Tag: Gardner Minshew

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.

Patrick Surtain has Raiders QB’s to thank for his AFC Defensive Player of the Week Award

Raiders quarterbacks all but gift wrapped the AFC Defensive Player of the Week Award to Patrick Surtain Jr.

The Players of the Week are out. And as you might expect, Patrick Surtain Jr took home the Defensive Player of the Week Award for the AFC.

Surtain earned his award for sure. But he had a lot of help from Raiders QBs Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell.

After the Raiders had scored on their first two drives against the Broncos on Sunday, they were in first and goal at the five-yard-line, looking to go up 17-3. Then Minshew rolled out left with an open Brock Bowers at points blank range and…threw it over his head.

Right there on the other side, guarding Jakobi Meyers in the end zone was the lucky recipient of that horrible pass — Pat Surtain. The opportunistic Surtain intercepted it at the goal line and had nothing but open field in front of him to go 100 yards the other way. Well, technically, Minshew was there, but he was blocked out of the way easily so Surtain didn’t have to worry about him.

Minshew was benehed in the third quarter after throwing his second interception. That brought in Aidan O’Connell and on his third pass of the game, he threw a ball over the middle for Brock Bowers who wasn’t ready for and who else was nearby ready for to catch it off the deflection but Surtain.

Surtain had a pretty good shot at the AFC Defensive Player of the Week award after the 100-yard pick six, but getting his second of the day made him a lock for it.

Surtain earned his flowers, no doubt, but maybe a thank you card to the Raiders would be nice for their generosity. Just a thought.

Report: Gardner Minshew, Aidan O’Connell to compete for Raiders QB job entering Week 6

Entering week six of the season and the Raiders QB competition is right back to where it was in training camp.

Five games into the 2024 season and the Raiders are back where they were going into training camp — with a competition at quarterback. In lieu of naming a starter heading into the week of practices, the Raiders will hold an open competition between O’Connell and Minshew according to Vic Tafur of The Athletic.

Midway through the third quarter of Sunday’s game in Denver, Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce pulled Gardner Minshew and replaced him with Aidan O’Connell.

Minshew started the game out well, leading the Raiders to two scores, but two interceptions — one of which was a pick six — led to Pierce pulling the plug and putting in O’Connell.

The second-year former starter didn’t do much upon entering the game that would suggest he was the better option. He too threw an interception and only scored after the game was well out of reach and the Broncos defense was just playing out the clock.

Minshew hasn’t done much to cement himself as the starter, though the offense as a whole has struggled in many areas, namely with the zone blocking scheme and the running game has struggled as a result.

Up until recently, some of the issues were seen as a result of the team not picking a starter earlier, therefore causing a delay in team chemistry. This renewed competition would only figure to take the team back to square one in that department, but for a team desperately seeking answers, they don’t have a lot to lose.

The Raiders face the Pittsburgh Steelers in Las Vegas this Sunday.

Busters for Raiders Week 5 loss to Broncos

Which Raiders players shoulder the greatest share of the blame in the loss to the Broncos

A collapse like this has many searching for answers. Hopefully the Busters list can provide some. At least in terms of how I saw it go down.

Busters

QB Gardner Minshew

As my mom used to say, “one ‘Oh, sh*t!’ can ruin a hundred ‘Attaboys’.”

Minshew started this game with a few attaboys. But none of it mattered when the ‘Oh, sh*t’ happened.

He had the Raiders offense rolling. Looking for a score on three straight drives to begin the game. A nine-yard completion to Brock Bowers and the Raiders were in first and goal at the nine-yard-line. Minshew rolled left and had Bowers wide open at the goal line. For whatever reason, he overshot him and Patrick Surtain intercepted it and returned it 100 yards for a touchdown the other way. Complete momentum stealer.

Instead of 17-3 it was tied 10-10. The Raiders offense seemed to close up shop after that. On three possessions the remainder of the second quarter, Minshew had one completion for one yard. And he even overthrew Bowers again.

The third quarter saw Minshew pinball around the pocket twice for sacks and then throw behind Tre Tucker for another interception. That was his last play of the game as he was pulled for Aidan O’Connell.

