaisson got his first sack as a Raider. But before we could congratulate him on it, the very next play he was flagged for roughing the passer on a play the Raiders had stopped to force a punt. Instead the drive was kept alive and led to a touchdown.

LB Robert Spillane

That touchdown after the Chaisson roughing penalty came on a 36-yard run by Najee Harris who took the handoff out left and Spillane missed the tackle, allowing Harris to be gone for the score. The next Steelers touchdown after the interception came on a play action fake in which Justin Fields kept it on a naked boot. But Spillane bit hard on the play fake and Fields was already streaking for the end zone by the time he realized what was happening.

His eight tackles in this game were is fewest of the season and the first time he failed to hit double digits. That’s gotta sting against his former team.

RB Ameer Abdullah

From what could have been a touchdown to a fumble. Hero to goat. In one play. The Raiders defense held up to get the ball back. But Abdullah muffed the punt which had their drive starting at their own 13. That wasn’t his first mistake on punt return duties either. In the second quarter, he fielded a punt and ran backward, losing a yard to be stopped at the 16.

See the Ballers

Raiders meltdowns are now piling up and they’re getting worse

From the Collapse vs Carolina to the Debacle in Denver to that masterstroke of a meltdown vs the Steelers. The Raiders are spiraling out of control.

Each week it seems the Raiders have a ‘hold my beer’ game to outdo their last one. As if they are talking to their past selves and saying ‘that’s nothin! Watch this!’ and setting a new bar for flailing and implosion.

Let’s start with Week three against the Panthers.

The Raiders were coming off a miraculous fourth quarter comeback win in Baltimore and in turn were feeling pretty good about themselves as they prepped for their home opener.

The Raiders managed to score on their opening drive and it was tied up 7-7 at the end of the first quarter. From that point on, Andy Dalton and the Panthers boat raced them. The Raiders run game went nowhere, averaging 2.9 yards per carry while the defense was gouged by big plays time and time again. It was 33-7 before the Raiders offense even converted another third down!

After the game came the infamous remarks from Antonio Pierce accusing more than one of his players of making ‘business decisions’ in the game.

The following week Davante Adams was out with a sudden hamstring injury, Maxx Crosby missed his first career game, and Jack Jones was benched for the first half. The Raiders somehow held on for the win merely by virtue of Deshaun Watson being utterly terrible.

And the next day Adams requested a trade and hasn’t played since.

Week five was a trip to Denver against a Broncos team that on paper seemed to be a fairly similar team — good defense but a struggling defense.

The Raiders scored a touchdown on their opening drive and jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. They were well on their way to scoring a third time to take what would have been a 17-3 lead. But Gardner Minshew overshot Brock Bowers at point blank range and Patrick Surtain Jr picked it off and returned it 100 yards for a touchdown.

Despite consecutive three-and-out by the Raider, it was still tied at 10-10 with two minutes left in the first half and the Raiders got the ball back with just under two minutes with a chance to right the ship and take the lead back. Their attempt consisted of two penalties, three runs, and a punt. So, the Broncos got the ball back and scored instead.

In the third quarter, Minshew threw another interception, was benched for Aidan O’Connell who then also threw an interception. Meanwhile the Broncos rattled off 34 straight points, putting the game away with more than eight minutes left in the game.

That brings us to last Sunday which took the meltdown to new levels.

O’Connell got the start and led the Raiders on a touchdown drive to start things off. That was the scripted drive. And that was where the success ended, soon devolving in a tragicomedy.

The next two drives ended in three-and-outs. Then on the fourth play of the next drive, rookie running back Dylan Laube got his first career carry. Before he even got to the line of scrimmage, the ball was punched out and recovered at the Vegas 30-yard line.

On the second play of the Steelers possession, the Raiders took it back…for an instant. Divine Deablo intercepted a Justin Fields pass over the middle and the Raiders got the ball right back. But wait, a flag. It was roughing the passer on Matthew Butler, who landed on Fields and then stayed in his face while on the turf. The interception was wiped away and the Steelers kept the ball, moving 12 yards closer. A few plays later they were in the end zone.

To begin the third quarter, they had an 18-yard Brock Bowers catch called back by an Andre James holding penalty. That led to a punt. And the punt was blocked, with the Steelers getting the ball at the Vegas nine-yard line and they added a field goal to take a 15-7 lead.

