Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce is close to making the biggest decision of his young coaching career. Pierce plans to name the Raiders starting quarterback after their preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday.
Pierce provided a brief update over the weekend on how he sees the battle after Saturday’s game.
How Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew played on Saturday
Second-year quarterback Aidan O’Connell got the start against the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday. He went 7/9 passing for 76 yards. Gardner Minshew went 6/12 passing for 117 yards and a touchdown when he came into the game with the second team.
Minshew is expected to get his chance to play with the first team when the Raiders play the Cowboys.
The Las Vegas Raiders have seen enough tape
According to Paul Gutierrez with ESPN, Pierce said the staff has enough film on Minshew and Pierce to decide who will start this season. The Raiders want to see one more preseason game before making their final decision:
We’ve got to get ready to play football, and I think we’ve got enough film,” Pierce said Sunday, a day after the team’s 24-23 loss at the Minnesota Vikings.
Last week, Pierce described what he saw as the key differences between Minshew and O’Connell.
One more test coming up
Following the Raiders’ loss to the Vikings, Pierce talked about how they performed in their first major test. Per ESPN:
“I thought both guys were efficient,” Pierce said. “There was some opportunities that Minshew made down the field that was really good … when it’s a clean pocket, man, you can see what this offense could be with both guys.
“But I thought they really did a good job of the operations. We did have one delay of game [penalty] with Gardner that we need to clean up, but I thought Aidan did a really good job from being backed up down in the red zone. And Gardner, two-minute drill. Everything we wanted to get out of preseason [Game 1], we got.”
The Cowboys game will be a high-stakes game for Minshew and O’Connell. The staff will need to make their decision quickly after the game so they can prepare their chosen winner for the Raiders’ final preseason game on Aug. 23, when they take on the San Francisco 49ers.
Related: Would the Raiders trade Davante Adams for Brandon Aiyuk?
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