HC Antonio Pierce

Speaking of pulling Minshew… Pierce is far too reactionary. Sure, you want to protect the ball, but there just isn’t enough of a leash for Minshew to allow him to make mistakes or be aggressive. Twice in five games he’s been yanked and Pierce wouldn’t commit to him as the starter after the game.

This game was still in reach when Minshew was pulled. It was just 20-10. Minshew came back against the Ravens in Week two. Seemingly in part because Maxx Crosby came out and showed him a little faith and gave him a pep talk. Meanwhile, even when the problem has clearly been the scheme and the running attack, Pierce always seems to go back to placing the blame on not taking care of the ball.

Pierce talks about not riding the wave of emotion after games, but no one is more emotional during and after these games than him. He’s too high after wins and too low after losses, talking about ‘business decisions’ and benching players and having his star receiver requesting a trade.

As far as game management, he continues to make the wrong decisions on fourth downs. In this game, the offense ran it on third and five from the Denver 45 — which you only really do if your plan is to go for it — got three yards on it, setting up fourth and short and then oddly punted it away. That’s simply the wrong decision however you look at it. And he makes a poor fourth down decision seemingly every week.

Oh, and TWICE the Raiders defense was flagged for 12 men on the field. Just inexcusable.

LB Tommy Eichenberg

The rookie was making his first start. And it kinda looked like it. He had just one assist in the game. And should have had a lot more than that. His one assist came on an eight yard run on fourth and one. So, even that tackle wasn’t notable.

The score was still just 13-10 in the third quarter. Eichenberg gave up a 13-yard run on the second play. But thanks to a Denver holding penalty and a Crosby sack, they got out of it. They weren’t so fortunate on the next drive.

It started with Eichenberg getting blocked so hard on the punt return, he took out another coverage guy, allowing a huge return that may have been a touchdown had John Samuel Shenker not made the shoestring tackle to stop it at midfield. It didn’t end up mattering much though, because a few plays in, Eichenberg missed the tackle on a nine-yard run and later gave up the touchdown on a catch out right from four yards out.

The next touchdown drive began with Eichenberg missing another tackle in an 11-yard scramble. Later he gave up a 19-yard catch that put the Broncos in first and goal. He was flagged for holding on the Broncos’ final touchdown, which means had they not scored on the play, they would have been in first and goal at the four-yard-line anyway.

CB Jack Jones

Jones’s day got off to a good start. He made the pass breakup on third down to force a punt on the Broncos’ first drive. Not much went right for him after that.

He was flagged for illegal contact on the Broncos’ first scoring drive. On their next scoring drive, he gave up a 19-yard catch on third and seven that put them in field goal range in the final seconds. He had a missed tackle on a 27-yard catch and run on their third scoring drive  And he gave up the final touchdown from nine yards out.

G Jackson Powers-Johnson

Far too often during a play, JPJ ends up flat on his face. It’s odd, really. He gets up slowly as if he was either injured on the play or is fighting through an injury. But that’s not it. I just think he gets dejected when he can’t hold his block or is tossed to the ground.

The second play of the game, he was beaten to give up a tackle for loss on a run. The second play of the next drive, he was put on his face to allow a run stuff for no gain. Then on the second play following the game-tying pick six, he gave up another run stuff at the line, helping lead to a three-and-out.

A couple possessions later, he was flagged for a false start, helping lead to another three-and-out.

Gotta figure out these NFL DT’s, young fella. And maybe, pop back up after being beaten and get back at it because, if nothing else, staying on the ground like that after the play isn’t a good look.

WR Jakobi Meyers

Nothing was working for the Raiders offense after that pick six. But Meyers might have helped spark things. Instead he had a one-yard catch, a drop on third down, and then an offensive pass interference leading to two three-and-outs.

His stats were a bit misleading considering half his catches (3) and most of his yards (43) came after the game was out of reach.

DE Tyree Wilson

Last week, Wilson got the seemingly random PFF pat on the back; apparently for having a couple QB hits, even though he didn’t really impact the game in any meaningful way. This week, despite 34 snaps — which was second only to Maxx Crosby among DE’s — he was completely invisible. His stat line consisted of one assist.

