The Las Vegas Raiders are nearing the end of the training camp QB competition. Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce previously said that he would decide on the team's starting QB shortly after the second preseason game. That deadline has come and gone, so we can expect an update from Pierce very soon.
Unfortunately, Aidan O'Connell had some rough plays during the team's second preseason game yesterday. O'Connell was more efficient overall than Gardner Minshew, but he also threw an ugly-looking 69-yard pick-six on his final snap of the game.
“It sucks,” O'Connell said. “It sucks to throw interceptions in general, but to be the last play is definitely tough. That one will linger, but it's football. You're going to learn from it, move on, and I'm not going to make that mistake again.”
That was unfortunate timing for O'Connell because he had looked good before the costly turnover. He hopes that the coaching staff won't weigh this play too heavily in their evaluation.
Pierce told ESPN that he will take a comprehensive view when deciding between Gardner and O'Connell.
“I'm going to go all the way back to OTAs, minicamp, training camp, two preseason games,” Pierce said. “And there's going to be a lot of factors, obviously, right? Command of the offense, the operational part, efficiency. The turnovers is huge — that shows up — taking care of the football's going to be important for our team.”
“And then … sitting there with Telesco and Luke over the next couple of days and just really pinpointing who's going to get us off to a fast start to get to where we want to be in that first quarter of the season,” Pierce concluded.
Raiders WR Davante Adams love how both Aidan O'Connell and Gardner Minshew have been ‘balling out'
Whoever wins the Raiders QB camp battle will need to have a strong connection with star WR Davante Adams.
Thankfully, it sounds like Adams is currently supportive of both guys in the competition.
Adams had been away from Raiders camp for a few weeks after the birth of his son. He spoke with ESPN's Adam Gutierrez after returning to camp and spoke on several topics, including the team's QB battle.
“I mean, they both balled out,” Adams said. “They both did their thing and Gardner came in and picked up where Aidan left off.”
From the way Adams talks about the competition, it seems like a heated competition. That is a good thing for the Raiders.
“You can see we've got two quarterbacks that are not necessarily the same … the O-line was doing a good job keeping both of those guys clean, as much as possible,” Adams added. “I've seen a lot of good so, hopefully, we keep doing that and it's going to make it hard on AP to figure out. But I'm praying for nothing but success for both of them.”
It sounds like Adams will be happy with whoever wins the Raiders starting QB job.
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