Tag: Raiders QB battle

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.

Raiders training camp Day 6 report: Gardner Minshew gets 1st team reps, offense has best day

Raiders training camp Day 6 report: Gardner Minshew gets 1st team reps, offense has best day

Just to be clear, the Raiders defense is still lightyears ahead of the offense. That being said, the offense had its best day Wednesday, which was a welcome sight considering how poorly its looked this offseason and through the first five practices.

Tuesday’s practice ended with Gardner Minshew having the only decent looking drive of the day. It would appear that spike in the offensive play earned him some run with the first team on Thursday and there may have been some momentum that carried over.

It wasn’t a complete changeout from Aidan O’Connell to Minshew. The two quarterbacks switched off from session to session. But prior to today, O’Connell was consistently getting the majority of the first team reps.

Minshew didn’t light up the joint, but he looked probably the most poised and in control of the offense we’ve seen from him. He made some nice throws in rhythm from the pocket and outside of it. That is some improvement to be sure.

Even though the players on defense want their offense to be formidable, that doesn’t mean they are celebrating any of the small victories the offense had on the day.

“Of course you want your offensive guys to win, but when you’re out there, it’s all about winning your side, so that’s kind of my approach and my mentality,” said Tre’von Moehrig.

“For defense that’s how we talk. We want to win everything we [can]. But at the same it is good to see the offense do their thing because we all are Raiders.”

Moehrig seemed to have a good day personally. He had one play where he jumped on a route by Brock Bowers on a pass form O’Connell and swatted it down for an incompletion.

O’Connell wasn’t without some wins of his own. He had probably the best pass of the day on a deep route by DJ Turner.

It’s passes like that which continue to make O’Connell intriguing because you don’t Minshew make many throws like that. But O’Connell will need to do a lot more than the occasional eye-popping throw if he wants to hold of Minshew.

The Raiders have Thursday off and are back on Friday. It will be interesting how today’s performance effects the reps when they return on Friday.

Raiders HC Antonio Pierce still waiting for QB to step up and say ‘I’m the guy’

Raiders still waiting for QB to step up and say ‘I’m the guy’

It’s been a slow process in the competition for the starting quarterback job for the Raiders. That process continues and it doesn’t look like the team is any closer to getting an idea of who will show themselves to be a the guy than they were a couple months ago.

Incumbent starter Aidan O’Connell has continued to take most of the first team reps. Veteran challenger Gardner Minshew has taken some snaps with the first team, but mostly he runs with the second team. But that doesn’t mean that’s where things will stay.

For O’Connell to cement himself as the number one guy, he would have to show a lot more than he has. And for Minshew to surpass him, he has to do more as well.

“I’d like to see…somebody to take it and say ‘I’m the guy, AP,” head coach Antonio Pierce said of the QB competition prior to Tuesday’s practice. “And make it clear, and evident and we’ll make that decision at that point.”

Pierce went on to say that what he is looking for is “somebody has to separate from the other.”

With that as his criteria, it didn’t appear as if either QB did that on the first day in pads. O’Connell had one good deep ball to Jakobi Meyers on a corner route and might have had a good pass on a go route to Davante had he not been interfered with. While Minshew had a few nice mid-range passes over the middle to Brock Bowers, Kristian Fulton, and DJ Turner.

Neither of them were able to get anything going consistently. Outside of those two passes, O’Connell was way off with his throws and Minshew may have gotten things going on one drive late in practice, but it was second team vs second team. And we didn’t see much of that in practice leading up to it.

We are approaching the halfway point of camp in terms of actual practices. There are 11 on-field practices in total in Costa Mesa. Though pads just went on today for the first time and so the final six practices will have ramped up intensity.

A lot is made of the first day in pads, and rightfully so. While the coaches would probably like the QB competition to be settled by now, there is still six more padded camp practices and then a few more weeks of practices back in Vegas to figure it out.

What you hope to see very soon, however, is some semblance of one of the guys putting things together and making a statement with his play that he can be the guy. So long as neither has done that, even for a single practice, it’s a bit concerning.

Davante Adams: Raiders QB1 job is Aidan O’Connell’s to lose

Davante Adams: Raiders QB1 job is Aidan O’Connell’s to lose

There is a full on QB competition happening in Las Vegas. The battle is between second year man Aidan O’Connell and journeyman veteran Gardner Minshew. And from the vantage point of the team’s number one receiver, the job belongs to O’Connell’s to lose.

The All Pro receiver appeared on FS1 this week where he said his starting QB last year has the inside track on the job, at least for now.

Adams noted that he “doesn’t have a preference” as to who ultimately gets to nod to get him the ball, just that he wants that person to be “confident and ready to go.”

But he added that as he sits right now, that O’Connell has the job because “he was here before.” and that will remain “until Gardner comes in and takes the job away from him, I think it’s Aidan’s job right now.”

O’Connell has been running with the first team throughout the offseason with Minshew running with the second team. But come training camp, Minshew should be more acclimated to the offense and his new teammates which will be the true test as to whether O’Connell can continue to hold him off.