See the Ballers

Gardner Minshew roasted by Twitter for embarrassing sideline moment vs. Broncos

“That’s his third pick today!” 😭😭😭

Whelp, this is embarrassing.

After throwing two interceptions against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, quarterback Gardner Minshew was benched by the Las Vegas Raiders in favor of Aidan O’Connell.

While watching from the sidelines in the fourth quarter, Minshew was caught by Fox cameras in an awkward moment. Fans were quick to react on social media.

Raiders took Two L’s Today
byu/AsianZingButtSauce inDenverBroncos

Raiders: Pride & Poise
byu/wrongfulhysteria547 inDenverBroncos

Gardner was eating his boogs
byu/Throbbingprepuce inDenverBroncos

um. ew.
byu/letmeusespaces inDenverBroncos

Minshew with another Pick 6
byu/Pocket_full_of_funk inDenverBroncos

Oh no. On no no no no no.

“That’s his third pick today!” Amigo_Avocado wrote on reddit.

Here’s one positive spin from Radphant0ms on reddit: “Probably picking mustache hair out of his mouth. As a bearded individual, it’s a real struggle.” We’ll hope that was the case.

Minshew finished the game 12-of-17 passing for 137 yards with one touchdown pass and two (three?) picks. The Broncos won 34-18.

[vertical-gallery id=620142]

Raiders QB job in limbo again following latest ugly loss

Another ugly loss for the Raiders means more questions about who will start at quarterback.

Another bad loss for the Raiders means another week of wondering whether Antonio Pierce will bench Gardner Minshew in favor of Aidan O’Connell.

This time it was the Broncos. A bitter rival who had never beaten the Raiders since they made the move to Las Vegas — a streak of eight straight.

The game started out feeling like the Raiders were going to boat race the Broncos. Vegas scored a touchdown on the opening drive, with Brock Bowers making a great play on a floated ball from Minshew and turning it into a 57-yard touchdown. The second drive went for a field goal. And the third one was looking like it was headed for a touchdown.

Then everything fell apart.

Minshew rolled left and threw too high for Bowers at the goal line and it was intercepted and returned for a touchdown.

Thae Raiders would not score again in the game. Meanwhile the Broncos rattled off 34 straight points.

Minshew completed eight passes for 115 yards and a touchdown prior to the pick six. The rest of the game he completed four passes for 22 yards and two interceptions.

After his second interception, the Raiders pulled him in favor of Aidan O’Connell.

The score was still just 20-10 in the third quarter when Minshew was pulled, so it wasn’t quite like two weeks ago in the blowout to the Panthers when O’Connell came in. This time it was merely poor performance and the Raiders hoped maybe O’Connell could give them a shot. He didn’t.

His first pass went to no man’s land and was he missed completed one pass for four yards and threw two other passes to no one.

He was intercepted again on his third drive, this time on the first play, giving the Broncos great field position at the Vegas 39. They scored another touchdown off f it to go up 34-10.

The game was officially out of hand at that point, so that’s when O’Connell led the team on a pointless scoring drive.

Even with the garbage time stats to pretty things up, O’Connell still had just 94 yards on 50% completions with no TD’s and an interception. So, not exactly presenting himself as a better option than Minshew.

After the game, Antonio Pierces answer to who will be starting going forward was simply to shake his head and say “I don’t know” and adding that he has to watch the film.

Pierce has shown a short leash in his short time as the Raiders head coach. He stuck with O’Connell last season mainly because he was just brought in to play out the string and the Raiders wanted to see what they had in the rookie. He played well enough, combined with the high energy defense to get some unexpected wins. That’s not there this season and thus far neither of the QB’s has shown they can pick the team up.

The smart thing now would be to let the team know in the next couple of days whether Minshew is being yanked or if he’ll be given another shot next week, so they can rally around whoever is the starter. That is their best shot at finding some success. Though at this point, it’s hard to say if it will really matter.

Busters for Raiders Week 4 win over Browns

Busters for Raiders Week 4 win over Browns

We know the heroes for this come-from-behind win over the Browns. But it wasn’t all good in the hood. The Browns were able to stay within striking distance for a reason.

