Antonio Pierce said earlier this week he hoped to name the Raiders’ starting quarterback after facing off against the Cowboys.
He just didn’t say how long after.
Following the preseason contest, a 27-12 loss in which neither Gardner Minshew nor incumbent Aidan O'Connell made much of a statement, Pierce has given himself a few more days to evaluate.
“Yeah, we’ve seen enough reps,” he said in his postgame news conference. “Two games, like we talked about. Our guys are not playing in the third preseason game, our starters, so we’ll sleep on it and make a decision in the next couple days.”
After both played well in Las Vegas’ preseason opener, Minshew got the start Saturday looking to build off his 117-yard, one-touchdown performance.
He instead found consistency hard to come by. There was his signature gunslinger flair, highlighted by a 48-yard shot to wide receiver Tre Tucker on his second drive, but he was plagued by inaccuracy and an inability to finish.
Pierce twice gave him an chance to deliver a fourth-down conversion, and Minshew twice failed. His second attempt was his last play of the day, perhaps the most glaring of his missed opportunities after starting the drive at Dallas’ 23-yard line.
Due to Minshew’s high-and-outside efforts, O’Connell took the the field roughly five minutes into the second quarter with a chance to cement himself as QB1.
The second-year signal-caller showed poise and more certainty in his throws than Minshew, coming off his 76-yard performance on 7-of-9 passing last week. He began Saturday’s audition with a nice 14-yard zip to wideout Kristian Wilkerson, but stalled similar to Minshew on his first two possessions.
Then came the most optimistic part of the evening for either QB, a 13-play, 57-yard drive in the third quarter that saw O’Connell in control with six completions and 39 yards, including a score to tight end Harrison Bryant, on seven pass attempts. He did fail to connect with Bryant on another throw for the two-point conversion, but the sequence was nonetheless impressive.
His final series possibly reversed that progress in an instant.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, a second-and-16, he pressed for yardage to make third down manageable, staring down Bryant all the way. Cowboys defensive back Kemon Hall read it, picked it and housed it.
“I mean, everything,” Pierce said when asked how much the pick six weighed over O’Connell’s TD drive. “You can’t take the good and not take the bad. Wish it went well for both gentlemen. It just didn’t, and we’ll evaluate. They both had opportunities. Aidan had 20 attempts and Minshew had 21, so about as balanced as we can get it. We’ll look at it. Obviously you saw what our plan was tonight, throw the ball around and let these guys show what they can do.”
So ended a night where Minshew and O’Connell threw and threw yet made Pierce’s decision anything but clearer.
From organized team activities and minicamp to training camp and two preseason games, the QBs still appear neck and neck.
Minshew was 10 of 21 for 95 yards on five drives Saturday. He’s now 16 of 33 for 212 yards and a touchdown overall, struggling with his placement to the tune of a 48.5 completion percentage.
O’Connell finished 14 of 20 in four drives against the Cowboys with 96 yards and the score, bringing him to 172 yards, one TD and one INT on 21-of-29 passing for the preseason. He’s been far more accurate (72.4%) and has familiarity going for him, but he also tossed the bad pick-six.
Pierce hoped heading into camp one of his options would step up and effectively make the choice for him. That never happened, so now it’s his to mull over.
“Everybody wants to see a player just take it and say, ‘I’m your guy,’ like I’ve been saying from Day 1,” Pierce said. “Obviously [that’s] probably not the case. So we’re going to have to make a decision, and we’re going to live with it and we’re going to support whoever that quarterback is for the Raiders going forward.”
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