Antonio Pierce and the Las Vegas Raiders couldn’t be having a much more miserable 2024 campaign if they tried. Up to this point in the season, quarterbacks Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell have led the Silver and Black to a 2-7 record. Sin City’s offense ranks 29th in yards per contest (280.2) and 25th in points scored on a weekly basis (18.7). With 10 interceptions thrown, only three teams across the National Football League have tossed the football to opposing teams more times than the Raiders have.
Minshew, in particular, is responsible for eight interceptions; the seventh-most through 10 weeks, despite only appearing in eight contests.
Entering Week 6, Las Vegas’ head coach Antonio Pierce elected to make a swap under center. O’Connell, who served as the Raiders’ backup quarterback during the first five games of the ’24 season, was awarded the starting job moving forward.
Just one week later, however, O’Connell found himself on the injured reserves list.
In response to O’Connell’s injury, the Raiders brought in third-year quarterback Desmond Ridder. Ridder, a third-round pick by the Atlanta Falcons in the 2022 NFL Draft, has since appeared in two contests for Las Vegas where he’s thrown one touchdown and zero interceptions while completing 11 of his 16 pass attempts (68.8%).
The Raiders made several changes to their offensive personnel during their bye this past week. On top of adding a new offensive coordinator, Sin City thought it best to welcome new positional coaches at the quarterback and offensive line positions. Will there be a change under center as well?
Pierce answered that question on Wednesday.
Antonio Pierce announces Las Vegas Raiders’ QB1 in Week 11
It may not be what Raider Nation wants to hear, but Pierce and the Raiders will continue actively trying to win football games until the final week of the 2024 season. As such, Pierce elected to start the quarterback who he believes has the best chance to lead the team to victory.
In his eyes, that quarterback is Gardner Minshew.
Minshew will retain the role as starting signal caller moving forward, Pierce emphasized on Wednesday. “When we brought in Gardner, we expected, obviously, the play that we had seen in the past. And, you know, at some point you have to give a guy confidence.
“There’s been times obviously with turnovers and other things that have taken place where we made decisions to either put him on the bench or go with another quarterback, but this week I felt like Gardner gives us the best opportunity to move forward, and he has every opportunity to go out there and help us get a win.”
Michael Mayer’s return to the team should help make Minshew’s life a little easier as well. Should Minshew’s struggles continue in Week 11, it won’t be surprising to see a new signal caller under center in Las Vegas the following week.
*Top Photo: Darrell Craig Harris, Raiders Today
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