Busters

T Kolton Miller

Myles Garrett has a way of making opponents look silly. But this isn’t about judging the quality of the opponent. And there’s no softening things because of it.

Things started to go badly for Miller on the final drive of the second quarter. The Raiders got the ball with 1:20 left to the half. A 17-yard run on first down had them thinking they might be able to get a score before heading into the locker room. But that hope ended on the next play when Miller gave up the sack. So, they opted to just head for the locker room with a 10-10 tie instead.

The Raiders got the ball first in the second half and on their first third down, Miller gave up a big hit on Gardner Minshew that would have ended the drive if not for Garrett being flagged for roughing the passer. Still not good to get your own QB blown up like that.

To begin the fourth quarter, the Raiders were clinging to a four-point lead after a fumble return for a touchdown by the Browns. They had moved to midfield on their drive when on third and two, Miller gave up another sack to end the threat.

With 4:55 left in the game, the Raiders were hoping to keep possession long enough to drain the clock out. But on the very first play, Miller was late getting to his assignment, causing a tackle for a loss of five yards. It led to a three-and-out and just over a minute and a half off the clock, giving the Browns plenty of time to drive for the winning score, which they very nearly did.

RB Zamir White

While the rest of the offense came out of their running futility funk, White did not. He had a season-high 17 carries and the result was a season worst performance, averaging just 2.8 yards per carry with the team’s only turnover on a fumble that was scooped up and returned for a touchdown.

The team turned to Alexander Mattison after White’s fumble, but when they gave him the ball again, he was promptly stopped in the backfield for a loss of five yards.

In the second half, with the Raiders needing to score and then keep the ball away from the Browns’ offense, White had six carries for a combined four yards and a fumble, giving them their only points in the second half. During that same time frame Mattison had four carries for 36 yards. A change at feature back is forthcoming.

QB Gardner Minshew

14 of 24 for 130 yards and no TD’s with two rushes for negative two yards and two sacks. Yeah, the Raiders got the win, but it wasn’t on the arm or the legs of Minshew.

The first drive was dead in the water, but might have come out of it had Minshew been able to connect with DJ Turner who had gotten behind the defense on what would have been a huge gain. Perhaps even a touchdown. But Minshew overthrew him. Turner is very fast, so that’s not easy to do. The result was the Raiders were down 10-0 before Minshew had completed a pass.

To his credit, he did complete a few passes to help the Raiders tie the game up in the second quarter. But another drive would end with a bad throw to an open receiver. This time is was underthrown into the turf and Daniel Carlson had to connect on a 52-yard field goal as a result.

The first drive of the third quarter only got into scoring range due to a roughing the passer penalty. And it ended two plays later with Minshew overthrowing Jakobi Meyers. The touchdown drive on the next possession featured one completed pass and two overthrows. The final 35 yards came on the ground.

The fourth quarter saw Minshew convert zero third downs with just one first down total through the air.

LB Luke Masterson

The only touchdown drive for the Browns was their first drive of the game. And it had Masterson mistakes all over it. First play he was out of position on a six yard run. A few plays later he would miss a tackle on a five-yard run. They had driven to the 12-yard-line and Masterson gave up a seven-yard catch. Two plays later, he gave up the first down run to put them in first and goal at the one. Two plays after that, he bit hard on the play action to allow a wide open touchdown to the tight end.

The next defensive series hadn’t even started yet and Masterson was already hurting them. He was flagged for being illegally downfield on the punt.

Late in the second quarter, the Browns were driving to try and re-take the lead. And they nearly did it thanks to Masterson giving up two catches for 36 yards.

I counted at least three missed tackles by Masterson, which means he had nearly as many missed tackles as he he solo tackles (4).

T DJ Glaze

Nothing went right on the Raiders first possession of the game. But the worst part was Glaze being flagged for holding on the second play which backed them up to their own eight yard line.

Glaze gave up a hit on Minshew in the third quarter. Then on the first play of the fourth quarter, he was beaten off the snap to get Zamir White smacked in the backfield and White fumbled it away. It was returned for a touchdown to make it a four-point game.

