As the Las Vegas Raiders prepare to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday, it will be a different quarterback under center for the game as compared to the last five weeks. Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce announced that it will be Aidan O'Connell who gets the start instead of Gardner Minshew as offensive coordinator Luke Getsy gives his thoughts on the switch.
Luke Getsy details the good and bad regarding Raiders' Gardner Minshew
He won the starting job during training camp and the preseason, but Minshew will now go the bench for the incumbent starter from last season in O'Connell. Through five games, Minshew has thrown for 1,014 yards, four touchdowns, and five interceptions as Getsy spoke Thursday in a press conference about the positives and negatives of his time under center according to NBC Sports.
“I think Gardner did a lot of really good things. He really did,” Getsy said. “I think the expectations of plays, he completely understood it. I think the grasp of the offense, he got it. His ability to function in and out of the huddle, all that stuff, I don’t think we saw any of that stuff show up at all.
“And then, like I said, I think it just comes down to, we got to make sure we take care of the football,” Minshew continued. “In this game, especially in the NFL level, it’s usually determined by that. And then we just had a couple plays here and there that didn’t give us an opportunity to win. And so, as a whole, we just decided that we’re going to try another thing.”
Luke Getsy speaks highly of Raiders' Aidan O'Connell
There was a point in last Sunday's frustrating loss over the Denver Broncos where Minshew cost the Raiders a chance to build on their lead and threw a 100-yard pick six into the end zone. It swung the momentum of the game as Minshew was benched in the loss for O'Connell who is expected to pick up where he left off from 2023.
“I think the nice part about going through that competition part of it through the offseason, was that we all got to know each other pretty well,” Getsy said. “[I] think the competitiveness that he brings, the leadership that he brings and that he has brought even when he wasn’t the starter — he’s into the game plans, he’s been in all that stuff, so there’s a confidence and there’s a comfort in knowing we’re just going to pick up and roll with this guy. There’s no worry about any of that kind of stuff with Aidan.
“And I think Aidan has a lot of traits that you guys all saw last year, and we’re just going to build off of that and continue to grow,” Getsy continued. “I think as much as anything, he’s a guy who hasn’t played a ton of ball, and he’s going to just keep getting better each and every day. And we’ve seen that over the last five or six weeks, even when he wasn’t the guy.”
Last season, O'Connell threw for 2,218 yards to go along with 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions as he looks to turn the season around for a 2-3 Las Vegas. The Raiders play the Steelers in a crucial game Sunday.