Tag: Raiders starting quarterback

Raiders still living week-to-week at QB heading into Week 12

While Antonio Pierce named Gardner Minshew the starter for week 12 vs the Broncos, he wouldn’t commit to anything past that.

As the Raiders head for their week 12 matchup with the Broncos, they are sticking with Gardner Minshew. And past that, who really knows.

Monday head coach Antonio Pierce was asked if he believes Gardner Minshew is the best option at quarterback for the team moving forward, he chose his words carefully.

“He’ll be the quarterback this week,” said Pierce.

That’s something, at least, considering several times this season Pierce was completely non-committal on Monday as to who the team would start the following week. And one of those times, he switched quarterbacks with Minshew being benched. It was only because of the injury to Aidan O’Connell that Minshew regained his starting job.

The competition now is between Minshew and Desmond Ridder who the team signed off the Cardinals practice squad a few weeks ago. Minshew was benched midway through the game in Cincinnati in favor of Ridder only to have Minshew return to the starting lineup out of the bye week and with a shakeup on the offensive staff.

Raiders sticking with Gardner Minshew as starting quarterback

Antonio Pierce has named the Raiders starting QB coming out of the bye. He’s sticking with Gardner Minshew over challenger Desmond Ridder

The Raiders are back at practice Wednesday, getting ready for their Week 11 matchup with the Dolphins. The last time the Raiders stepped on a field was in Cincinnati before the bye week when they suffered their fifth straight loss. That led to the firing of several offensive coaches and Antonio Pierce considering making (another) change at quarterback.

The decision was between Gardner Minshew and newcomer Desmond Ridder. Minshew had been benched in the third quarter of the blowout loss to the Bengals, and after the game Pierce said they would take the bye week to decide who would start Week 11.

Wednesday, Pierce named Minshew as the team’s starter.

“He gives us the best opportunity going forward,” Pierce said of Minshew. “And he has every opportunity to go out there and help us get to a win.

“It starts with the staff, it starts with me, it starts with a belief. Go out there and let it go. Let it loose. What do we got to lose at this point? Right? 2-7, so everything that’s behind us is behind us and I’m looking forward to everything in front of me.”

“Let it loose” is a different message than Minshew had been receiving. Pierce made it known even from the moment Minshew was named the starter to begin the season that he was on a short leash. Then all along the way he continued to blame turnovers for the issues with the offense. That was until he finally seemed to see what most on the outside had been seeing and that was the playcalling and scheme were the primary issue, leading to the firing of Luke Getsy.

That’s not to say Getsy was the one and only problem. Minshew has had plenty of issues. They seemed like equal parts his own deficiencies as a QB, fearing he would be benched if he made a mistake, and not being a fit for whatever Getsy’s idea of an offense was.

Pierce is right though; what do they have to lose at this point? That’s the mindset they seemed to take on when he took over last season. Playing like they have nothing to lose probably gives them the best chance to win. Walking on eggshells certainly hasn’t been working for them.

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.

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.