The Raiders quarterback competition probably came to end on Saturday night.
It has been a long time coming, but it looked like there was enough separation this week between Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew to finally make a decision.
From a statistical standpoint, Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew were close in the first half, but Minshew threw a few more passes that could have ended badly. If anything, O’Connell’s numbers in the first half would have been better if his timing with Kristian Wilkerson hadn’t been off on a downfield curl route.
O’Connell led the Raiders on a 13-play, 57-yard touchdown drive to open the second half, and followed that up with a 7-play, 31-yard drive that was looking good until an ugly interception was returned by the Cowboys for a touchdown.
The interception was bad, but when the coaching staff reviews the film next week, O’Connell’s pick-six will stand out as his only ill-advised throw on the night.
Minshew threw what should have been an easy interception in the first half and from the standpoint of evaluating his performance, the coaching staff will view that throw as a mistake as big as O’Connell’s interception.
Outside of those two throws, O’Connell played much better than Minshew on Saturday and that should be enough for Pierce to name him the starter.
No need to drag out the competition any longer. It wasn’t a pretty process, but the time has come to name O’Connell the starter.
