The Las Vegas Raiders are playing out the string in Week 18 against the Denver Broncos, where a win will bring them to a respectable 8-9 and maybe even allow interim head coach Antonio Pierce to keep his job for next season. Rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell has been pretty good, too, after replacing Jimmy Garoppolo, but he’s ultimately disappointed about the Raiders’ season.

“Throughout it, there’s been good and bad,” O’Connell said, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Adam Hill. “I think I’m more so just disappointed that we didn’t win more games. I think that’s what ultimately will be what hurts the most is not being able to pull out some of the games that I think we could have won.”

“We’ve been in every single game, and so it’s been frustrating to not be able to go win some of those games, even coming down to the last drive,” O’Connell continued. “So, that’s kind of the scar tissue that hurts. Obviously, we’ve had some good wins, but yeah, I think the lack of capitalizing on opportunities in late drives and stuff like that, I think that’s what I’m thinking about the most.”

The Raiders are 4-4 after firing head coach Josh McDaniels following a Week 8 loss to the Detroit Lions, but O’Connell is right, they have been in most of those losses, save for their 31-17 Week 12 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Las Vegas lost by seven to the Miami Dolphins and by three to the Minnesota Vikings and Indianapolis Colts down the stretch.

If the Raiders win in Week 18 against the Broncos to finish with a winning record under Antonio Pierce, there is a good chance that he and Aidan O’Connell will be back in 2024, which may finally give the team a solid foundation to build on for the future.