Raiders' Josh McDaniels says why he decided to go with Aidan O'Connell
The Las Vegas Raiders made a surprising decision on Sunday morning that not many fans saw coming. However, I'm pretty sure every fan wanted it.On Saturday, the Raiders ruled out Jimmy Garoppolo against the Los Angeles Chargers with a concussion. Then, on Sunday morning, there was a rumor that they intended rookie quarterback Aidan O'Connell […]
The Las Vegas Raiders made a surprising decision on Sunday morning that not many fans saw coming. However, I'm pretty sure every fan wanted it.
On Saturday, the Raiders ruled out Jimmy Garoppolo against the Los Angeles Chargers with a concussion. Then, on Sunday morning, there was a rumor that they intended rookie quarterback Aidan O'Connell to be the starter.
No one saw that coming before the initial rumor because we all assumed that Brian Hoyer would get that job, as he has been in the league for a while and knows the system from before his days with the Raiders. It just made sense for Hoyer to be.
But things happened, and they went with O'Connell.
"We were getting ready for any situation," McDaniels said. "When we finish the preseason, if you go into a regular-season game and a rookie has no opportunity to practice at all, it's a different conversation. To put him in there (as the backup in Week 1), and he has no repetitions during the week, it could be a little tough, which is why we went with Brian in that role.
"This was different," McDaniels continued, "so (O'Connell) had an opportunity to take reps every day … and because of that, we just felt like we'd keep Brian in the role that he's in and go ahead and give Aidan a shot."
Ultimately, I think we are all glad that O'Connell went out there instead. The rookie looks promising, yet still has a lot to learn. However, this game will only help him in the long run. I think we also know who is better between the two backup quarterbacks.
After this game, it gives me confidence that if Garoppolo went down with a season-ending injury, we wouldn't be watching a bad quarterback play week in and week out. O'Connell didn't play amazingly, but he certainly wasn't terrible. He has a future in this league.