The next Steelers drive looked to end with a punt, but K’Lavon Chaisson was flagged for roughing the passer. Two plays later, Najee Harris got the left edge and went 36 yards for the touchdown.

Now down 22-7, the Raiders needed to put something together to have a chance. They drove to first and goal at the eight. Alexander Mattison took a short pass and scored the touchdown. But, wait, there was a flag. Jackson Powers-Johnson was illegally downfield.

The next play, Ameer Abdullah ran for the end zone, diving toward the goal line and appeared as if he may have gotten in. He was ruled down at the one and on the next play, he fumbled the ball away.

Next Raiders possession started with O’Connell getting sacked, then on third and 19 from his own four-yard-line, he was intercepted. Justin Fields took the naked boot for a touchdown in one play and that put the game on ice.

This game had it all! Fumbles, penalties nullifying takeaways, penalties keeping drives alive, penalties nullifying scores, fumbles at the goal line, interceptions at your own goal line, and so much more!

It was so bad it made the Collapse vs Carolina and the Debacle in Denver look like child’s play.

This team is a shell of the inspired team that finished last season strong. They are just plain lost. They can cobble things together for a few minutes early in games, but it falls apart quickly and at the first crack in the wall, the whole house comes down. This is three times now we’ve seen it happen in just six games and it is just getting worse with each occurrence.

How do the Raiders possibly outdo themselves now? Tune in next week when they visit the LA Rams.

Raiders, Steelers Week 6 recap, final score: Raiders unravel early, lose big again 32-13

Another big early mistake led to another collapse for the hapless Raiders.

Aidan O’Connell’s first start of the season would begin with some bad news — both the Raiders’ top receivers would not be playing.

With Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers both missing with injuries, he set out to get the Raiders offense moving with the weapons he did have at his disposal.

That apparently meant a heavy dose of tight ends and running backs. And when I say “heavy dose,” I mean he used ONLY his tight ends and running backs.

Through five drives, no wide receiver had touched the ball.

It worked at first, with the Raiders driving for a touchdown on their opening drive with O’Connell going 4 for 4 for 45 yards. But it ultimately wasn’t sustainable.

First everything stalled, with consecutive three-and-outs. Then things began to unravel. Starting with rookie running back Dylan Laube fumbling the ball away on his first career carry.

The Steelers got the ball and for an instant it looked like the Raiders might take it right back. Divine Deablo intercepted it on a pass over the middle, but newly signed former practice squad defensive tackle Matthew Butler was flagged for roughing the passer, wiping it away. The Steelers kept the ball and scored the touchdown.

A failed two-point conversion would send the two teams into the locker room with a 12-7 Steelers lead.

The unraveling continued in the third quarter, when an AJ Cole punt was blocked, giving the Steelers the ball in first and goal at the nine. The Steelers added a field goal to go up 15-7.

Steelers offense got the ball back quickly due to the Raiders’ offensive ineptness and started driving again. A K’Lavon Chaisson sack set the Steelers back, but a Maxx Crosby roughing the passer penalty on the next play gave them the first down at the Vegas 41.

Two plays later, Najee Harris took the handoff, found the left edge and was gone 36 yards to paydirt. It put Harris over 100 yards on the day (102) with an average of 8.5 yards per carry. And it put the Steelers up 22-7 over the Raiders with over three minutes left in the third quarter.

A long drive at the end of the third quarter looked for a moment to end in a touchdown pass to Alexander Mattison, but Andre James was flagged for ineligible man downfield to wipe it away.

Next play, Ameer Abdullah broke a tackle and ran it to the one-yard-line. He was given the ball on the next play and had it punched out and the Steelers recovered. Brutal.

It wasn’t long before the proverbial nail in the coffin. Aidan O’Connell was throwing from his own end zone, dropped back and overthrew Brock Bowers. The pass was picked off by Donte Jackson and returned to the eight-yard line. Next play, Justin Fields runs a naked boot for a touchdown to give the Steelers a 29-7 lead with just over eight minutes left in the game.

The Raiders second touchdown was brought to you by garbage time with O’Connell finding Kristian Wilkerson for the touchdown and a failed two-point conversion. The final score of 32-13 came after the Steelers recovered an onsides kick and then drove inside the 20 to add a field goal.

