HENDERSON, Nev. — Aidan O’Connell faced the Los Angeles Chargers in his NFL debut back on Oct. 1, and things got, well, ugly.
The Las Vegas Raiders rookie quarterback was sacked seven times. He fumbled three times and lost two. O’Connell was also picked off once inside the Chargers’ 5-yard line as the Raiders were attempting to score a tying touchdown with a little more than two minutes to play in the eventual 24-17 loss.
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WR Adams calls Raiders’ 3-0 loss ’embarrassing’
11dPaul Gutierrez
So much so that any questions as to whether O’Connell, the final pick of the fourth round in April’s NFL draft, is the Raiders’ future at the position might have been answered. It wasn’t that O’Connell was the reason Las Vegas fell to a Vikings team that’s almost as impotent offensively, but the Raiders likely would have won by three scores with any semblance of competent QB play.
Which makes now, with four games remaining and the Raiders (5-8) still harboring faint playoff hopes, a fine time to check in on Las Vegas’ QB quandary going forward.
But any question about the most important position in team sports only begets more queries when it comes to the Raiders and sets in motion a pseudo choose-your-own-adventure scenario.
RAIDERS INTERIM COACH Antonio Pierce has referred to O’Connell as his “BFF,” and riding with him to the fateful end against the Vikings, despite the lack of offensive spark coming off the bye week, showed an uncanny loyalty. Even as the Vikings, in a similar offensive funk, dared to swap QBs in the fourth quarter. Their replacement, Nick Mullens, gave Minnesota enough juice to kick a field goal to win the lowest-scoring indoor game in NFL history, an outcome Raiders All-Pro receiver Davante Adams called “embarrassing.”
“We knew what [we were going to] get when we put Aidan at quarterback,” Pierce said. “It was going to be some ups and downs, and this was not one of our better performances.”
He’s right … to a degree.
Because after O’Connell put up the second-best QBR (88.6) in the NFL in Week 12 in a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, he came off a bye week to post a QBR of 16.8 against the Vikings. His QBRs have ranged from the sublime (82.7 against the New York Giants in Week 9) to the ridiculous — 8.1 against the Chargers and 20.9 against the Miami Dolphins in Weeks 4 and 11, respectively.
“I have confidence in myself to execute and do my job properly,” O’Connell said after completing 21 of 32 passes for 171 yards and a game-sealing interception against the Vikings.
On the season, he has completed 63.8% of his passes for 1,365 yards, four touchdown passes and seven interceptions in seven games, six of them starts. The Raiders are 2-4 in his starts compared to 3-3 under veteran Jimmy Garoppolo and 0-1 with 38-year-old vet Brian Hoyer.
Aidan O’Connell has a 31.1 QBR this season, but his game-by-game QBR figures have fluctuated wildly. Ian Maule/Getty Images
Still, O’Connell had some high-powered supporters in the locker room before the loss to the Vikings.
“I just want to see him go out there and play,” All-Pro running back Josh Jacobs said. “Don’t think too much. Just go out there and sling it. … You don’t really got too much to lose. Just go out there and have fun, show what you can do.”
Adams concurred.
“Just trust himself and do what he’s been doing and do the things when he had a great rhythm in the preseason,” Adams said. “Just kind of remind himself of what he can do and just keep building. It’s no pressure from any of us and we love him and we’re supporting him through every step of the way. I just want him to be him and be comfortable out there.”
Against the Vikings, though, O’Connell looked anything but comfortable, and it cost the Raiders. Enough to seemingly answer those tough questions about the most important position in team sports, right?
“I haven’t done it good enough, so I’ve got to be better at doing that,” O’Connell allowed. “But I still have full confidence in myself to do this. I’m learning every week what it takes and working extremely hard to try to put a good product on the field. I’m not doing it right now, so I have to do better.”
But for how long?
MIGHT $72.75 MILLION man Garoppolo, benched in the wake of the Halloween night firings of coach Josh McDaniels, general manager Dave Ziegler and offensive coordinator Mick Lombardi, get another shot at righting the Raiders’ ship? And even if he does, is he truly the future if he is healthy for the first time since signing that three-year free-agent deal with $45 million guaranteed in March? Remember, Raiders owner Mark Davis no doubt had to give his blessing to Garoppolo’s benching.
Garoppolo came to Las Vegas in the wake of the former regime kicking nine-year starter Derek Carr to the curb, and, related or not, after Tom Brady retired … for real this time. Garoppolo agreed to join the Raiders needing surgery on his left foot, and the team responded by making him sign a waiver that would not pay him a dime until he passed a physical.
He did not participate in any on-field activities during the offseason, but when training camp began there he was, physical passed, taking snaps on the field, albeit on a “pitch count” to gradually bring him along. He was the unquestioned starter, and his teammates marveled at his leadership qua
He was a winner, the locker room and coaching staff crowed, and his 40-17 regular-season record with the New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers as a starter proved it. His well-documented injury history, though, reared its head almost immediately. Garoppolo’s head bounced off the Allegiant Stadium grass late in the Raiders’ Week 3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers and, despite not leaving the game, he entered the NFL’s concussion protocol and missed the following game, resulting in O’Connell’s debut.
Garoppolo returned the following week to beat the Green Bay Packers but then suffered a back injury against the Patriots and was taken to the hospital at halftime for fear of an internal injury. As such, he missed the Week 7 loss at the Chicago Bears, even as he traveled to Soldier Field to watch Hoyer struggle so much in the start that O’Connell relieved him late. A week later, Garoppolo was pummeled and the Raiders were embarrassed by the Detroit Lions 26-14 on “Monday Night Football.”
Asked after that game, in which he was sacked six times and completed 10 of 21 passes for 126 yards with an interception, if he thought he was constantly playing catch-up because of his offseason surgery and in-season injuries, a weary Garoppolo shrugged.
“Yeah, I mean, I’m not,” Garoppolo paused, “I’ll never make an excuse like that. It is what it is. We’re in the season now. People don’t care if you have excuses or not, so you just, you’ve just got to go out there and play. I’ve got to play better.
“There’s just so much love in that locker room, man. It sucks that we performed like that.”
McDaniels, meanwhile, was asked if he was considering a change at quarterback.
“I’m not going to talk about that right now,” McDaniels said. It was his final official quote as Raiders coach, and less than 48 hours later, Pierce announced O’Connell would be the guy going forward.
Garoppolo was supposed to fit seamlessly in McDaniels’ offense, given their past together in New England. But his 65.5% completion percentage is the lowest of his career in any season in which he has started at least six games, as are his 35.7 Total QBR and 78.1 passer rating. His previous such lows were 53.3 and 92.4, respectively. Also, Garoppolo’s nine interceptions were leading the NFL when he was benched, and his 5.4% interception percentage this season dwarfs his career average of 2.7%.
