The quarterback competition between Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew for the Raiders has been close, and coach Antonio Pierce is eager to make a decision.
Pierce said on Sunday that he hopes to name a starter after Las Vegas plays the Dallas Cowboys in a preseason game on Saturday. The Raiders will then have just one more exhibition game, on August 23 against the San Francisco 49ers, before the regular season starts.
“We’ve got to get ready to play football,” Pierce said. “We’ve got enough film. We’ll have two games in to evaluate.”
He mentioned that he hasn’t decided which quarterback will start yet, but both will play one quarter each in the upcoming game, just like in Saturday’s 24-23 preseason loss to Minnesota.
O’Connell, who went 5-4 after becoming the starter last season, started the game against the Vikings. He moved Las Vegas 83 yards on 15 plays, but the drive ended with a sack and a field goal. O’Connell completed 7 of 9 passes for 76 yards.
“I think it was solid, but a few things I need to work out,” O’Connell said after the game. “It will never be perfect, no matter how much you play. I definitely know I have a few things that need to be corrected.”
Minshew, who almost took the Indianapolis Colts to the playoffs last season, played the second quarter and helped the offense score 17 points. He finished 6 of 12 for 117 yards and threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to DJ Turner.
“I’ve never been on a team where one quarterback plays the whole time (in preseason),” Minshew said. “There’s going to be an opportunity. We both have to hang in there and lead the offense when we’re in.”
By the time both quarterbacks left the game, the Raiders had a 20-7 lead.
“I thought both guys were efficient,” Pierce said. “I thought there were some opportunities that Minshew made down the field that were really good. When it’s a clean pocket, you can see what this offense can be with both guys.
“I thought Aidan did a really good job of being backed down in the red zone and Gardner with the two-minute drill. Everything we wanted to get out of preseason (opener), we got.”
Three key pieces were missing offensively. Star wide receiver Davante Adams was on paternity leave for the birth of his son, but Pierce said he has returned to the team.
Pierce is also hopeful that two possible starting offensive linemen will come back next week. Left tackle Kolton Miller and left guard Jackson Powers-Johnson have been on the physically unable-to-perform list. Miller is ranked as the 10th-best tackle by Pro Football Focus, and Powers-Johnson was a second-round draft pick this year from Oregon.
Pierce mentioned that if he could redo the game against the Vikings, he probably wouldn’t have used all his timeouts at the end.
He used his first timeout with 49 seconds left and the Raiders leading 23-21. The Vikings had a third-and-3 at Las Vegas’ 39-yard line, and Pierce hoped to force a field goal and get the ball back in time to try to score if needed.
However, Minnesota got the first down. Pierce then used his last two timeouts, but he couldn’t stop the Vikings from running down the clock to kick the winning field goal, which they did.
“Lesson learned,” said Pierce, who is starting his first full season as head coach after going 5-4 as the interim last year. “We thought maybe it would play out a little differently.”