Coming into the game, the Steelers were averaging just 3.7 yards per carry which was 29th in the league and Najee Harris averaging a paltry 3.3 yards per carry. In this game their running backs were averaged 5.9 yards per carry in this game with Harris more averaging 7.6 yards per carry.

O’Connell finished 27 of 40 for 227 yards, one TD and one INT.

Justin Fields finished with 206 total yards including 61 yards on nine carries with two touchdowns.

Brock Bowers led the way for the Raiders with nine catches for 71 yards.

Saints, Raiders making quarterback changes

The Raiders and Saints will start new quarterbacks in NFL Week Six

Dennis Allen’s former and current teams will see changes at quarterback in Week Six of the NFL season.

Allen’s New Orleans Saints will go with fifth-round pick Spencer Rattler against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Rattler was once the top recruit at QB in the nation and wound up at Oklahoma before transferring to South Carolina.

He gets the call over Jake Haener, who replaced Derek Carr on Monday against the Chiefs when the veteran suffered an oblique injury that will sideline him for several weeks.

Meanwhile, the team Allen used to coach the Raiders, now of  Las Vegas, will bench Gardner Minshew and start Aidan O’Connell when they play the Pittsburgh Steelers.

O’Connell went 5-5 as a starter last season as a rookie. On the season, he passed for 2,218 yards with 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 11 appearances.

The Raiders benching Gardner Minshew for Aidan O’Connell signals a major QB change in 2025

A new quarterback seems likely for the Raiders in 2025.

The 2-3 Las Vegas Raiders are officially making a quarterback change, as the team will roll with Aidan O’Connell this week against the Pittsburgh Steelers as opposed to Gardner Minshew.

After a dispiriting 34-18 division loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Vegas must’ve felt it necessary to give O’Connell another chance at the job after Minshew struggled.

O’Connell played in 11 games for the Raiders last season, throwing for 2,218 yards, 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions in that span. He’s played in two games so far this season with 176 yards, a touchdown and a pick to show for it.

While O’Connell could play well enough to keep the Raiders’ quarterback job for the rest of the 2024 season, Las Vegas feels destined to find a quarterback of the future in 2025.

Turning on the quarterback carousel in October usually doesn’t mean either guy will have the job next season unless the swap-out option is a rookie, like we’re seeing with the New England Patriots and Drake Maye right now.

Whether this means the Raiders will take a quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft (Shedeur Sanders?) or go after a veteran free agent like resurgent Minnesota Vikings starter Sam Darnold is unknown. However, a new starting quarterback feels like all but certain for Las Vegas next year.

It’s a near lock at this point unless O’Connell pulls a Kirk Cousins and lives into his full potential as a mid-round draft success.

This quarterback situation may well mean this Raiders team has a pretty firm floor and ceiling in 2024, negatively compounded by the likely trade of wide receiver Davante Adams. That’s a bummer for fans.

Las Vegas might not make it to the playoffs this year, but brighter days could be ahead for the Raiders if they can figure out who the quarterback of the future is and continue to build out the roster.

That’s obviously a tall order and carries no guarantees, but it at least feels like Raiders fans will get the chance to see that plan go through sooner than later. This is a team to absolutely watch for in the 2025 quarterback conversation.

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Breaking: Raiders make change at QB, naming Aidan O’Connell starter

Breaking: Raiders make change at QB, naming Aidan O’Connell starter

So much for a midseason competition. Prior to Wednesday’s practice, Antonio Pierce took to the podium and formally announced that Aidan O’Connell will be the team’s starting QB, replacing Gardner Minshew.

“When it’s time to make a switch, I make a switch,” Pierce said.

“I just felt like it was best for our offense going forward.”

Minshew was named the starter a couple weeks prior to the start of the season after beating out O’Connell in camp and preseason. But it was never an easy decision. Certainly not as easy as Antonio Pierce had hoped it would be.

Both quarterbacks had issues throughout the offseason practices and camp, so neither truly grabbed ahold of the starting job to make it an obvious choice. Thus Minshew’s leash was always short.

Pierce said he would give it the first quarter of the season and that’s basically how it went down. Five games in, Minshew threw two devastating interceptions in last Sunday’s game against the Broncos, leading to another blowout loss and that was the final straw.

Now Aidan O’Connell will get his shot at it.