The Las Vegas Raiders put up an absolute dud in the Week 3 loss to the Carolina Panthers, with the team getting blown out of their own building, 36-22. Such an embarrassing loss could lead to changes for the Raiders, but could one of those changes come at the quarterback position?
Quarterback Gardner Minshew wasn't the Raiders' biggest issue on Sunday, but he wasn't exactly a plus, either. After tossing an interception on Las Vegas' second-to-last offensive drive of the game, the Raiders inserted Aidan O'Connell.
O'Connell promptly responded with a 13-play, 70-yard touchdown drive that was capped off with an eight-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tre Tucker. The second-year quarterback went 9-for-12 for 82 yards on the series.
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While impressive, O'Connell's opportunity came in garbage time, so it's hard to put a ton of stock into it. Nevertheless, head coach Antonio Pierce wouldn't rule out O'Connell getting the ball in Week 4 when asked on Monday.
Pierce wanted to see if Aidan O'Connell gave the offense "a spark" and wouldn't rule out a QB change this week.
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) September 23, 2024
While it would certainly make sense for the Raiders to get a look at O'Connell at some point given the direction of the offense, I'm not sure he's going to be able to produce better results. After all, O'Connell isn't going to solve the offensive line issues, and he has less mobility to escape the pressure he's going to face.
Furthermore, the fact that O'Connell wasn't able to separate himself and beat out Minshew in the competition they had this past offseason doesn't instill much confidence, either.
Again, we're on board with giving O'Connell a look, but don't get too excited about it. The Raiders still have to improve along the offensive line and in the rushing attack if this offense is going to improve.
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