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Paul Gutiérrez, ESPN staff editor
INGLEWOOD, California – Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Aidan O’Connell suffered an injury to the thumb on his right (throwing) hand in the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams, he said. a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
O’Connell, who was wearing a well-wrapped splint on the thumb closest to the game, will undergo additional testing on Monday, the quarterback said after the Raiders’ 20-15 loss that dropped his record to 2 -5.
“I hope I have good news,” said O’Connell, who added that he suffered a similar shock to his cardiac faculty.
“It just hurts and throbs, but we’ll be fine.”
It was during the Raiders’ second offensive run when, on second-and-10, O’Connell attempted a deep pass to the right side and collided on his follow-through through Rams defensive back Kamren Curl. . And by not using a receiver in the neighborhood, O’Connell was flagged for intentional grounding.
One of the next plays, on third-and-21, O’Connell faces receiver DJ Turner for a 10-yard pickup. They will be the best games in the sport for O’Connell.
“I threw it and didn’t feel very good,” he said. “I tried to hold on but, yeah, it doesn’t feel very good.”
O’Connell, who replaced Gardner Minshew as the future starter, completed 6 of 10 passes for 52 yards against the Rams. According to ESPN Research, he was overwhelmed on five of his 10 dropbacks (50%) and was 2 of 5 for 19 yards when overwhelmed.
“Super unfortunate,” O’Connell said of the moment of shock. “I was really looking forward to today and this opportunity, so it was definitely hard to cut it short like that.”
Minshew, who was benched due to prejudice over O’Connell’s future, replaced O’Connell.
And with the Raiders having a bad 0.33 disaster quarterback on the roster (receiver Jakobi Meyers was designated as such but missed his second straight contest with an ankle injury), O’Connell remained questionable to return in in case Minshew got sick.
Minshew, signed to a two-year independent agent deal with $15 million guaranteed, got a decent training camp fight with O’Connell. Minshew completed a career-high 70.7% of his passes for 1,014 yards and four touchdowns in five starts, but was also intercepted five times in those games.
In his biggest contest before being benched, Minshew threw a 100-yard pick-six against the Denver Broncos in Future 5, turning a possible 17-3 Raiders supremacy into a 10-10 contest into an eventual 34 loss. -18. . Minshew had a career-low 40.2 QBR at the time of being benched.
Against the Rams on Sunday, Minshew was responsible for four giveaways (three interceptions and a fumble that was recovered via Curl and returned 33 yards for a touchdown) and was 15 of 34 for 154 yards and a passer score in a single. 21.0 game, the lowest of his career.
When asked if his performances were a factor in coverage (the Rams loaded O’Connell and Minshew with 47% on dropbacks through three quarters, according to ESPN Analysis), Minshew shook his head.
“That’s on me, man, it’s unacceptable to have that many turnovers,” Minshew said. “I have to be smarter with the ball. Having a game where we lose by five points and have four turnovers? That’s key. And it’s not fair to the rest of the team.
“So, I’m going to walk again, take a look at the movie, I’m not going to sulk anymore, I’m not going to pout anymore, however, no matter what they’ve given us to do to cure it, I’m taking a while to do it.”
It was the third straight game in which the Raiders had three turnovers, tying their longest streak in the last 15 seasons (Las Vegas did it most recently last season in Weeks 2-4).
“Consequences and returns,” lamented Raiders coach Antonio Pierce of his team, which was also penalized 10 times for 80 yards, including a false start that ended the drive on fourth-and-goal at the 4-yard line. the Rams, prompting Pierce to kick a field goal when trailing by eight points. “Set it as a damaged file.”
Minshew, meanwhile, threw eight interceptions this season and fumbled three times, losing two of them. His 10 turnovers are tied for the NFL lead with Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis.
“I’ve never become a player like that in my time,” Minshew said. “It’s extremely irritating. So they just told us to keep watching it, keep discovering, keep training, [have] Excellent behavior and we are going to find our method to get out of this.
“A little bit of that is being aggressive with the ball. Some of it has just been bad ball placement, like DJ [Turner] today, he barely missed behind him. “So, it’s a combination of things, so I have to look at it, address it and move on.”
With O’Connell expected to sit out, the only promising quarterback with the Raiders is undrafted rookie Carter Bradley, who is on the practice squad and has yet to make his NFL debut. The Raiders also had veteran Nathan Peterman on their training camp roster for two weeks, but he is now on the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad.
