Gardner Minshew’s experience was the difference in Raiders QB battle
Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce needed two preseason games to determine who would be his starting quarterback for the 2024 NFL season. And with that, the battle between Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell came to an end.
The Raiders announced Gardner Minshew as the starting quarterback on Sunday afternoon, just hours after the preseason loss to the Dallas Cowboys. The veteran gets to be the starter to open up the 2024 season, officially winning the battle.
The decision was not just Pierce’s but also saw Luke Getsy and Tom Telesco have a say in it as well, which makes tons of sense. But one Raiders insider has a bit of a guess as to why Gardner Minshew was the guy and it involves his experience.
JT Brick, a host on the Raiders’ flagship station offered up this reasoning via RaidersBeat.com:
“You’ve got these first two games on the road,” JT said on his Raider Nation Radio program. “They are really tough [and] we’re going up against two of the better defenses or individual defensive players out there. Maybe Gardner [Minshew] can get out there, step out of the pocket, run away from Khalil Mack and Bosa a little better than Aidan. Let’s give him the shot to play the first two games.”
That does make sense if you think about it. Pierce also hinted at this as a reason when he met the media on Sunday afternoon, just after making the decision:
“It wasn’t based off of last night,” Pierce said Sunday “We feel like Gardner gives us the best opportunity to get off to a fast start, and that’s who we’re going with. We support him. Our team’s behind it. Our staff’s behind. Our organization’s behind it.”
Gardner Minshew has the experience, which was the edge
Gardner Minshew is going into his sixth season in the NFL, spending the first two with Jacksonville and then the next two with Philadelphia. He played the 2023 season with the Indianapolis Colts, starting 13 games for the franchise.
In his career, Minshew has appeared in 49 games, making 37 starts while throwing for 9,937 yards, 59 touchdowns, and just 24 interceptions. He hasn’t been a star quarterback by any means but he has gotten the job done and almost led the Colts to a playoff spot last year.
Now, if Minshew does struggle, the Raiders could look to go to O’Connell who is going into his second season with the franchise. The former Purdue standout hasn’t exactly lit it up in his starts so far or even this preseason but he’s still developing as he’s going.
O’Connell did have a pick-six in Saturday’s game, a blemish on his resume that Pierce certainly noted in his postgame presser:
“I mean, everything,” Pierce said when asked how the pick six weighs into Pierce’s evaluation versus O’Connell’s drive that ended with a touchdown. “You can’t take the good and not take the bad. Wish it went well for both gentlemen. It just didn’t. We’ll look at it, and we’ll evaluate. They both had opportunities. Aidan had 20 attempts and Minshew had 21, so about as balanced as we can get it. We’ll look at it. Obviously you saw what our plan was tonight — throw the ball around and let these guys showcase what they can do. We’ll talk about it.”
Time will tell if this was the right decision for Pierce and the Raiders going into his first year as the head coach of the franchise.
