Getty Aidan O'Connell (left) and Jimmy Garoppolo, Raiders quarterbacks
Are you ready for another controversy among the Las Vegas Raiders quarterbacks? After spending much of the season asking, begging and demanding that rookie Aidan O’Connell replace veteran Jimmy Garoppolo under center, the up-close view of O’Connell has turned out to be less than appealing. The Raiders’ 3-0 flop against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 14 might have been the last straw for interim coach Antonio Pierce.
On December 13, with a little more than 24 hours before the team took the field for Week 15 against the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday Night Football, Pierce said that he was still not sure who the Raiders quarterback would be.
“We’re still going through that process,” Pierce said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Got a couple more hours. See how it’s going.”
Certainly, it is not a good thing to be unsure of your starting quarterback the day before the game. Pierce also said that there was still a chance that he would simply stick with O’Connell, who has been doing the media sessions that are typically the purview of the No. 1 QB.
“I never said Aidan wasn’t the starter, let’s say that first and foremost,” Pierce said. “We’re still evaluating it. If there’s a chance to get better, a chance to improve, a chance to put us in position to win, we gotta get all the factors that go into it.”
Aidan O’Connell Replaced Jimmy Garoppolo
After racking up wins in his first two games replacing Garoppolo as the permanent stater in Week 9, O’Connell and the Raiders have lost three straight, scoring just 30 total points in doing so. O’Connell was 21-of-32 throwing against Minnesota, for just 171 yards and an interception. He had a quarterback rating of 66.0, and his lack of mobility again was costly — he was sacked four times.
In O’Connell’s first start of the season, when Garoppolo was out in Week 4, he was sacked an incredible seven times by the Chargers, including six by edge rusher and former Raider Khalil Mack.
Khalil Mack having another one of those games. 5 sacks of Aidan O’Connell..
O’Connell has still expressed confidence that he can be a starter in the NFL.
“I have confidence in myself to execute and to do my job properly,” O’Connell said in his postgame press conference after losing to the Vikings. “I haven’t done it good enough so I gotta be better about doing that. I still have full confidence in myself to do this. I’m learning every week what it takes. I’m working extremely hard to put a good product on the field. I’m not doing it right now, so I gotta do better.”
A Raiders Quarterback Platoon?
Pierce indicated that switching off of O’Connell in favor of a return to Garoppolo might be a mistake. It is likely, indeed, that O’Connell gets the start but that Pierce could have a quick hook if the offense struggles again.
Pierce said he would not be swayed by outside noise when it comes to picking his quarterback.
“Just making decisions based off media, a loss, a bad, ugly performance, that’s not how you do things in the National Football League,” Pierce said. “That’s not how you run a business. Maybe other people do. A.P. doesn’t, and the Raiders are not going to do that. We’re going to do whatever it takes to put ourselves in position to win. And after today, we’ll have a better answer.”