Antonio Pierce Announces Final Decision on Raiders Starting QB

Getty Aidan O'Connell with Gardner Minshew.

The Gardner Minshew experiment for the Las Vegas Raiders is coming to an end for now. After a rough first five games, the team has decided to pull the plug.

Head coach Antonio Pierce announced that Aidan O’Connell is taking over as the starting quarterback in Week 6 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“I think it’s best to go with Aidan going forward,” Pierce said in a press conference.

This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise as Minshew was benched for O’Connell during the Week 5 game vs. the Denver Broncos. The Raiders offense is only scoring 19.2 points a game and the struggles are largely on inconsistent play at quarterback.

Minshew would frequently overthrow receivers and his pick-six at the one-yard line against the Broncos played a huge role in why the team lost. He had only thrown four touchdowns to five interceptions.

O’Connell and Minshew were in a tight quarterback battle all offseason so the latter’s leash was always going to be short if he got off to a rough start. The Raiders went with Minshew in hopes that he’d get the team off to a hot start but they are 2-3 and appear headed in the wrong direction. While O’Connell isn’t as mobile as Minshew, he’s got a better arm and is a more traditional pocket passer.

Does This Make the Raiders Better?

It’s hard for the Raiders offense to be much worse than it was with Minshew. If it weren’t for a couple of games getting out of hand and the team scoring some garbage time touchdowns, their average would be even worse.

However, the Raiders offense wasn’t any good with O’Connell at the helm last season. The team averaged 19.5 points a game last season and O’Connell started in 10 of those games. Now, he’s only a second-year player so he could be much improved.

It’s hard to know based on preseason and the few drives he’s played this season. The Raiders have to try something before the seasons get away from them. At the very least, O’Connell is young and they can develop him to see if there’s anything there. Minshew is a known commodity so he was never going to be the franchise quarterback. As unlikely as it is, it’s still possible that O’Connell can be good enough to take charge of the starting job going forward.

O’Connell Faces Tough Test in Week 6

The only reason the Raiders may have stuck with Minshew for one more week is due to their Week 6 opponent. Similar to Las Vegas, the Steelers have inconsistent quarterback play. However, their defense has been far superior.

They are only allowing 14.6 points a game this season, which is the second-best mark in the NFL. They also have T.J. Watt, who is one of the top pass rushers in the league. O’Connell isn’t mobile at all so he could be in for a long day if the offensive line doesn’t play well.

O’Connell isn’t as mobile as Minshew but he has a much quicker release so that could actually help the offense. Regardless, the Raiders had to do something and perhaps O’Connell can provide a spark on the offense.