Raiders' Antonio Pierce names Gardner Minshew Week 1 starter

The Las Vegas Raiders and Antonio Pierce have made their decision that Gardner Minshew will be the Week 1 starter for the team over Aidan O'Connell according to Tom Pelissero. Both played in Saturday's preseason loss to the Dasllas Cowboys where the team saw enough to choose their starter.

Both O'Connell and Minshew played in the Raiders defeat where each saw 20 and 21 pass attempts respectively, showing the team is putting them out there to analyze who can command the offense. Pierce says that the decision will be made in collaboration with Las Vegas general manager Tom Telesco and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy according to ESPN.

“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.”

Aidan O'Connell, Gardner Minshew reflect on Raiders loss

For their total statistics, O'Connell completed 14 out of 20 passes for one touchdown and one interception, which resulted in a pick six, where Minshew completed 10 out of 21 passes for 95 yards. O'Connell, who started 10 games last season for the Raiders, spoke about his performance and how while he was solid throughout, the pick six in his last snap was rough.

“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.”

Minshew on the other hand is the newcomer who has had starting experience in the league whether it be with his time with the Jacksonville Jaguars or last season with the Indianapolis Colts where he was selected to the Pro Bowl. He talked about the quarterback competition saying that they have forced Pierce to make a “hard decision” per ESPN.

Raiders fans were aching to see who will get the nod, which should be soon since he stated that no starter will play in the preseason finale against the San Francisco 49ers.

Las Vegas opens the regular season against the Los Angeles Chargers.