Aidan O’Connell was excited to solidify his position as the starting quarterback for the Las Vegas Raiders, but he suffered a thumb injury in the first quarter during a 20-15 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
O’Connell got hurt when his right hand hit Rams safety Kam Curl’s hand while he was throwing a long pass. To make matters worse, he was penalized for intentional grounding on the same play.
“It was super unfortunate,” he said. “I was really looking forward to today and this opportunity, and so for it to be cut short like that was definitely hard.”
He stayed in for the final play of that drive and completed a short pass to wide receiver DJ Turner on third-and-21, but O’Connell mentioned that his thumb was already numb.
“I tried to give that third down play a shot, and then I threw it and it didn’t feel great, so I tried to tough it out but, yeah, it was not feeling great,” said O’Connell, who completed 6 of 10 passes for 52 yards on the Raiders’ first two drives.
After the game, O’Connell had his thumb in a splint covered with black tape. The 26-year-old said they wouldn’t know the full extent of the injury until they returned to Las Vegas for further evaluation. “But I’m hoping for some good news,” he added, recalling a similar injury he had in middle school.
Gardner Minshew took over for O’Connell in Las Vegas’ third series. Minshew had started the season as the quarterback but was replaced by O’Connell earlier this month due to turnover problems.
Unfortunately, Minshew struggled too, throwing three interceptions and losing a fumble that was returned for a touchdown late in the first half. His first two interceptions led to Rams touchdown runs, and the last one came with 1:18 left as Minshew attempted to drive for a lead.
“No, that’s on me, man,” Minshew said. “That’s unacceptable to have that many turnovers. I got to be smarter with the ball. To have a game where we lose by five points and have four turnovers, like that’s critical, and it’s unfair to the rest of the team.”
The Raiders (2-5) have the worst record in the league for turnovers, with a total of 16. Minshew is responsible for eight interceptions and two lost fumbles in six games. Las Vegas has a takeaway differential of minus-13, having recorded a minus-3 margin against the Rams.
Minshew stated this was the worst period for ball security in his career.
“It’s super frustrating,” he said. “I’ve never turned the ball over like this in my life. It’s just very frustrating. So just got to keep looking at it, keep studying, and keep training good habits, and we’re going to find a way out of this.”
The Raiders nearly managed to tie the game late in the fourth quarter, but right tackle DJ Glaze had a false start on fourth down at the Rams’ 4-yard line. Head coach Antonio Pierce then sent out Daniel Carlson to kick his fifth field goal after the penalty.
“Like, those are some drive killers,” said Minshew, who completed 15 of 34 passes for 154 yards.
O’Connell recognized that the struggling offense, playing for the first time since wide receiver Davante Adams was traded to the New York Jets and missing Jakobi Meyers due to an ankle injury, is not in a position to recover from these mistakes.
“Feels a little bit like a snowball effect right now, where it’s happened before, and we’re trying to get out of that mindset,” O’Connell said. “But, yeah, it’s just kind of been unforced error, unfortunate error after error, and really nothing you can do but go back to the drawing board and try to regroup and put our best foot forward next week.”
