After five games, the Raiders have made a quarterback switch, with Aidan O’Connell set to start against the Steelers on Sunday over Gardner Minshew.
While Minshew had put some positive plays on film, there were ultimately too many turnovers. Minshew has completed 70.7 percent of his passes so far this season for 1,014 yards with four touchdowns, five interceptions, and one lost fumble.
“I think Gardner did a lot of really good things. He really did,” offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said in his Thursday press conference. “I think the expectations of plays, he completely understood it. I think the grasp of the offense, he got it. His ability to function in and out of the huddle, all that stuff, I don’t think we saw any of that stuff show up at all.
“And then, like I said, I think it just comes down to, we got to make sure we take care of the football. In this game, especially in the NFL level, it’s usually determined by that. And then we just had a couple plays here and there that didn’t give us an opportunity to win. And so, as a whole, we just decided that we’re going to try another thing.”
Minshew and O’Connell competed throughout the offseason and training camp to be Las Vegas’ QB1, with Minshew’s experience ultimately winning out. But as head coach Antonio Pierce did earlier in the week, Getsy praised the way O’Connell handled things after the competition — noting how the young QB continued to make strides in the building and on the field at practice.
“I think the nice part about going through that competition part of it through the offseason, was that we all got to know each other pretty well,” Getsy said. “[I] think the competitiveness that he brings, the leadership that he brings and that he has brought even when he wasn’t the starter — he’s into the game plans, he’s been in all that stuff, so there’s a confidence and there’s a comfort in knowing we’re just going to pick up and roll with this guy. There’s no worry about any of that kind of stuff with Aidan.
“And I think Aidan has a lot of traits that you guys all saw last year, and we’re just going to build off of that and continue to grow. I think as much as anything, he’s a guy who hasn’t played a ton of ball, and he’s going to just keep getting better each and every day. And we’ve seen that over the last five or six weeks, even when he wasn’t the guy.”
O’Connell appeared in 11 games with 10 starts as a rookie last year, completing 62.1 percent of his passes for 2,218 yards with 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions. In two games of mop-up duty this season, he’s completed 19-of-32 throws for 176 yards with a touchdown and a pick.