The one interesting storyline about the Las Vegas Raiders this offseason has been the quarterback battle between incumbent starter Aidan O'Connell and newcomer Gardner Minshew. Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce spoke to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN about how the offense will look with either player starting and made a stark statement.
While any football fan can see that while O'Connell and Minshew are not the worst choices to be the starting quarterback and can win football games, they are most certainly not on the level of a Patrick Mahomes or a Lamar Jackson. Pierce is candid with Fowler in saying that more likely than not, the Raiders will not be a “juggernaut offense.”
“We're probably not going to be, to be honest, a juggernaut offense,” Pierce said. “Would I love to be? Yeah. To sit here and say we're going to score 30 points a game, that's not realistic.”
Some may find Pierce's statement to be detrimental in some way to the confidence of each quarterback, but it is also significant to admit the weaknesses of players while also unlocking their strengths and win football games. At the moment, the quarterback competition is deadlocked where both O'Connell and Minshew will play a quarter each in the first two preseason games.
“Whatever the best of Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell, we're getting that from them,” Pierce said. “It's a new offense and these guys have a fresh start.”
Antonio Pierce details Raiders QB battle between two stars
O'Connell started 10 games last season for Las Vegas where he threw for 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions where Minshew on the Indianapolis Colts threw for 3,305 yards, 15 touchdowns, and nine interceptions leading to a Pro Bowl appearance. Pierce spoke about the battle back in late July saying that “the competition is high” according to the team's website and even mentioned at one point how “both guys got a little swag.”
“What I see is two guys competing,” Pierece said. “I told them it's time to make that leap. Stop with the baby steps, somebody grab the bull by the horns and be the guy, and they're trying to do that. The competition is high. … I think the key part about it is regardless of who's in, the offense is trying to be as efficient and as effective as possible. So, you've got the offensive line in there with those guys and you're trying to build that continuity with our wide receivers, and I think both quarterbacks are doing it.”
“Both guys got a little swag now,” Pierce said per NBC Sports. “Aidan didn’t have so much last year, but he’s kind of picked it up. And then with Gardner, just his personality is so unique. So free spirited, but more importantly, a great teammate, he loves to compete, his attitude, his purpose, each and every rep that he takes you can see that there’s a driven player there that’s always been an underdog. And that’s a good thing for the Raiders because that carries over to the rest of our team and guys feed off of it.”
At any rate, the Raiders are looking to improve after a 8-9 record which put them second in the AFC West as they start the regular season against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, Sept. 8.
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