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Paul Gutierrez, ESPN editor-in-chief
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce isn’t ruling out a quarterback change from Gardner Minshew to Aidan O’Connell after O’Connell’s late touchdown in the Raiders’ blowout loss to the Carolina Panthers.
“We have to get together with the players first and evaluate everything,” Pierce said Monday at his weekly news conference, which was delayed more than an hour because of additional meetings with his coaching staff following the Raiders’ 36-22 home opener that dropped the Raiders to 1-2.
And Pierce, a day after saying some players made “business decisions” during the game, didn’t back down from his postgame comment.
Instead he said, “I don’t bite my tongue.”
The Raiders, who host the Cleveland Browns (1-2) on Sunday, have not yet made any “business decisions” of their own, Pierce said.
“There are going to be times when your best players aren’t always at their best and other players have to pick up the slack and that’s why it’s called team football,” Pierce said. “More importantly, I think we all have to understand that you have to give it your all, do your best and go full speed.”
“The effort was not up to the level of the previous matches, and it showed. It was not good at the end of the match.”
O’Connell, however, has played well in replacement of Minshew, who won a training camp battle with the second-year pro.
With the Raiders trailing 36-15, O’Connell took over with 4:47 left and led Las Vegas on a 13-play, 70-yard drive. Despite being nearly intercepted, he completed 9 of 12 passes for 82 yards, including an 8-yard TD to Tre Tucker.
O’Connell later said he was unsure what his inclusion in the game meant for the future.
“I want to be effective every time my number is called and obviously the game is a lot different when I’m on the field than when I’m playing the whole game, so it’s a different situation,” O’Connell said. “We’re hoping to win and not come from behind, but I’m really grateful for the opportunity… as a team as a whole, we have a lot of room to improve, myself included.”
Minshew, meanwhile, passed for 214 yards on 18 of 28 attempts with one touchdown and one interception.
On the season, Minshew completed 73.7 percent of his passes (ranking fourth in the NFL among passers with at least 50 attempts) for 747 yards (sixth in the league) with three TDs and three interceptions.
“AP was talking about it in the locker room, not getting caught up in the roller coaster, not going through the ups and downs, but continuing to try to get better,” Minshew said after the game. “And if we can do that — we have the right people to do that — we’ll be fine.”
Meanwhile, defensive end Marcus Epps suffered a torn ACL, according to NFL Network.