See the Ballers

Raiders sticking with Gardner Minshew at quarterback vs Browns

Gardner Minshew is still the Raiders starting quarterback this week as the Raiders face Browns.

With two poor performances in the first three games this season, Gardner Minshew’s status as the Raiders starting quarterback seemed a bit tenuous. The day after the team’s ugly loss to the winless Panthers last Sunday, Antonio Pierce wouldn’t say for certain that Minshew would remain the starter as they headed for Week four. Adding that he needed to speak with the team first.

In the interim days, the team’s two star players Davante Adams and Maxx Crosby both took to podcasts and said they would prefer the team stick with Minshew at this point in time. Come Wednesday, Pierce made it official that the team was sticking with Minshew this week when the team welcomes the Cleveland Browns to Las Vegas.

“What I said was, I need to get with the players and evaluate the film, so there’s no issue,” said Pierce. “Gardner Minshew is the quarterback.”

Back when Minshew was named the team’s quarterback over incumbent starter Aidan O’Connell, Pierce said he would give Minshew at least the first quarter of the season before he re-evaluated it. So, this would be in keeping with that. And it also means, the question will arise again next week. And perhaps every week if Minshew continues to struggle.

Ballers for Raiders Week 3 loss to Panthers

Singling out the performances in Raiders Week 3 loss to Panthers

There wasn’t much to sing about if you’re the Raiders in their loss to the Panthers. The 36-22 final score didn’t tell the story at all. The real score was 33-7 which sealed it early in the fourth quarter.

A lopsided score like that suggests a complete collapse on both sides of the ball. They couldn’t run the ball, they couldn’t stop the run. They couldn’t pass the ball, they couldn’t stop the pass.

Andy Dalton was picking them apart through the air and Chuba Hubbard (who?) ran all over them on the ground. Gardner Minshew completed one deep pass and the Raiders still have the worst rushing attack in the NFL dating back like 25 years at least.

Anyway, let’s see about them Ballers, eh?

Baller

WR Tre Tucker

That one deep completion went to Tucker. He got behind the defense and made the long catch 54 yards downfield. It set up the Raiders only touchdown that actually mattered. It tied the game at 7-7 in the first quarter.

When the game essentially was over, he had three catches for 64 yards. But he didn’t just pack it in, he added four more catches to finish with 98 yards and a touchdown.

That’s it. That’s the list.

Continue to the Busters…

Maxx Crosby makes clear his choice for Raiders starting QB

Maxx Crosby makes clear his choice for Raiders starting QB

Monday, after lackluster offensive performance by the Raiders and quarterback Gardner Minshew, head coach Antonio Pierce was asked if Minshew could get benched in favor of former starter Aidan O’Connell, who came in a led a TD drive after the game was out of reach.

Pierce’s response to questions was non-committal, adding that he was going to speak with the team before making a decision.

Well, the leader of the team has spoken and made clear who his choice is.

“Gardner’s our guy. We know that,” Crosby said on SiriusXM’s Let’s Go Podcast. “Obviously we love Aidan. Aidan’s a stud. He helped us win a lot of games last year. But Gardner’s our guy. At the end of the day, I just wanna win. Gardner’s our quarterback, he’s our captain, and he has done a hell of a job so far. I mean, it wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t good enough, but it’s across the board. It’s not just Gardner, it’s not just the o-line, or receiver, whoever it is, it’s a collective group effort.”

It was Crosby who gave Minshew a pep talk in the second half of their come-from-behind win over the Ravens. He told Minshew to get back to playing like he did at Washington State and Minshew went out and did it.

There was none of that magic conjured up in the loss to the Panthers. Outside of one deep ball to Tre Tucker in the first half, the offense did basically nothing. And Minshew threw an interception as well.

It makes sense, however, to not give up on Minshew after such a performance. When Pierce named him the starter, he did so with the plan to give him at least the first quarter of the season. That means through at least next week and perhaps more before he considers pulling the rip cord and bringing in Aidan O’Connell.

O’Connell was the starter last season, but expecting him to be some kind of savior may be asking too much. There are bigger changes that need to occur to get this offense moving. It starts with why the run game is so utterly terrible. That should receive the most immediate urgent attention. Without it, who the quarterback is won’t matter much.