The Raiders overhauled their offensive coaching staff going into the bye week and there were some who thought they might be planning to make a change the quarterback position, as well.
Desmond Ridder was signed from the Arizona Cardinals practice squad three weeks ago and with Gardner Minshew not looking like the long-term plan for the Raiders, it would make sense to see what the 25-year-old Ridder is capable of before the end of the season.
Unfortunately for Ridder, he will have to wait at least another week to get his first start with the Raiders as the head coach Antonio Pierce announced this week that Minshew will be the starting quarterback on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins.
The decision to start Minshew got mixed reviews from the fan base and even the team’s flagship radio station.
Team radio host ‘JT the Brick’ talked about the quarterback situation this week and he thought it made the most sense to go with Ridder after the bye week.
“The big announcement today at his press conference, Antonio Pierce named Gardner Minshew the starter. I don’t agree with that,” JT said on Wednesday on his weekday Raider Nation Radio show.
“I thought that this would be a good time to get the backups ready to go. We’ll wait for Aidan when he comes around and he heals. I think this decision was made, and this is just my opinion. It’s better for Norv Turner and Scott to work with someone who’s been in this building and knows the offense better and try to get him going.”
JT didn’t say it outright, but the easy explanation for the quarterback decision is that Pierce and the coaching staff are prioritizing a win against the Dolphins. The coaches aren’t focused on finding year’s quarterback, and what they saw from Ridder in practice over the last three weeks apparently wasn’t enough to unseat Minshew as the starter.
At the rate the season is going down the drain, Pierce and the offensive coaches will have plenty of opportunities to look at Ridder in game situations, but don’t be surprised if they return to Aidan O’Connell once he is healthy.
Pierce has been a fan of O’Connell for the last two years, and he probably wonders where the team would be if he had gone with O’Connell from the start of the season. O’Connell at quarterback probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference, but could it have gone any worse than the Minshew experiment?
Probably not.
